Go After Your Audience

Why do marketers choose the social media platforms for marketing that they do? There are a number of reasons, but a September poll of adult internet users and marketing decision makers conducted by Pitney Bowes Software shows that the percentage of marketers on certain social media sites like Twitter far exceed the percentage of Internet users, meaning that there’s a possibility marketers aren’t allocating their social media efforts effectively.

It’s About Your Brand’s Audience

This poll indicates a larger issue that marketers are often motivated to use a channel by something (or some things) other than audience.

Some platforms are easier to leverage than others. Perhaps a competitor has an effective presence on a channel. A marketer might even be motivated by posts entitled “Why Your Brand is Missing Out by Not Using PLATFORM X.”

The most important motivation for executing one tactic or another should be audience, which should be at the core of a brand’s overall strategy. Compared to your audience, nothing else should matter.

Understand Why

We should always have rationale for why we’re executing the tactics that we are. Every decision should tie back to influencing audience behavior. An explanation that ties back to influencing audience behavior is defensible. Explaining that you’re using a platform because a competitor or celebrity is, isn’t.

Platforms Are Not a Checklist

Marketers are evaluated, at a high level, by how successful they are at communicating a brand message and influencing audience behavior. Go back to strategy and evaluate each platform through that lens. Trying to be everywhere often means not being aligned with your audience.

Are you going after your audience or the platform?