Don't Overextend Your Social Media Presence

You don’t need to be on every social media site. If it’s not actively harming your brand’s development, it is almost certainly wasting your time. The truth is, your audience isn’t everywhere. Unless you plan on attempting to target every age demographic, which even for large corporations is a dangerous game, you risk spreading your resources thin and causing complications in developing a consistent brand identity.

Understanding your target audience is almost always the first step you should take to determine where you need to dip your feet into the water. Your audience should be specific and focused. It’s a nice idea that you’re going to be relatable to every focus group, but the reality is that most businesses have a niche.

Once you know who you’re trying to reach, you can figure out where they are. Here’s a brief guide based on age:

18-29 years - Primarily use Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram.
30-39 years - Split their time between LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram fairly evenly.
40-49 years - Most often LinkedIn, Facebook, and X/Twitter.
50-59 years - Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are the most popular.
60+ - Overwhelmingly Facebook, with smaller shares of X/Twitter and LinkedIn.

Where Should Your Brand Be

Knowing which social media platforms to target based on age demographics is a good start to determining where to maintain a presence, but it’s also important to consider where your brand’s content fits the best. Content designed for Instagram doesn’t perfectly translate to LinkedIn or Twitter. In an even more granular sense, short form videos made for YouTube don’t necessarily translate to Instagram Reels or TikTok.

Considering the product allows you to focus on the ideal platforms for you. If your brand relies on visuals, you most likely want to focus on a photo or video based social media site, like Instagram. If your business is more theoretical, you’d probably want to maintain the largest presence on LinkedIn or a similar text heavy site.

Other Things to Consider

Age is just one of the many factors that should be considered when developing your brand’s marketing strategy and platform guidelines aren’t a blueprint for your businesses success. Understanding what each platform’s strengths and limitations will help you determine where you should focus your efforts. Remember that social media doesn’t always cost in advertising budget, but it does cost in time spent. Most businesses can’t afford to maintain a consistent presence on every platform. You need to find where your niche is, and focus on producing the highest quality content possible for that audience and that platform. That will set you apart from your competition who is spreading themselves thin with less targeted and lower quality content everywhere.