No one can deny the impacts social media has had on our daily lives ever since the creation of the first such platform in 1997. It was an excellent way to advertise and market your business, but are social media marketing strategies still effective today as they were a decade ago?

The times have changed, and to remain relevant, you will have to change with it. However, social media remains a powerful marketing tool in the right hands. But, if you arenā€™t seeing the results you expected, itā€™s time to adopt a different strategy.

Itā€™s a known fact that people spend more time on social media today than they did in the past. The following data shows a significant increase in the average time spent browsing Facebook, Twitter, and similar platforms between 2012 and 2019. The growth rate is 62.5%, or 1 extra hour a day spent on social networking.

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Does it still make sense to advertise via social media?

In short ā€” yes, it does. But it depends on who your market is and what efforts you make to engage with your consumers. Perhaps your audience is no longer using the platforms you advertise on. New social networking sites have been developed in the meantime. TikTok, for example, came out in 2016, and it became an instant hit among the younger generations, such as Gen Z.

We are witnessing a shift from Facebook to TikTok when it comes to the youngest social media users. At the same time, their older siblings, parents, and family members continue to favor Facebook. YouTube is still the #1 video sharing platform in the world.

If you donā€™t pay attention to these trends and understand where your audience is nowadays, you wonā€™t gain the exposure you want. Moreover, an outdated marketing strategy will result in far from optimal results. In this text, we will provide you with some tips on improving your business's visibility and adequately engaging with your customers in 2022.

Learn where your users are

This basic rule applies to all types of promotions and marketing strategies. First, you need to know where your customers are to effectively reach them. Once you are on the same platform as them, you have to pique their interest to turn followers into satisfied customers who would like to get more of your products. Understanding which users spend time on which social media is crucial to the success of your business. Pay attention to what is being discussed, who they follow, what kind of content they like, and how they engage with content creators. One of the way to gather such information is to browse keywords of your fit. Provide your target market with what they want, where, and when they want it.

Check the data below, which shows the most popular social media networks today. It contains information about the reach of each platform, which genders prefer it, and the age of the users. You can also see approximate stats about their location, income and education status, and what type of brands itā€™s most suitable for.


Create visibility for your brand

You need an attractive wrap for your product ā€” a website, well-performed social media profile, and constant online presence to successfully engage with your users. But that might not be enough. People should talk about your business, finding new users, and promoting you in front of new audiences. Social media influencers and marketing experts know how to promote themselves, and they can help you broaden your reach.

With their help, your product can reach new markets and potential new buyers. Influencers engage with hundreds of thousands and millions of users daily who consume their content and present a better audience than what you can get from traditional social media ads.

We have heard it before: Give the people what they want! And they want to be entertained and well-informed. Itā€™s your task to engage with them, so they will endorse your business and buy your products. Thatā€™s achieved by finding users who share common interests with you and your work. Your content should be appealing to a particular class of people, no matter if thatā€™s based on age, gender, economic status, or whatever.

But donā€™t forget what platform you are on. Hashtags are for Twitter. Donā€™t post them on Facebook. LinkedIn is business and employment-oriented and shouldnā€™t be used for displaying attractive photos. Thatā€™s what Instagram is for. Being at the right place at the right time can also be the difference between success and failure.

The bigger the crowd, the better it is

Bigger, better, and stronger because numbers donā€™t lie. Your follower and friends count on social media matters a great deal. It shows that there is a brand thatā€™s valuable and relevant. We can trust it to keep us informed.

But you will only be successful if your followers engage with the content you share. After all, it doesnā€™t matter if you have millions of social media fans if very few of them care about what you have to say and what you are creating for them. Think about why people should react to your content.

Don't neglect the importance of traditional social media ads

Most social media platforms, such as Facebook, sell ad spaces that anyone can purchase and take advantage of. For the best results, a business owner needs to decide who to target with the ads, measure the reach, and analyze the performance of the promotion.

Social media advertisements can be customized in many ways. You can tweak them to be displayed only to a specific age group, depending on your market. For example, suppose you are creating content only for women. In that case, they can target only female users of a social media network, or only men, if thatā€™s what you need. The consumers' location is essential when measuring the effectiveness of the ads. If the goal is to reach customers from Europe, there is no need to include users from the USA, for example. Same scenario applied when your target is worldwide, it is better to adjust strategy and content to each region, or to use the most common themes and language.

Advertisements can be configured to show up only to people with certain lifestyles who are already interested in similar brands. Ads can target only those who have clicked on and visited your website, engaged with your older content, or are friends with users who like your products. The possibilities are endless, and hence, they are a marketing tool you can rely on.

As 1xBit, a company behind this text, we'd like to add a few words about gambling aspect of social media ads.

There are rules that any campaign have to follow over the web, especially on social media. And when it comes to paid advertising - get to know if it's allowed, and don't forget about influencers.

Final Words

Is social media marketing effective even today? Yes, it certainly is, and it's certainly evolved. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and many other networks can boast of hundreds of millions of users who visit their sites searching for news and entertainment daily. The results might not be visible on day 1. But, if you keep adapting your ad - your audience is a matter of time. You will get much better results if you know who you are targeting. You can then plan the perfect marketing strategy, optimize your ads, and execute them at the most opportune time.

Check out other marketing articles by 1xBit