The most common social media questions for brands, answered.
Staff Writer 
Marketing a brand on social media can be a daunting task, especially when you’re unfamiliar with the landscape. Many brands know they need to use social media to market their business, but don’t know where to start. Here are some common questions and answers that you should know before marketing in the social space.
How many people are on social media?
As of January 2020, there are approximately 3.8 billion social media users worldwide.
What is the most popular platform to use?
Facebook is the biggest social media site around, with more than two billion people using it every month. There are more than 65 million businesses using Facebook Pages and more than six million advertisers actively promoting their business on the platform.
Which social platform should I be using to reach my target audience?
The social platforms you should be using is completely dependent on the demographic you’re trying to reach, and your KPIs. We’ve rounded up the 6 most popular networking platforms and given you a quick look into each of their demos.
Facebook: A diverse platform with a wide age range, but the most active users on the app are typically between 18 and 49 years old. While it isn’t a gender-skewed platform, studies have shown that more female-identifying users check Facebook over males.
Twitter: Used to stay on top of trending topics, niche subjects, and world news, this is the one app that is more male-skewed, and popular with the young adult crowd; ages between 18 and 29.
Instagram: Instagram is a fast-growing and effective social platform for brands with products or services that can be captured in creative photos or videos. The main Instagram users are 35 years old or younger, and there are more women on this network than men.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a popular site where users can find inspiration and ideas for their interests and hobbies through photos and graphics. Females are more active on Pinterest than males, and have the largest age range of users between the ages of 18 and 64.
YouTube: YouTube is increasing in popularity as video becomes the norm in content consumption. Additionally, it’s the second largest search engine behind Google, so businesses shouldn’t ignore it. YouTube is another platform that catches a diverse audience with a user age range of 18 to 49, and contains a fair distribution of genders.
TikTok: It’s no secret that the video creation app is incredibly popular with teens, as 27% of its users are between the ages of 13 to 17 years old. However, studies have found that the largest age demographic is actually the young adult crowd at 42%. When combining the two demographics, 13 to 24-year-olds represents nearly 70% of the app’s population.
How often should I be posting?
Several studies have sought to answer that exact question, all with varying data. Here is the overall consensus provided for each major social network provided by CoSchedule:
High: 2 posts per day
Low: 1 post per day
Recommended: 1 post per day
High: 51 tweets per day
Low: 1 tweet per day
Recommended: 15 tweets per day
High: 3 posts per day
Low: 1 posts per day
Recommended: 1–2 posts per day
What are the most optimal posting times?
While we believe this completely depends on the platform you’re using, your demographic, and the content you post, a study by Hootsuite found that in general, the best time to post on social media is between 9 pm to 12 am EST (6 pm to 9 pm PST) and early in the work week between Monday to Wednesday.
Are you a brand that needs help marketing your business on social? We specialize in social media, influencer marketing, press trips, and events. DM us and we can help.
