In our interconnected world, social media is a crucial element of digital marketing. The 2023 Social Media Cheat Sheet highlights its significance, with 4.76 billion global users and an estimated $268 billion in advertising spend. Users spend an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media, with countries like Nigeria, Colombia, and Brazil leading in usage.
Social media's impact is substantial, encompassing 58% of the world's population, and is projected to reach over 5 billion monthly users by 2024. Global connectivity is evident, with Northern and Western Europe leading in Internet penetration. The UAE exceeds 100% social media penetration, and Asian countries show significant platform growth.
As we conclude 2023, social media remains central to communication, networking, and information consumption. The "Social Media Cheat Sheet" offers insights and strategies for navigating this evolving ecosystem in the coming year. Get ready to explore and leverage social media's full potential.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
With over 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a platform for building community, highlighting your products and developing online sales and traffic, so you should consider it in your digital marketing strategy. The audience is mainstream and global, aged 25-54.
While it's a great platform for all brands Facebook Ads campaign work especially well for local shops, B2B companies and non-profit organizations.
The key to audience building on this platform is to post consistent and engaging content. Also, consider using the post promotion feature to expand your reach.
Boost your Facebook presence with impactful images, captivating videos, live streams, clickable links, immersive storytelling and content that increases brand awareness.
Facebook proves its worth throughout the entire marketing funnel, from generating brand awareness at the top, to engagement in the middle stage, to conversions at the bottom.
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New to the platform is Meta Verified. Not only do users get the verified badge on the profile, but the account gets more visibility and reach.
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Plus now with creator subscriptions, they can create and use custom links to promote subscriptions and get access to extra metrics that will help them better understand revenue and the source of each sale.
Also from the Meta group, Instagram is all about creating a strong community with your audience, where interaction and authenticity are key. Although it is changing and becoming more mainstream, the audience is between 18 and 35 years old, so it's mostly Gen Y & Z.
Its monthly active users reach over 1.2 billion people. Making Instagram a valuable ally for all brands operating in m-commerce, especially those offering visual and lifestyle products.
To build your audience: Boost your Instagram presence by showing your products in action, creating a consistent visual identity and leveraging influencer marketing strategies and incorporating user-generated content into your strategy.
Instagram is versatile and adapts to all stages of the marketing funnel, from generating awareness at the top, to engagement in the middle stage, to conversions at the bottom.
Make the most of your Instagram presence with engaging images, short videos, user-generated content (UGC), building a strong brand identity and creating creative reels.
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A new feature of the platform is that multiple links can be included in the profile biography, in addition to the scheduling of posts through the application.
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It is now possible to create joint publications with other users, whether they are posts, stories or Reels.
If you're wondering why advertise on Pinterest, let us give you some reasons why you shouldn't miss the main platform for discovery, inspiration and planning.
With more than 465 million monthly active users, Pinterest is one of the social platforms to consider before you start developing your digital strategy. It is a very niche platform with great potential with an audience of 18-35 year olds.
On Pinterest, the most effective content includes infographics, the use of effective keywords, and the posting of aesthetically and visually appealing images and videos.
To build audience: By using Pinterest, you can create brand awareness and influence future purchases. The platform allows you to reach new audiences and evergreen content is a smart strategy to maintain your presence.
Pinterest is perfectly suited to all stages of the marketing funnel, from awareness generation at the top, to engagement in the middle stage, to conversions at the bottom.
It is a particularly good platform for restaurants, design, weddings... Although any vertical inspirational content can have great results. In fact, benefits such as high impact, reaching new audiences and evergreen content are what you will get if you try Pinterest Ads for your e-commerce.
Some new features to consider on the platform are:
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Pinterest Shopping is a Pinterest feature and strategy that allows businesses to showcase and sell their products and services directly from the platform.
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Idea Ads are the new format that Pinterest has launched to connect with users of the platform. This type of ad is the promoted version of Idea Pins.
- Other notable new formats this year include: Spotlight, Showcase and Quiz
If Google's strategy is part of your Paid Media strategy means you have search and conversion goals. Google is the largest search engine on the internet.
Considering that Google is visited by a staggering 89.3 billion people every month, making it the main entry point to the web. Therefore its audience is general and global.
Google is an essential platform for both SEO (search engine optimisation) strategies and paid advertising, making it an invaluable resource for boosting your online presence. You should also optimise your feed for Google Shopping.
Google is versatile in terms of content, opening doors to text, video, images and generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
To build an audience: take advantage of Google's advantages by uploading databases and creating high-quality remarketing lists, which allow you to re-engage with interested users. Use these lists in watch mode and create lookalike audiences to expand your reach.
Google is a versatile platform that can be used at all stages of the marketing funnel, from awareness generation at the top, to engagement in the middle stage, to conversions at the bottom.
If you are willing to run a campaign on Google don’t miss our how to get started with Google Ads article available now on the blog.
Some new features to take into account in the platform are:
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Google Analytics 4 is the new Business Intelligence tool in Google's suite for measuring digital marketing strategies.
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Demand Generation Campaigns harness the power of artificial intelligence to drive demand on Google and YouTube platforms by leveraging historical data for an informed and strategic approach.
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One of the latest additions is the conversational experience, which allows advertisers to provide a landing page and let Google AI automatically generate keywords, titles, descriptions and other essential elements for your campaigns.
YouTube
YouTube is for coverage and high value content, especially if you use effective video creatives. In fact, the platform is great for ranking your content on Google, providing greater visibility and online presence for your brand.
Monthly active users on YouTube number more than 2.5 billion people. 12% of global YouTube users are men aged 25-34, while women of the same age account for around 9% of the total.
Build a strong audience on YouTube through a consistent video strategy that focuses on viewer experience and customer satisfaction.
YouTube is a valuable tool at the top of the marketing funnel, where awareness generation and engagement are critical.
YouTube In-Stream videos are content that allows the user to link directly to the direct point of purchase.
New on the platform:
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YouTube BrandConnect is the tool that allows brands to partner with creators to create branded content campaigns that support objectives.
TikTok
TikTok has positioned itself as a leading platform to boost your brand, thanks to its abundance of creative content and innovative ads.
TikTok has over 1.500 million monthly active users. Targeting on TikTok will allow your brand to reach out to users, but primarily the platform appeals to Generation Z, making it an ideal meeting point to reach this young and vibrant audience.
To boost your performance try using personalised effects, starting hashtag challenges and native video and sounds. TikTok best practices also suggest to diversifying your content to stand out with your ads, creating different TikTok formats to get more engagement.
To build audience: adopt the "FOMO" (Fear of Missing Out) strategy in your ads, generating the feeling that users need to know more about your brand. Focus on delivering valuable content while providing entertainment.
TikTok shines at the top and middle of the marketing funnel, offering unique opportunities to create awareness and audience engagement.
New features to watch out for on the platform include:
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TikTok Attribution & Analytics is a measurement solution that enables advertisers to gain a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey on TikTok, from awareness to discovery to action.
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TikTok Music is the new service offered by the streaming music platform.
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TikTok Branded Mission is based on harnessing the power of the platform to promote a mission or purpose beyond simply promoting products or services.
Snapchat
Snapchat is defined by its focus on sharing ephemeral moments and creating authentic connections, where virality and engagement play a key role.
Snapchat is one of the most popular platforms among the under 25s, making it an essential meeting point to reach this young and dynamic audience. It reaches a monthly active user base of over 750 million monthly active users.
Snapchat is ideal for connecting with your audience, building your brand identity and creating brand awareness, especially among the younger audience. In fact, to increase your performance while advertising on Snapchat offer creative content to stand out your products. Also try using filters and videos for more engaging content.
To build audience: focus on creating new filters related to your brand and inventing hashtags that spark community and encourage engagement.
Snapchat is best suited to the middle and upper stages of the marketing funnel, offering opportunities for audience interaction and relationship building.
New features to watch out for on the platform are:
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New call lenses allow users to break free from the grid and appear together in a single frame and, soon, even play games and solve puzzles while virtually face-to-face.
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In stories, there are two new features: the first is a new type called "featured night" which allows content to be added to the "story at nightfall". The second is communities, a feature that allows you to share your perspective with your peers.
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Map Snaps is a new location sharing tool. In addition, new 3D featured points of interest can be found, as well as new tags on the most popular places of the night among your friends and the Snapchat community at large.
LinkedIn focuses on building partnerships and creating authority in your industry, making it an essential resource for professionals and businesses.monthly active users on LinkedIn are over 875 million people.
LinkedIn is ideal for generating leads, increasing traffic to your website and strengthening brand awareness, especially in the middle and lower stages of the marketing funnel.
To increase your performance, try prospecting, promotion, content sharing and news sharing. Don't forget keywords. Other content tips include visual content and email campaigns.
LinkedIn is especially effective in the middle and lower stages of the marketing funnel, where relationship building and lead generation are essential.
Audience tips for your LinkedIn ads are: Avoid hyper-targeting on LinkedIn and A/B test your audiences for effective targeting and greater reach.
New features to consider on the platform are:
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The Sponsored Messaging format, which had become obsolete by mid-year, is finally back as of October. LinkedIn recently made a step back with the so-called Inmail as it understood, based on the feedback received, that the profitability of this format still had a way to go within LinkedIn's paid ecosystem. From now on, it will coexist with the format that came to replace it: Conversion Ads
Last but not least, let's look at Twitter. It is a platform that offers exceptional value to brands wishing to promote their products and connect with a highly active audience. Its essence lies in real-time communication and accessibility. Twitter's monthly active users are more than 359 million monthly active users, with a large number of users between the ages of 18 and 35.
It uses Twitter as an essential platform to provide customer service and disseminate information immediately and effectively, as well as to improve visibility and leverage the platform's virality.
Twitter is a very low advertising saturation platform and this means that the CTRs achieved in campaigns are good and sustained over time.
Optimal content on Twitter includes a balanced mix of tweets, links, images and other media that generate clicks and encourage audience engagement.
Twitter is suited to the middle and upper stages of the marketing funnel, where audience interaction and brand promotion are essential.
There are multiple Twitter Ad campaign objectives but if you're looking for reputation monitoring, topicality and visibility, Twitter is your platform.
The new features to be taken into account on the platform are:
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With the new functionality verified organisations, a company's accounts can be verified and identified with a yellow check.
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Twitter subscriptions are a feature for monetising the content of tweets.
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With the new "Highlights" tab, users can highlight the best tweets in a new tab in the feed.
Want to get deeper? Download a full cheat sheet about Social Media and get your ads strategy ready for 2024.
