PICK YOUR FIGHTER: SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
Felyne Siao, Social Media Manager
Think of your social media platforms as the heroes or champions in your RPG games. Although there are many options, you ultimately have to pick one that you’ll invest your time and resources in. This is the one you use in every battle of the game to level up their stats. You equip them with your best, most expensive gear. You search the web for more information on how they can be your most efficient fighting machine.
That’s the same for your brand and the social media platform you’ll be present in — you have to pick one that you’ll invest your money in growing. The one you will dedicate content tailor-made for the UI. The one you will closely monitor and analyze. The one you will subscribe to for updates, developments, and news. With this one strong social media asset, you’ll be able to reach your target market, achieve your online brand goals, and keep the focus on improving and evolving growth. A singular, polished, focused platform presence is better than a scattered, mirrored, mediocre presence on too many platforms.
So pick your fighter among these top social media platforms that you will stick with and develop as you play the social media game. We’ll give you some tips for making this crucial decision.
Pick Facebook if you:
• Can do meaningful social interactions — you can get people talking about your brand actively
• Have great stories that connect people or connect with people
There are 89M Filipinos on Facebook and if you want the widest audience for your content, Facebook is the platform that lives up to that. BUT the wide audience can also be a con in that its scope is too broad and it’d be hard to reach the audience you want. How do you overcome this? You have to put out content that you’re sure will spark conversations with your target market. Facebook is all about “meaningful social interactions” and your content will scale well in your algorithm if it is shared, watched, and talked about. If your brand has interesting stories to tell, Facebook is absolutely going to be your playing field.
FACEBOOK
Meaningful Social Interactions
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Almost everyone is on Facebook. You will definitely find an audience here. | Because everyone is on it, it may be harder to filter and find your targets, and you have more competitors. |
| Connections matter here, and the people who engage with your posts will mos likely become your advocates. | There is a need to constantly and quickly engage with your audience, and that entails really dedicating time to it. |
| You can post just about anything, and it is a multipurpose platform with pages, groups, marketplace, watch, etc. | It will perform well if it is engaged with, otherwise your content is invisible. |
Pick Instagram if you:
• Have great visual material
• Have a few good video editing tricks up your sleeve
A throwback — remember when the only filter choices on Instagram were Clarendon, Juno, Ludwig, Valencia? Instagram was a photo-sharing app, but now it’s concentrating on becoming more like Tiktok. Regardless, people are still drawn to Instagram because of its visual aspects. It’s the platform people run to for well-curated feeds and inspiration. If your brand has material that you think people will love looking at, then Instagram is your best platform bet. You just need a few video editing skills for Reels, because that’s what they’re prioritizing right now. Just #DoItForTheGram and your brand’s #goals.
INSTAGRAM
Capture, Curate, and Share
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| It is all about the *aesthetic* so your content on Instagram can help you cement your brand’s look and feel. You can develop a signature visual style. | Instagram is not known for authentic, raw, real, casual content that the younger generation prefers. There is this notion that whatever is on Instagram is meticulously selected. |
| Instagram is trying very hard to compete with Tiktok, so their algorithm is heavily prioritizing Reels. Reels will naturally perform well on the platform, for now. | Creating Reels takes more time, but you need to get on board with it because photos, videos, and stories don’t perform as well on the platform anymore. |
Pick Youtube if you:
• Want to do long-form videos
• Have content that people search videos for
Youtube is your video Google, so for this platform, you’d be providing the videos that your market is going to search for. If your brand can provide content like tutorials, vlogs, hacks, routines, or anything related to skills, then apply to be part of the Youtube University faculty.
Youtube is also the home of the vlogger, so if your brand is one to document processes or tell stories through video, Youtube will gladly host and monetize them for you.
YOUTUBE
Broadcast Yourself
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Long-form videos are very welcome here. Some users treat Youtube like it’s TV. | Because of the length, viewers can also easily switch to another video on the platform once they are bored or don’t find what they’re looking for in the first few minutes of your video, much like channel surfing. |
| There is monetization on the platform itself, so you can earn from creating and publishing content here through ads. | Videos take more time to shoot and edit. It can take more effort, manpower, time, and other resources to produce content for this platform. |
Pick Tiktok if you:
• Can get onboard with trends quickly
• Can put out entertaining content
Tiktok was formerly Musical.ly, and it has stayed true to being that platform for entertaining short-form videos on dance and dub. With Tiktok, you have to be quick on your feet and jump on trends without a second thought, because when you hesitate, that trend is going to expire and your content is going to be old news. This is the platform if you’re down for fast-paced content creation and publishing. The authenticity or rawness of Tiktok content is a welcome consequence of its short shoot-edit-air UI.
TIKTOK
Trend starts here
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| You can ride trends and thrive on Tiktok. You may also get valuable user-generated content from the community. | If you want to get on board a trend, you have to do it before it becomes passé. If your internal structure requires several layers of approvals, you won’t make Tiktok’s ticking time bomb. |
| Tiktok is a very forgiving community for glitches or sloppy edits. It’s more about whether or not your content is entertaining enough to be viewed. | Content needs to be concise even if Tiktok has extended its maximum video length to 10 minutes. Its users are just so used to quick, fast, entertainment. You have to capture your audience’s interest in a snap. |
Pick Twitter if you:
• Have constant updates concerning what’s now, what’s live
• Have a particular niche that has a network on Twitter
What’s now is what’s Twitter. If your brand thrives on news and live events, or one with constant, consistent updates, then Twitter is the platform for you. What’s now is also often what’s on the trend list, so if your brand can get on board with trends, then Twitter is your playing field.
The character count of 280 may seem limited, but you can always utilize, even maximize, tweet threads. Also if you have a niche market, then it would be good to go on Twitter and check if there is a community for your brand there. Fun fact: Kpop holds the record for the most number of tweets on Twitter, so if your brand is somehow related to it, you definitely should be tweeting away.
TWITTER
What’s Now
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Hashtags function in making your content visible. | If your hashtag is not something that people search for, then your tweets won’t be visible. Also, if your hashtags have too many users using them, your tweets will get lost in the sea of tweets. |
| Timely content will most likely perform well. | Content has to be NOW. If it’s from yesterday, unless it was a huge event, your content will probably not get that much attention. |
| If you have a niche market on Twitter, you will get interactive support and reach through retweets. | Your tweets have to be witty or groundbreaking to be shared by users, and that would be hit or miss every time you post. |
Not sure which fighter your brand should take on? This is when you turn to the experts — those who already know the game and can recommend a fighter that would be most beneficial for you. Like how you’d turn to walkthroughs by video game masters to maximize or thoroughly complete your game, you’d turn to social media experts to help you pick a social media fighter, or two or more, that they could walk through to its full potential.
If you have a social media team (or could tap a group that would function as your social media team), then you have an obvious advantage — you can assign each member to one concentration, one fighter each to hone. This way, your brand’s presence would appear as a strong party with each member placing their resources and specialty on the table, keeping each link strong.
But what if one fighter isn’t performing as well as the others? One fighter’s lackluster performance can really impact your party’s overall score. Regroup and evaluate — do you really need this fighter in your party or would it be better if they act as support to another fighter who’s getting overwhelmed or whose assignment is evolving and becoming more demanding? It’s all about resource allocation to where you think you’ll have more wins, and also, fewer losses. You want everyone to be able to contribute at their highest level.
Pick your fighter or play them all — your social media game is your call.
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Vitalstrats Creative Solutions (VCS) is a creative agency based in Quezon City, Philippines.
VCS specializes in content marketing, advertising, and video production. We use strategic creativity to help our clients grow their brands.
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