How to know which social media platform is your best fit
- Sabine Kroll
- Dec 19, 2024
- 4 min read
October 18, 2019
With a growing need for guidance among young NGOs to get started on their social media journey and established NGOs needing help with making sure they're on the right track, I’ve put together this article that offers guidance for beginners and useful social media statistics for organisations at any stage of their social media journey.
Audience profile
First things first- you need to have a clear understanding of who your ideal donor audience is. Because how can you find someone if you don't know who you're looking for?
Here are some questions that will help you profile your audience so that you can choose the right platform:
1) Who is most likely to want to support your cause?
Stay at home moms, young professionals or university students? If you’re looking for companies, what type of organisation would want to help your movement? LinkedIn is best for connecting with companies and Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter are best for individuals.
2) How old are they?
Younger audiences spend a lot of time on Instagram and Tik-Tok, whereas Facebook and YoutTube serve a broader audience.
3) What are they interested in?
Understanding what your audience likes and needs will help you create social media content that gets them to notice and follow you. It will also help you determine which platform if best for you. If your audience is likely to prefer watching videos to reading content, you may want to consider YouTube or Tiktok.
4) Where in the world do they live?
Social media platforms don't have equal amounts of users globally - knowing where your ideal donors live will help you decide which platform is best for you.
43% of TikTok users are based in India. Of the 500 million active TikTok users, 26.5 million are from the U.S. In comparison, Facebook has around 120 million active monthly users from Brazil and Indonesia, 1 billion from Asia, 385 million from Europe and 139 million from Africa. Most of Twitter, YouTube and Instagram users are U.S. based.
5) Are they male or female?
Different genders gravitate towards different platforms, so it's essential to consider whether your ideal donor is male or female.
56% of TikTok users are males, whilst 44% are female. Instagram’s gender split is almost equal: 50.3% are female and 49.7% are male. Facebook is preferred by women - 54% of Facebook users are women and 46% are men. 62% of YouTube users are men and 38% are women. LinkedIn is dominated by males – 43% are female and 57% male.
Choose the right social media account
Once you have a clear vision of who you want to connect with and who is most likely to support your cause, it's time to get down and dirty and choose the right accounts!
Facebook is great to start engaging with a broader audience of all ages and genders. A Facebook page is a fast and free alternative to a website and Facebook offers many effective ways to connect with donors, run campaigns and gather donations. Facebook also offers a useful paid service of finding your ideal donors for you and showing them your content.
Useful stats
As of June 2018, Android users in the U.S. spend an average of 58 minutes a day on Facebook
Facebook has 2.41 billion active monthly users
85% of Facebook’s daily active users are from outside Canada and the U.S.
96% of Facebook users access the platform through their mobile devices
This is another great platform to start engaging with a broader audience but with a bigger focus on younger generations. Instagram is the perfect place to share the life of your NGO with people who care about what you do with the use of images and videos. It's a great platform to reach the younger generations (Gen Z – born after 1996).
Useful stats
Most Instagram users are from the United States (120 million) with the minority sitting in Germany and Italy (18 million)
The majority of users are aged 18 - 29
Android users in the U.S. spend an average of 53 minutes a day on Instagram (June 2018)
Twitter is an excellent platform to keep your audience updated on your goals, activities, challenges and triumphs through short updates (with a character limit of 280).
Useful stats:
Only about 22% of US adults today use Twitter
Twitter has 139 million active daily users
Affluent millennials make up 80% of Twitter users
YouTube
YouTube is the perfect place to let your audience get to know you through sharing progress videos and video diaries. Videos are the best way to connect with an audience. Get out your smart phone and start telling people about your journey, your hopes, your dreams, successes and failures. People love a good story, so invite them to be a part of yours and you’ll have loyal supporters in no time!
Useful stats:
73% of adults in the US use YouTube
59% of Generation Z (16-24 years old) spent more time on YouTube in 2019 than 2018
YouTube is available in over 91 countries and in 80 different languages
TikTok
This is an exploding platform on which to engage with younger audiences (mostly under 30 years old) with the use of dynamic videos. TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform, so it's definitely worth joining!
Useful stats:
Over 500 million people globally use TikTok every month
TikTok has a 275% year-over-year increase of in-app purchases
TikTok is available in 75 languages and 155 countries
LinkedIn is the go-to for B2B engagement and the best place to connect with potential corporate investors. LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to network with decision makers at the companies you're hoping to be funded by.
Useful stats:
LinkedIn has 303 million monthly active users
LinkedIn has 2 new members every second
63 million users are in decision-making positions and 90 million are influencers at a senior level
Jump in!
Once you’ve decided who you’re really looking to connect with and have chosen the right platform to help you achieve your goals, roll up your sleeves and get started with creating your profile.
Check out this article I wrote that provides tips for this too: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-build-your-ngos-brand-sabine-kroll/
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