Choosing One Social Media Platform: A Marketing Exercise

Overview

For some organizations, one social media platform could be the perfect fit. This, of course, is contingent upon the type of organization, its target consumers, and the demographics and identity of the selected social media platform. This could especially be the case for smaller organizations that do not have the payroll budget to manage a social media team that works across 6+ social media platforms.

Takashi Murakami & Kaikai Kiki

Figure 1. Takashi Murakami.

In order to explain my argument, I would like to use an art organization as an example. Kaikai Kiki is the small artist studio company founded by the acclaimed Japanese visual artist, Takashi Murakami. Murakami primarily uses Instagram to showcase his new visual art projects to his fans and followers online. Because Murakami and his brand, Kaikai KiKi produce very visual consumer materials, a visual social media platform like Instagram is a logical choice. Instagram is a popular platform for visual artists, in general, as it allows users to quickly and easily photograph or video record their work and post it for viewers to see. Past posts are easy to find due to Instagram’s chronological listing of previous posts as thumbnails on the user’s profile page.

Another consideration that supports the argument for using one social media platform as a primary follower outreach approach is the multinational nature of many organizations. Not all social media platforms have the same level of popularity and penetration across the globe. Though I was unable to find transnational statistics for Instagram, a 2016 Global Web Index report found that Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Google + are all relatively unpopular platforms in Japan, the home nation and primary consumer of Murakami and Kaikai Kiki’s work. Figure 2 below provides an in depth look into the percentage of internet users who have used the four social media platforms at least one during the last month.

Figure 2. GWI Chart - Social media platform popularity by country.

Because Murakami is an artist who has achieved international success, select social media platforms which have healthy levels of popularity among Japanese and English-speaking users (as an unofficial world language) provides the best opportunity to reach diverse audiences without managing multi social media platforms. Additionally, if an organization is restricted to centralizing its social media presence on one platform (due to logistics or resource limitations), selecting a platform with high user interaction (including liking, commenting, and sharing) is a good idea to maximum exposure. Figure 3 below, which uses data from 2016 Trackmaven study, shows that Instagram is strong option for garnering interactions from users.

Figure 3. Trackmaven interactions data.

Leveraging Mobile’s Popularity and Convenience

Another important question an organization should ask itself when selecting a social media platform to invest in is “is my audience using the device type most associated with this platform?” In the case of Instagram, mobile is the device type that dominates. If an organization’s data suggests that young and middle aged consumers are its key target demographics, mobile is a perhaps a stronger device type to target than desktop. A 2016 study from comScore found that in December of 2015, 67% percent of participant social media use was done on a mobile app or site, and an additional 12% took place on a tablet app or site (see figure 4 below). This trend has occurred year over and strongly suggests that mobile is the new dominant device type for social media. In the case of Murakami, focusing on a mobile-centric platform like Instagram is likely a wise investment, as statistical trends support mobile social media as the new norm. Snapchat is another option in this vein, though Instagram outperforms it in overall popularity (so Snapchat alone would likely not be the most efficient selection for a single social media platform).

Figure 4. Share of time on social media (from a 2016 comScore study).

Contemporary art is a subject matter and product type that is likely more popular among urbanites (due to the higher presence of art industry jobs, art events, galleries, and art museums in cities). Due to long commutes on public transportation and busy schedules, mobile is likely to be a highly relevant and highly used device type among urban consumers of art. Due to the nature of Instagram, I contend that it is a strong choice of platform to reach such a demographic. Images and short video clips are easy to view and digest when in busy public settings (as opposed to reading an article on your phone on the metro). Additionally, consumers of art are likely to be in touch with Instagram, due to its emphasis on visual content. In short, the daily schedules of urban consumers and the proclivities of art consumers fit well with Instagram.

Other Considerations

It should be obvious that for organizations with a broader customer base, a great need to spread general awareness, or those with large marketing budgets in competitive markets, that limiting one’s self to one social media platform is likely a wasted opportunity. The audience sizes and demographics of platforms evolve and change from one year to the next. MySpace was once a popular social media platform and has since faded from the foreground. Facebook has seen its user base shift from primarily college students to a much more even mix of ages and users. Not to mention that there is no guarantee of their constancy; Vine recently announced that the mobile social media platform is set for termination (Rogers, 2016). These examples illustrate the pitfalls and dangers of investing in only one social media platform.

However, given the constraints of Murakami and Kaikai Kiki (including variation in social media usage and platform selection across different countries and the sometimes precarious budgets of a small art company), I feel that selecting the single strongest social media platform for sharing visual content is a respectable decision. Instagram has proven to be a popular and successful mobile platform and is now owned by Facebook, a brand that has proven its ability to create lasting success with social media. For an individual who is also the owner of their brand and who has a direct role in their marketing, a single platform provides manageability and can even create an air of exclusivity around their brand and social media presence.