Are you struggling to target your audience on social media and wondering which platform is best for your technology?
Social media is a powerful tool for building your brand, spreading awareness, and cultivating trust with your audience. However, figuring out how and where to use it effectively can be challenging.
That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you get started.
The importance of knowing your target audience
Before discussing the differences between social media platforms, it’s important to understand how to choose the right ones to target.
The key is knowing where your audience is. You might think targeting all platforms the same way is a quick win, but in reality, it’s a recipe for wasted effort and low engagement rates.
A better approach is to focus your efforts on the platforms where you know your audience is and engage with them according to the norms of those social channels.
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The difference between social media platforms
When looking to choose a digital marketing platform for your medical device you need to be aware of the differences between them, such as type of users, what they are used for, and what you can do on each.
Instagram has gained over 2 billion users since its release in 2010, bringing it close to the dizzying heights of Facebook in terms of user numbers. Most of these users sit in the 24-35 age category, with the majority of engagement coming from younger users. This means that if you’re targeting a younger audience, Instagram might be a good place to focus.
Instagram is a purely visual platform, with every post requiring a visual element, meaning it isn’t the best option for medical device companies looking to share articles or build an email list.
However, this doesn’t mean that it’s not great for curating trust and brand recognisability with your audience. This platform is better for companies who are looking to communicate directly with consumers and patients and share with them helpful and engaging content.
Top tip: You cannot include links on Instagram posts; one way around this is to include a Linktree on your page description and direct your users there instead.
Facebook is easily the most popular social media platform, with over 2.9 billion users. This platform is popular among all ages, with no standout demographic, but it’s worth noting that Facebook is the most popular choice for over 55s – so if your audience sits in this category, this is where you’ll want to target.
Facebook’s golden gem is its shareability when it comes to social media marketing, allowing some lucky companies to go viral. It’s also a great place to foster a community feel, as groups can be set up to encourage information sharing and discussions.
Facebook also allows users to post stories and post live streams, but these features haven’t proven as successful on Facebook as it has on Instagram.
This platform works best for a company looking to communicate directly with patients and consumers of an older age range. Through the use of groups and Facebook pages, a strong online community can be created and used to your advantage.
Top tip: If using videos on Facebook, make sure you upload them directly to your page.
X (Twitter)
X formally known as Twitter was launched in 2006 and since then has gained 556 million monthly active users, with most of those users being between the ages of 25 and 34. Users are only given 280 characters per post, which includes spaces, so all content has to be short to be effective, for this reason, visuals work well on X (Twitter) content with relevant visuals is 94% more effective than those without.
The platform is best known for delivering breaking news and stimulating lively discussions, so brands that can do this are likely to win big with their audiences.
If your company is looking to share industry news or snippets of information about your medical device, then X (Twitter) is a good choice.
Top tip: To get around the short word limit, you can use images with text on them and use Bitly to compress your links, so they take up fewer characters.
LinkedIn is the go-to site for professional networking, meaning it is especially popular with business-to-business companies.
There are currently over a billion registered users on LinkedIn, with 8.6 million of those users being healthcare professionals. That is a huge potential market, especially when you consider that the context of LinkedIn suggests that users are engaged and ready to listen to brands.
On LinkedIn, you can share everything from text posts to live videos, connecting with like-minded professionals from around the world. Learn to harness the power of LinkedIn with our complete breakdown guide.
Which platform is best?
There is no short answer to which social media platforms you should be using to market your medical device as it is completely dependent on your business and your target audience.
There isn’t a top social media site that rules over them all as they are all so different and all come with pros and cons. Now that you know the differences between each platform, you are in a better position to choose where to focus your efforts.