Social media marketing, as an essential part of cross-border e-commerce, has become a focal point for both individual sellers and companies going global. Many believe that social media marketing is not only conducive to international trade but also a prerequisite for overseas B2B and B2C transactions. Choosing the right social media platform and positioning the brand accurately are crucial in the early exploration of cross-border e-commerce.

In the digital age of the internet, popular mainstream media platforms include Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, and more. Practical platforms have been identified through testing, and selection can be based on various factors such as product selection, user profiles, countries, and practical features:

1. Instagram

Official website: https://www.instagram.com/

Target audience age: 16-34 years

Monthly active users: Approximately 1.5 billion

Target countries: India, USA, Brazil, with user numbers exceeding 100 million, India having the most

Suitable products: Exquisite handicrafts, beauty skincare, fashionable clothing and footwear, fitness and travel items

Advantages of Instagram:

• Suitable for visual marketing and advertising, with Instagram’s advertising reach surpassing Facebook in 2022. Creative videos and advertisements make it easier for users to desire purchases.
• Aimed at younger consumers, more suitable for businesses targeting young consumer groups. Instagram attracts more youth attention with a higher desire for shopping.
• High efficiency in commercial account operations, with Instagram business accounts seeing an average monthly follower growth of about 1.69%, and providing shopping features that allow sales and promotions directly on the platform, simplifying business processes.

Practical features of Instagram:

• Instagram Live for consumer interaction and product display
• PC web posting for easier operation and editing
• Quick snaps shopping, a type of clickable sticker linking to products
• Product tags, marking information more visually in displayed product images
• Digital collectibles, aligning with modern NFT digital marketing

2. Twitter

Official website: www.twitter.com

Target audience age: 18-45 years

Monthly active users: Approximately 500 million

Target countries: USA, Japan, India, with the USA having the most users

Suitable products: Handbags, cosmetics, electronics, textiles

Advantages of Twitter:

• More suitable for social interaction marketing, allowing direct interactions with consumers through comments, retweets, and likes, facilitating quick transactions and immediate product feedback.
• Diverse commercial promotion methods, including advertising, collaborations, link partnerships, and influencer cooperations to expand product sales channels.
• Friendlier for beginners in marketing, with an easier-to-use interface, especially for ads, where campaigns can be easily created.

Practical features of Twitter:

• Product teasers for advance information to fans and followers
• Live shopping during live streams
• Shop spotlight, rotating different product information on the profile
• Data analysis, with Twitter providing analytics for the homepage and individual tweets

3. TikTok

Official website: https://www.tiktok.com/

Target audience age: 18-29 years

Monthly active users: Approximately 1 billion

Target countries: USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Southeast Asia, Singapore, with the USA having the most users

Suitable products: Daily necessities, specialty foods, small electronic appliances, fashion and beauty items

Advantages of TikTok:

• Large consumer market in the USA, with over 30 million social e-commerce buyers in 2023, showing a surge in consumer groups, surpassing Pinterest in 2022.
• Benefit from new marketing models, such as live streaming and short video product promotions, which can quickly bring in overseas traffic and stimulate consumer interest through creative advertising.
• Friendly traffic distribution for beginners, similar to the algorithm on China’s Douyin platform, where good video creation and creative output, as well as social interaction, receive fair traffic distribution.

Practical features of TikTok:

• TikTok independent site, suitable for Chinese sellers to operate independently without needing overseas inventory, with domestic dispatch of products
• Short video/live shopping carts, stimulating potential shopping desires with one-click ordering during video viewing
• Launching challenges and topics, a popular way to enhance social interaction between merchants and consumers

4. YouTube

Official website: https://www.youtube.com/

Target audience age: 18-49 years

Monthly active users: 15-20 billion

Target countries: India, USA, Indonesia, with India having the most users

Suitable products: Educational products, technology and internet, fitness and beauty, gaming and entertainment

Advantages of YouTube:

• More suitable for video content creators with strong capabilities, benefiting from AI and technology advancements, with better exposure and traffic accuracy compared to other platforms
• Lower platform restrictions, large user base with a huge traffic pool, friendly to ordinary users, allowing unregistered users to watch videos, high monthly active and interaction rates, beneficial for Google SEO rankings
• B2B marketing advantages, with data showing over 60% of B2B marketers using YouTube and achieving certain transactions in recent years, making it a platform for product display and educational training, promoting effective customer cases

Practical features of YouTube:

• Video subtitle translation, using Google Translate to provide real-time translations of original subtitles
• Video live shopping, officially launching a shopping channel where users can shop during live streams
• Linking to Fourthwall stores, allowing users to connect to Fourthwall stores and manage content in Studio in bulk
• Audience segmentation, analyzing different segments’ viewing and retention, such as new versus old viewers, subscribed versus non-subscribed viewers

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