Mapping social media content into a marketing and communications strategy can be a tricky
business for companies who are either inexperienced or entering the social media arena for the first
time. The who, what and how can be a headscratcher.
Understanding your audience is key, but knowing where to publish content is also critical, so it might
be useful to consider new research from the Reuters Institute which says that people are much less
trusting of news published on social media than they are through normal channels.
This comes as little surprise; fake news on social media sites is hardly a new concept, but the more it
is publicly blamed, as it was by Leicestershire Police recently for fanning the flames of racial violence
in Leicester, the less people trust it.
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which is looking into trust in the news, reports that
what people think about the news depends on the platform, the country and the audience
demographic.
According to researchers, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook come out as the least trustworthy among
those polled while Google is the most trusted new source.
Delve a little deeper though – and marketeers can always delve deeper into their audience – and the
survey shows significant differences in trust towards news on platforms when considering age. In the
UK, at least 40% of under 35s trust Instagram and TikTok compared to just 3% of the over 55s who
trust TikTok and 6% who trust Instagram.
This is important because knowing who your audience is and how they react to seeing information
will help guide you as to where you place content and which social media channels you use, or
indeed not use.