Social media is so prevalent in our society that it’s easy to take for granted the fact that different platforms may have different audiences. For example, your followers on Twitter probably don’t know you as well personally as say your Facebook friends. Similarly, LinkedIn is traditionally the place for professional interaction rather than sharing personal information.

As marketers, knowing your audience and targeting them appropriately goes a long way in building proper consumer relationships. It is even more important when a brand or company desires to branch out and reach new target audiences.

Take for example the major league sports of baseball and hockey. Both are trying to capture the hearts and minds of younger audiences with the goal of creating fans for life. The National Hockey League (NHL) has embraced the younger generation who spend hours upon hours a day watching videos, and recognizes that video sharing sites, YouTube in particular, as one of the main platforms to connect with this demographic. The NHL regularly posts video highlights and other game clips on YouTube, and allows fans to comment, share and post videos of their own game experiences as well.

On the other extreme is Major League Baseball (MLB). Lately, the MLB has been under quite a bit of fire over their seemingly archaic policy on video sharing sites. You will not find any video highlights or fan submissions on YouTube, as MLB regularly patrols and requests the videos to be taken down. They do maintain a sparse YouTube channel, which only includes a handful of videos that are predominately team commercials. The MLB claims this is to protect their revenue stream and drive consumers to their paid services such as MLB.tv. Unfortunately, the only thing the MLB has done in this situation is frustrate the next generation of potential season ticket holders.

While the MLB is within their legal means, it would probably serve them well to pay attention to their target audience. Take Old Spice. Remember their ingenious “Old Spice Man” social media video campaign? A company that was once deemed “my father’s brand” was able to generate buzz and excitement among a younger audience simply because they connected with those consumers via a medium that was most popular among their demographic.

When it comes to social media and choosing the right platform for promoting your product or service, we would recommend first identifying where your target consumers are and examining how they engage within that network. Also, go into the entire process with an open mind. A medium you once deemed not appropriate may, in reality, be the perfect platform now.

Have you utilized any new social media platforms that turned out to be exactly the right fit for your audience? Share your experiences in the comments below.