Rethinking Social Media Marketing: How to Use a Behavior-Based Approach For Content

Social media has transformed the way brands connect with consumers. But as these platforms have evolved, so too have the strategies needed to succeed on them. Gone are the days when marketers could rely solely on demographic data to inform their social media approach.

In 2024, effective social media marketing requires a deep, nuanced understanding of user behavior. It‘s no longer enough to know who your audience is. You need to understand what they actually do on each platform – and why.

At HubSpot, we‘ve spent the past year researching this shift and analyzing the factors that drive content performance across major social networks. Our findings point to a powerful new framework for social media success – one rooted in behavioral insights and adaptable to the unique dynamics of each platform.

Moving Beyond Demographics: The Case for a Behavioral Approach

Historically, marketers have relied heavily on demographic data to guide their social strategies. And it‘s not hard to see why. Information like age, gender, income, and location provide an easily accessible way to segment audiences and tailor messaging.

But there‘s one big problem with this approach: Demographics don‘t tell you anything about how someone actually uses social media. Two users who look identical on paper may exhibit radically different behaviors on the same platform.

Consider this data from a recent GlobalWebIndex study:

• 98% of baby boomers use social media to stay in touch with friends and family, compared to just 82% of Gen Zers
• 40% of Gen Zers say following celebrities is a key reason they use social, vs. only 13% of boomers
• 45% of high-income earners use social to research products to buy, compared to 29% of low-income earners

As these examples illustrate, demographic factors like age and income do correlate with certain social behaviors. But those behaviors don‘t always conform to marketers‘ assumptions. Younger users aren‘t always more likely to use social for entertainment, just as being affluent doesn‘t necessarily equate to being more receptive to product-related content.

If you want to truly understand your audience – and deliver content that resonates with them – you need to go beyond surface-level demographics and focus on how they use social platforms.

That means asking questions like:

• What are their primary motivations for using each network?
• What kinds of actions do they regularly take?
• How do they interact with various content formats?
• What role does social play in their path to purchase?

Answering these questions requires a major mindset shift for many marketers. But brands that put behavior at the center of their social strategies will be better positioned to cut through the noise and drive meaningful business results.

The Social Behaviors That Matter Most

Through a combination of consumer surveys, social media listening data, and performance analysis of thousands of branded posts, the HubSpot research team identified five core behaviors that shape how people use social platforms:

1. Bridging – Forming new connections with brands, influencers, or communities
2. Bonding – Nurturing relationships with friends, family, and like-minded individuals
3. Communicating – Sharing information and engaging in conversations
4. Discovering – Finding new sources of news, inspiration, and entertainment
5. Acting – Taking a desired action, like making a purchase, signing up, or learning more

While every social network facilitates these behaviors to some degree, their relative importance varies significantly by platform. Here‘s a high-level breakdown:

Platform	Top Behaviors
Facebook	Bonding, Communicating
Instagram	Bonding, Discovering
Twitter	Communicating, Discovering
LinkedIn	Bridging, Communicating
TikTok	Discovering, Bonding
Pinterest	Discovering, Acting
YouTube	Discovering, Acting

Understanding which behaviors are most prevalent on each platform is hugely valuable for informing content strategy. But translating those insights into action requires an additional layer of analysis.

Mapping Content to Behaviors

Different types of social content are better suited for driving certain behaviors. To help marketers operationalize this insight, we developed a framework that maps common content categories to the user needs and motivations behind each behavior.

Content Type	Primary Behavior	Secondary Behavior
Educational	Acting	Communicating
Inspirational	Discovering	Bridging
Interactive	Bonding	Communicating
Entertaining	Discovering	Bonding
Promotional	Acting	Bridging
Newsworthy	Communicating	Discovering
User-Generated	Bonding	Acting

For example, educational content, like how-to videos and infographics, is highly effective for driving desired actions. Meanwhile, inspirational content, such as quotes and motivational stories, taps into people‘s discovery-driven browsing behavior.

To validate this framework, we analyzed HubSpot‘s own social content performance, categorizing more than 10,000 posts and comparing key metrics across content types. The results were striking.

On Instagram, inspirational content generated a 5x higher engagement rate compared to promotional posts. On LinkedIn, educational content drove 35% more clicks vs. the average post. And on Twitter, newsworthy content garnered 2x the retweets of entertaining posts.

Of course, every brand‘s audience is unique. The specific content mix that works best for your business will depend on a variety of factors, from your industry to your campaign objectives. But broadly speaking, aligning content to a behavioral framework can significantly boost performance.

Putting Behavior into Practice: 6 Steps to an Human-Centered Social Strategy

Leveraging behavioral insights isn‘t about overhauling your social strategy completely. Rather, it‘s about making smarter, data-informed choices about the types of content you create and how you distribute it. Here are six steps to get started:

1. Audit your existing content. Review your social posts from the past 6-12 months and categorize them using the behavioral content matrix. Note any trends around top-performing themes or formats.

2. Set behavioral objectives. Map your priority platforms and campaign goals to the user behaviors you need to drive. A brand awareness play on Instagram will look very different than a direct response campaign on Pinterest.

3. Benchmark competitors. Use social listening tools to analyze your competitors‘ content and compare performance by behavioral category. Look for whitespace opportunities to differentiate your brand.

4. Revisit your target personas. Augment demographic persona information with behavioral insights drawn from platform analytics, surveys, and other sources. Identify key behavioral attributes and content preferences.

5. Develop a behavioral content plan. Create a calendar that aligns your content themes, formats, and publishing cadence with the behavioral objectives you established in step 2. Make sure to tailor topic and creative to each platform.

6. Measure, learn, and iterate. Track content performance using behavioral metrics aligned with your objectives. Continuously test new ideas and optimize your approach based on the results.

Executing an effective behavioral social strategy takes time and resources. You‘ll need robust data and analytics capabilities, a skilled team of content creators, and a willingness to experiment and adapt. But the potential payoff is huge.

According to HubSpot‘s research, brands that consistently align content to user behaviors see:

• 80% higher engagement rates
• 25% greater organic reach
• 60% more website traffic from social
• 40% higher conversion rates

The Future of Social is Human

As the social media landscape continues to evolve, the fundamentals of human behavior remain remarkably consistent. People use social platforms to discover new things, connect with others, communicate their ideas, and take action on the things that matter to them. The most successful brands will be those that deeply understand and cater to these core behaviors.

But doing so requires more than surface-level data and assumptions. It requires a commitment to truly knowing your audience – not just who they are, but what they need and how they use social media to fulfill those needs.

By embracing a behavioral approach to social media marketing, you can deliver more relevant, valuable content experiences that drive meaningful results for your business. The key is to start with empathy, let your audience‘s actions guide your strategy, and never stop learning and optimizing.

The era of one-size-fits-all social content is over. The future belongs to brands that put people – and their behaviors – at the center of everything they do.