Social media is one of the most effective ways for a business to engage with and grow their audience. Utilizing these channels provides a sense of authenticity and gives your business a more personable feel as consumers can interact directly with the voice of the brand. That leaves one underlying question: which social media platforms should your business be on?
Each channel offers its own unique experience along with a specific group of users that interact with and digest content differently. Being aware of this on the front end will allow you to fully take advantage of this “free” marketing tool.
While there is not a one size fits all for social, the tips below will help you to take a deeper look at your business and what platforms would maximize your digital experience.
1. Understand Your Audience
If you are exploring social media, chances are your business has already taken the time to build out and understand what your target audience looks like. If not, this is a great exercise your internal team should complete in order to properly execute your marketing campaigns. Your research should look specifically at your audience demographics, and in return, where they would “live”.
For example, if your target audience is on the younger side (15-30 years old) or if you work in the e-commerce space, you likely will explore platforms such as Instagram or Tik Tok. But if you are seeking to engage with business professionals or B2B relationships, you will likely utilize LinkedIn as your way to connect with potential consumers.
Doing a deep dive into your market and the age & specifications of your audience will allow you to feel more prepared when building out your social strategy.
2. Research Your Competitors
Another way to make decisions as to what platforms you should be using is to take a look at where your competitors are. Just as much as understanding market trends is a key piece of your initial business plan, it is important for your marketing strategy.
Reviewing what platforms they are using, how frequently they are posting, what their engagement looks like (likes, followers, etc.) all plays a key part in understanding where your audience lives as well.
Once you are able to understand where it appears they are performing well, you can test those platforms with your audience too. Make sure that once you make those decisions, you set KPIs for each platform. This is crucial for monitoring the success of your brand on each social channel as well.
3. Acknowledge The Differences In The Platforms
Now that you have a general understanding of your audience and your competitors, recognizing the high-level differences between platforms will assist in your decision-making as well. Each and every channel has a different way of communicating with their audience and their very own “personality”.
As mentioned previously, LinkedIn is a great tool for B2B communication consisting of tips and advice for your field in addition to sharing your company services. Twitter is a conversational app used to discuss trends and, in some occasions, light-hearted humor.
If you are in the e-commerce market or service industry you will likely seek to connect with your consumers on Instagram or Facebook… or both! Those platforms are an excellent way to showcase your products as well as connect with local influencers that can encourage their audience to explore your business.
Taking the time to examine each platform a little more in-depth can give your team the insight you need in order to move forward.
4. Confirm Your Resources
Another big factor to consider while selecting what social platforms would be most beneficial for your business is understanding what resources you have available as well as how much time your team has to dedicate to maintaining them. If you have a dedicated budget and a person on your team to manage them, you can have multiple platforms.
If you have limited time to manage the platforms and no budget available, you should stick to fewer platforms. Typically, it takes about 5-6 hours for an individual to manage one social media account on a weekly basis.
Remember that with social you get out of it what you put in – if you put the time and effort in, you are more likely to reap the rewards.
5. Bonus Tip
Now that you understand that each platform is a different experience for your clients, it is important to understand that the content you push out will need to fit that as well. The voice you use on Instagram will not be the same as the one you would use on LinkedIn.
Taking the time to build out your posts in advance for each platform will help you in the long run to ensure your content correlates but is applied differently based on where it will land.
Other tools that will help you to maximize your social presence is using a content calendar, creating evergreen content, and even implementing an email marketing campaign.
Do you still have lingering questions about how to maximize your digital footprint for your business? Click here to connect with the GreenMellen team!