WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM IS RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
Dear confused business owner,
Have you decided yet on the social media platform to open up for your business?
Is it gonna be Facebook or Linkedin or Twitter or Instagram, or maybe you were thinking of going to the other side of the wall to Tiktok, Tumblr, Reddit, Youtube, Snapchat or Pinterest?
It can be entirely frustrating because there are so many platforms to choose from and you can’t possibly be in every single one of them… duh!
Okay so I may be coming on too strong for you, and that’s because I know that this subject has already been over flogged, there are tons of articles, blog posts, infographics and whatnots telling you about what you must know, what you must do or think before choosing a social media platform for your business.
(By the way, I’m gonna be linking to 4 dope articles from very reputable writers on this at the end of this post, if you are the kind that loves to read and spend quality time doing your research)
I’m not about to bore you with all of that. I am here for the business owner who is already having a pounding headache from thinking about the best way to go about this whole social media marketing of a thing.
I want you to know that it’s not all that bad, It’s actually a good thing that you are not just jumping off to create social accounts, plastering your business name and logo all over the place because it’s free.
There are levels to this, if you want to win and you are serious about it, every move you make will be calculated and well thought out, even something as simple as choosing a social media network for your business.
You don’t want to be talking to the thin air, do you?
It hurts to take so much time to set up your business, open, and set up your many social media profiles only to have just 10 followers after 2 months. It sucks and it’s not what you want.
That is why I want to take you through some simple questions that will help you understand which social media profile is actually very right for your business and will be worth your effort.
Please note that you can have more than 1 social media profile if you choose, as long as they fit your business purpose, your target customers and your type of content, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
On to the questions…
4 Questions to ask when choosing your business social media platforms
1. What is my objective?
Why am I even coming on social media in the first place?
This is the first question you’ve got to have a clear answer to.
Is it to generate brand awareness, get new leads, promote good PR, build a community of advocates, have personal one on one chat with your audience, generate sales or to meet other professionals if you are a B2B? These are valid questions because each social network has specific strengths.
This question can even help you tick out some social networks that don’t fit
Check out this article on the specific purposes of the different social media networks.
2. Where are my target customers?
When you started your business, you obviously had a clear picture of who is most interested in your product or service.
When you were getting to know your customer better, you will have come across the social networks they engage with the most. What are their interests? If your customers are mainly professionals in the business space, you will have better luck finding them on LinkedIn than you will on Twitter or Facebook.
Knowing where your target audience prefers to network and spend time will help you streamline which social networks you should set up shop in. You can find this out by simply talking to your audience.
3. What networks are my competitors using?
When you see the networks your competitors are building on, it can give you a better understanding of what’s working and what isn’t.
This saves you the time of trying and failing on networks your competitors have completely ignored or who knows, you might just want to try something different and see if it will give you better results.
Nonetheless, spy on your competitors and use that knowledge to get better in your business.
4. What kind of content will I create to attract my target customers?
Are you into visual content? then Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr are great choices.
Do you write more reports or white papers like case studies? then you might want to go to LinkedIn.
Is your content focused more on videos? then youtube is your go-to.
Your type of content has to match the platform, you need to consider which kind of content your target audience will prefer, what kind of content can you create that gives the most value.
This final question also helps you choose your social media platform better.
While you can leverage useful tools like Hootsuite and Buffer e.t.c. to automate your posts and content, you will still need to analyze your page’s performance, understand them and act based on the data you have analyzed.
Because you have many other worries on your plate about running your business and getting more customers, you might want to hire a certified social media marketer to handle your social media strategy and execution.
It’s usually better that way but if you know that you have the time, you can stay consistent and relevant, then do it by all means.
I hope these few questions have been super helpful in guiding your choice of the social media platform for your business.
Were you bored? Did you learn anything new? If you did, that's fantastic, please share your insights with me in the comments section.
Chat me up on Instagram at @charisblack or email me at zioncharis@gmail.com if you see that I have missed anything in the post or if you have objections to the post, I’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Now the links for further study:
