A virtual social space enabling sharing content and interacting with more than 4.5 billion people, ladies and gentlemen, this is a social media platform.
With close to 200 social media platforms available today, it’s almost impossible to be active on every outlet out there. And when it comes to the choice of outlets you share your business’ content on, it has to be done right.
The ideal narrowing of your social media choices would meet your marketing objectives while allowing you to focus your efforts and get the best return on your time investment. So, if you’re a small business owner, a novel entrepreneur, a digital marketer, an influencer, or just a social media enthusiast, watch out for the following signs to choose the right social media for you.
Sign #1: It’s Where Your Audience Is Active
Your audience is the reason you create content for. They’re your buyer persona, potential prospects, and loyal customers. Audience is absolutely the guiding sign when choosing a social media platform. Where your audience is, is where you need to be.
Regardless of the platform’s size?
Exactly, the platform’s size and number of users won’t meet your expectations if your customers don’t visit the site in the firm place. For example 67% of people aged between 18 and 29 use Instagram. So, if your audience is young, go to Instagram even if Facebook seemingly has more active users.
Internet users have on average of 6.6 social media platforms and spend 147 minutes per day on these channels. The trick is to know which one they spend the most time on. While you can’t create content that would resonate with each and everyone on one platform, your feed should instead be targeted for specific users.
Social media insight tools can help with identifying your target audience and their behavior. You also have the ability to group this target audience into unique groups to deliver special, relatable content as part of your social media marketing strategy.
Sign #2: It Compliments Your Identity
Next, your business, products, services, personality, brand identity, and online presence should all influence your choice of social media.
If you’re a highly visual brand, like a photographer, graphic designer, or artist, your dream platforms would be DeviantArt, Pinterest, and Instagram. That’s not to say that you should never create a profile on other channels. On the contrary, as a business in essence you could benefit from what LinkedIn has to offer niches like you.
Some social media have a broad appeal like Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, while others are more specific like DeviantArt, Dayflash, and Github. Rethink about how you use each platform as a consumer and how you would perceive your content shared on it or your products listed on their shop.
Research your industry competitors too. Competitive analysis is usually conducted when developing your whole social media strategy, but what we suggest to focus on now is what platforms your competitors use, how engaging their presence is on these particular platforms, and where you could stand out among them.
Sign #3: It Aligns With Your Goals
What you plan to share impacts your social media option as well. This is the sign that ties your entire content plan with your social media marketing goals to reach expected results using the available resources.
To dissect what we just said, first, recall your goals. If you’re really into engaging, interactive content for individual followers, you’re most likely heading towards YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok with their rich media feeds, direct messages, stories or shorts, and live streaming features.
However, in case you’re looking for a network that serves customer support, Twitter and Facebook would top your consideration list ahead of Instagram. And most obviously, when intending to share professional expertise and company information for B2B, LinkedIn is your best option.
Regarding, second, your resources, consider your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Even a splendid platform won’t be the one for your business if you can’t manage it. Think of your familiarity with the channel, your skills to design a post or edit a video, your hours of commitment to create content, and your budget for a freelance marketer or marketing agency.
Once a social media platform shines these three bright green lights, go for it!
Even if you never thought of it prior to this blog, every social network sphere is an investment. Don’t hesitate to commit, devote time, and deploy efforts, because every time you nurture your feed, it comes back to your business. And if at any stage you find yourself unsatisfied with the performance, contact TeckYou marketing experts for a free consultation.
