fbpx

How To Find The Right Social Media Platform For Your Business

Do you know which social media platforms to invest your time and money in and reach ideal customers? If not, here are a few quick tips.

Erin Smith, founder of The Starters Club | Source: Courtesy Photo
Erin Smith, founder of The Starters Club | Source: Courtesy Photo

Do you know which social media platforms to invest your time and money in and reach ideal customers? If not, here are a few quick tips.

 

1. Hangout where your ideal clients are

This is obvious, but a social media tip that needs to be mentioned. In order to get discovered by ideal clients, you need to be where they are. If your clients aren’t hanging out on Twitter, posting 10 tweets each day can make you feel productive, but it’s a waste of time.

Find out where your ideal client spends most of their time, and learn how they utilize each social media channel. For example, if you regularly ask customers how they found out about you and they mention Facebook, consider how to leverage it. Investigate the potential of Facebook ads, and look into video. Also ensure your format fits the channel. According to Digiday, “as much as 85 percent of video views happen with the sound off,” so video captions are essential.

 

2. Focus on discoverability outside of posts

When you think about social media you generally consider the most obvious – posts. However, groups, niche pages and common activities associated with each platform are a great way to connect with your ideal customers. As you implement a social media strategy, remember that it’s not just about constantly posting content – the goal is to connect.

Each social channel has its own way of helping users connect. For example, Twitter has Twitter chats, a public discussion on Twitter around a specific hashtag, and Facebook and LinkedIn have Groups. Find out how you can connect with your audience outside of just hoping they’ll find your content on a random post. Challenge yourself to connect with them in other ways.

 

3. Use social channels that play to your strengths

Let’s talk about Live Video for a moment. It’s hot right now! In fact, live video is more appealing to brand audiences according to Vimeo, “82 percent prefer live video from a brand to social posts.”

 

Photo: Daniele Riggi, Unsplash
Photo: Daniele Riggi, YFS Magazine

If you or someone on your team is great at live video, then this is an absolute no-brainer. If you’re not there yet, create a content strategy to test out live video engagement. Understand your best communication method and use social channels that aligns with it. Your social media strategy can always evolve as you do.

 

4. Consider an organic vs. paid strategy

It’s not just about organic reach, but also paid. Facebook is the perfect example of a social channel that changes the rules constantly. If you relied heavily on Facebook’s organic post reach, in recent years you quickly found yourself needing to adjust as organic reach slipped to new lows.

HubSpot notes, “More recently, you might’ve noticed a greater dip in the organic reach of your Facebook content because of an important change to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm. In January 2018, according to Facebook’s Head of News Feed Adam Mosseri, Facebook began to ‘shift ranking to make News Feed more about connecting with people and less about consuming media in isolation.'” As a result, marketing content would again take a backseat to content shared by friends and family.

As a result, your social media strategy will have to evolve. Consider organic and paid reach opportunities to boost your owned media assets, such as your email list, website, etc. Consider your strategy for social media ads and what types of paid media will best offset your organic reach across your key platforms.

For instance, Facebook might not be the ideal place to reach customers if you plan to rely solely on diminishing organic reach. However, if your ideal customers are there, and you can target them inexpensively, with supplemental paid ads to boost organic reach.

 

5. Maintain social consistency

There are basic rules to the game for each social channel. For example for Facebook, most experts will tell you that the optimal numbers of posts per day is 4, and to make sure those are made approximately every four hours. For Twitter, a tweet only lasts a few minutes, so to truly be seen, you will want to post at least 10 times per day.

Many times businesses jump on a social channel, but they don’t follow through on what’s required to truly get them discovered. If you can only commit to Tweeting once per week, then it’s really not going to be the optimal channel for you.

 

Each platform has minimum requirements when it comes to discoverability. Be honest with yourself about your time and commitment. Research the fundamental rules of each social media platform. Focus on the ones where you can remain consistent and gain the momentum you need.

 

Erin Smith, founder of The Starters Club, is a serial entrepreneur who has started and sold several businesses and now teaches business owners how to amplify their business through digital marketing and basic business fundamentals. She is the owner of several businesses, best-selling author, speaker, podcaster, dog rescuer, and mother of two.

 

© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.

   

In this article