Not every social media platform is good for every business.
You shouldn’t spend your time creating and growing your business’ online presence on every platform. Not only will you be exhausted, but it’s not effective. Instead, you should narrow down your choices and focus on the sites that will give you the most value.
Now, you might be asking yourself, how many social sites should I be on? Personally, I would say at least 3, but not more than 5 social media channels are just the right size.
The reason for this is to have your business presence diversified but not too spread too thin.
I mean, think about it.
You will actually want to be posting on these platforms.
That requires content and time. Do you or does someone on your team have that time?
Choosing the right social media platforms for your business can be challenging but being educated enough about each one makes it much easier to know which ones will more readily welcome your presence.
The trick in choosing the best social networking platform is all about having a well-defined goal, understanding your audience and where they can be found, and choosing the platform that matches the type of content that represents your brand.
Step #1: Define Your Goals.
You can achieve a lot of things with social media, but it’s important to have specific goals before you move forward.
For instance, let’s say your business is a start-up and you want to sell your own products online.
Because your business is new, you might want to let people know about your business first before offering them your product; hence, your first goal would be to increase your brand awareness.
Step #2: Research Where Your Audience Is Hanging Out
The entire point of starting and growing your online presence on social media is for your business to touch with your target audience. The social platform you choose must be where your target audience is spending their time.
There are several ways to do this.
One of the usual strategies you can use is to analyze your competitors’ audience.
For example, if your business is selling physical products online, then look for a brand or business that does the same and look at their social media accounts.
One factor that you can look at is their following and engagement.
If they have more followers and engagement on one particular social media platform than on another, then that’s a good indication that the former site is a great place to make an account.
Step #3: Determine The Type of Content You Will Create
Determine the type of content that your business will create and share on social media.
Why? Because each type of content works differently on each social platform.
Let’s take YouTube as an example.
Although you can promote links to your blog and/or add photos and other content, video is the most used and popular format of content on the channel.
So if you want to grow on YouTube, your content should be mostly videos.
Step #4: Compare The Different Social Media Platforms
Now that you have a defined goal in mind, know where your audience is hanging out, and have determined the type of content you’ll produce, it’s now the time to compare some social media platforms and figure out which ones meet all of your needs.
I’ve compiled a list of the most popular and most used social media platforms worldwide, with some helpful information to help you choose the right platform for your business.
Scroll up to the video to find out all about it!