Social media platforms are a dime a dozen nowadays with each having their own pros and cons. There’s the king of social media, Facebook, the king of videos, YouTube, and so many others. But, how do you know which one is the best for your business?
What’s your goal?
It’s important to define what your main goal on social media is.
Are you planning to expand your audience?
Are you trying to drive more traffic to your website?
Are you trying to generate more sign-ups to your mailing list?
Are you planning to use it as a communication channel for your customers?
Once you’ve identified your primary goal, you can then narrow down the best platforms to promote your brand in. If you want to expand your reach, you can establish a profile on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
If you’re looking to use a platform as a means to provide customer support, then Twitter or Facebook may be the right platform for you.
If you want to drive traffic to your website, any social media platform will do as long as you make your offer attractive enough for your target audience.
Who’s your target audience?
Different social media sites cater to different audiences. For instance, Facebook is a hodgepodge of people from all over the world, but the platform itself allows you to micro-target different demographics should you choose to use Facebook Ads.
Instagram and Snapchat are where most millennials hang out. Reddit, on the other hand, has a mostly male user base while the opposite is true for Pinterest. If you want to target a professional audience, LinkedIn is the platform for you.
How much time do you have?
Building a solid profile on any network will take time. You can’t grow from zero to thousands of followers in 24 hours, not organically at least.
For your profile or page to grow, you’d need to put the time in to actually growing it. This means updating it with content frequently, engaging with your followers, and so much more.
If you’ve only got a few hours to spare each week, then consider sticking to two or three platforms maximum.
After all, you don’t want to spread yourself too thinly, or you’ll end up ignoring all your social profiles which aren’t really going to help you grow your business.
