How to choose the right Social Media platform for your business!
Updated: Aug 24, 2021
Choosing the best platforms for your business will allow you to focus your efforts and get the best return on your investment.
Social media marketing has become an essential tool for every business that wants to remain relevant and visible in today's busy online world. It is impossible to have time to be active on all social media platforms and not every platform is suitable for your business. Yet we still find businesses that are quick to jump the gun and set up a profile on each platform.
Each social media platform is built differently and serves a different purpose. It may be perfectly alright to be on a few of them instead of all so that you can focus better. Narrow yourself down to the most popular platforms and then understand your business goals and how these platforms can help you meet them. Here are the 5 tips to help you choose the right social media platform -
1. Identify your audience. Each type of business has an audience that is distinct from another. It is helpful to know who your customers are, their age groups, gender, education levels, where do they live, are they other businesses or individual customers, etc. The answers to these questions will bring you closer to understanding what social media platforms your audience uses.
2. Define your goals.
You need to create goals that you want to achieve through your social media. This can be increasing brand awareness, driving sales through online orders, increasing website traffic, building an engaged community, etc. List your goals and assess them with each social media platform to know how it may help you in achieving that goal.
3. Understand the purpose of each platform.
Once you understand the purpose of each platform, it will help you narrow down your choices. Facebook is the most widely used social platform. Instagram is visual, YouTube is video-based, and Pinterest is for visual inspiration. If you are a local business, Facebook is a great platform that allows you to interact with your local community and build awareness around your brand. If you are mainly involved in B2B marketing, LinkedIn is a great choice. If you are focused on e-commerce, Instagram is an ideal option.
4. Where is your competition?
Research all your competitors and examine the social media platforms that they are on. You can analyze their content, engagement and understand the platform that is giving them great results. You can then opt to choose that particular platform and build your brand.
5. Examine the type of content you plan to create.
The type of content you create will depend on a number of things, including your industry, your brand, and your target audience, but content types you may focus on include blog posts, podcasts, photos, videos, user-generated content, etc. Different types of content work better with certain social media platforms. For example, Instagram is perfect for photos although they do have videos and IGTV that seem to be doing particularly well. Similarly, YouTube is entirely video-based while Facebook supports a variety of content.
It is important to know to not post the same content on all platforms. Each platform can be utilized differently although the content for each platform requires time and planning.
At The Side Hustler, we realize the importance of social media for your blog/brand/business, which is why we are offering you an opportunity to avail of our Social Media Services that includes Social Media Audits, Content Creation and Community Management.
Write to info@thesidehustler.org for more details.
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