Social media is officially one of the best marketing tools you can use. The number of people using social media on a daily basis far surpasses those paying attention to newspapers or TV ads compared to 10 years ago. With over: 2 billion people now active on Facebook; 600 million on Instagram; and 319 million on Twitter. Social media is now considered the number one place to find business. Yet there still seems to be confusion over which platform/s to use. The question I consistently get asked by clients is “Do I need to be on every social media platform?”
There was a time when the answer to that question would have been yes! However, with increased understanding of marketing and how audiences function, the way business owners are interacting with social media for their business has changed. With that in mind let’s look at who your audience is and what they are doing.
Learn About Your Audience
Knowing your audience is the biggest indicator of which platforms you need to be concentrating on. There is no point putting effort into creating a presence on LinkedIn if you are selling cosmetics or baby gifts. You absolutely need to understand who the people are you want to sell to and which platforms they are frequenting.
Your aim is to attract a targeted following. Get them to interact and engage with you, your products or services. To achieve this you need to find the platforms they enjoy socialising on.
For example a cosmetic company’s products are very visual and would appeal to ladies of all ages. Those purchasing cosmetics usually want to see the products to understand the way they work and how they will benefit them. This audience would be searching for visual based posts so platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest would be ideal.
Many cosmetic companies also use YouTube. This audience are searching for ‘how to’ videos demonstrating how to use the new products. By creating ‘how to’ videos for their products these businesses are getting right in front of their perfect audience.
What If You Don’t Know The Platform?
To learn every social media platform properly would take considerable time and effort. A better plan is to select 2 or 3 main social media platforms and learn them in-depth.
Social media marketing is a process that takes time and needs consistency to yield any momentum or results. You need to spend a good few months working the platforms consistently before you will start seeing results. Therefore, finding a platform your audience interacts with and you can easily understand and use offers you a better chance of success.
Will My Planned Content Work On My Selected Platforms?
The answer to this depends on the type of content you are using. Consider how best your business can be represented through content and the type of content that will appeal to your audience. Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube are all visually based platforms, so are perfect for visual brands. LinkedIn is a more professional platform, offering informative, formal written posts. Whereas Facebook and Google+ work best with a combination of visual and written, thought-based content and Twitter is fast paced and needs sharp witty content that grabs your audience’s attention fast. In all cases the use of eye catching imagery or video is vital to get noticed and should be precise, clear and on message.
So, back to the original question – Do I need to be on every social media platform? No, you do not! You only need to be on the ones where you can attract and engage with your ideal audience for the products or services you offer.
If you would like further help understand who your ideal audience is or with training on any of the platforms then please ase click here.