How to choose the right social media platforms...

Are you using the right social media channels for your business?

Social media marketing is an integral part of your marketing strategy, as it drives brand awareness, drives website traffic and it helps you promote your products and services. It’s important to know and understand that not all social media platforms are the same. Businesses need to be aware of these differences when they develop their social media strategy, as they need to put the right efforts into the right channels to get the best results possible.  

Some social media channels work best for B2C businesses and others for B2B businesses, as they attract different audiences. It’s wasted time and effort to create content on a platform that you know your audience isn’t active on. It’s better to choose two or three channels and post high-quality content, then to spread yourself too thinly and post content on all social media platforms.

If you’re starting out on social media or need to re-assess your current social media activity, ask yourself these 5 questions:

1. What social media channels are best for your business?

The first step is to shortlist the B2B vs. B2C social media channels. For instance, LinkedIn or Twitter may be more appropriate for B2B businesses and Facebook or Instagram for B2C businesses. If you’re looking to sell your online coaching membership on your website, posting trending videos on Tik Tok may not be the right choice. 

2. What are your social media goals?

Assess which social media platforms would be best to help you achieve your business goals and your social media goals. Aligning social media platforms with your goals is key for business growth. If you want to sell a product, you could look at Pinterest and Instagram or if you’re looking to generate leads, you could use LinkedIn.

3. Which social media channels are your target audience using?

Think about where your target audience ‘hangs out’ and try to understand a bit more about them. Are they male/female, millennials/Gen Y, where do they live, etc.

Are they likely to be posting videos on Tik Tok or reading thought leadership articles on LinkedIn? If you have existing social media platforms, monitor your insights to understand more about your audience and if you have a website, you can also look at your Google Analytics to see which social media channel is sending the most traffic to your website.

4. Which channels are your competitors using?

It’s good practice to research your competitors and find out which channels they are active on, how often are they posting and the type of content that their customers/ clients are engaging with. This will give you great insights on what could maybe work for your business.

5. What type of content is shared on the social media channel and what content is your audience interested in?

Your content needs to align with what your audience is interested in. Engagement is a key indicator of what they like and don’t like. Asking your audience what type of content they want to see is also great way of getting feedback! Once you know what content will get the most engagement, research the social media platforms. Is their content in line with the content you want to create?

 Over to you...

Choosing the right platform is a combination of knowing where your audience hangs out, the type of content that you want to create and what your business and social media goals are. If a platform isn’t working for you, it’s worth re-evaluating your strategy and focusing on the right platforms for your business.

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Photo by Etienne Boulanger on Unsplash and Photo by inlytics on Unsplash.

Written by Sarah Pascaru, Founder of Social Jooce. Follow @socialjooce on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.