What Social Media Platforms Your Business Should Be On

The #1 Question I get from business owners is “Which social media platforms should I be on?”

I also see a lot of business owners putting their business on every platform because they aren’t sure.

Over time they figure out which platforms work better but it can take months and ultimately results in wasted time and energy.

I like to take a simpler approach, and take the “guesswork” out by going through these 3 simple steps:

1. Find the Audience

I start by identifying the target audience and then based on their demographics and interests I figure out where they hang out.

For example, I’m not going to target teenagers on LinkedIn, or Business Owners on SnapChat.

For these 5 Platforms Here is the Most Popular Audience:

Facebook:

Demographics: 2 Billion Active Users, Majority are 18-49, but we all know our grandma is on Facebook too.

Is your audience on Facebook? The answer is yes, almost everyone is on Facebook.

LinkedIn:

Demographics: 53% male, professionals, business owners.

80% of B2B social media leads come from LinkedIn. If your B2B LinkedIn is your platform!

Instagram:

Demographics: 18-29 is the largest age group, 58% female and 42% male.

Perfect for visual-based brands, products, travel, fitness, food, and creatives.

Pinterest:

Demographics 60% female, and it is a great place to target women, moms, and brides.

If you are in fashion, home decor, baby/children's clothes or product, beauty products, cooking, health, fitness, wedding, or interior design you should be using Pinterest!

Twitter:

Demographics: 53% male, the majority are 18-49 years old.

Industries seeing the most success on Twitter in 2019 are Entertainment/Music, Aviation/Aerospace, and Computer Games.

2. Business Goal

Next, now that you’ve figured out where your audience is, it’s time to determine what your business goal is

Do you want to build a thriving community on social, do you want to drive a ton of traffic to your site, do you want to develop brand awareness, collect leads, grow your list?

Each business is in a different place and has different goals. Make sure you are choosing a platform that will help you reach your goals.

For example, Pinterest is an incredible traffic driver (when done right), Facebook is amazing for building community, Instagram is great for branding, if you’re business is a B2B LinkedIn is going to be your go-to for lead generation.

Make sure you are putting time and energy into a platform that serves you and your goals.

3. Prioritize

There is only so much time, energy and resources. Figure out what is realistic for you and if you need to outsourcing.

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners making is trying to be on all the platforms, burning themselves out after a couple weeks and then not posting at all because they can’t keep the pace.

Don’t over commit yourself, be realistic. Can you handle 3 platforms? Maybe you can only handle 1, or maybe you're so busy you can’t even handle 1.

If you have time, figure out how many you can handle and then based on step 1 & 2 utilize the top platforms for your industry.

If you don’t have the time, figure out what your budget is for outsourcing your social media and find a Social Media Manager or Strategist to help you be present on those platforms.

So there you have it, the platform your business should be on, without all the guesswork.

If you have any questions specific to your industry let me know, I’d love to help!