Stop trying to be everywhere. The only Social Media Platform that matters for your business is the one where your client is.
The first, and perhaps most important step, is to choose the primary social media platforms you will focus on to get your message in front of your clients.
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Focus on the one or two that will have the most impact on your business.
In order to do this correctly, you need to know who your audience is:
Ask where do they spend most of their time when it comes to social media?
Where do they interact with brands and businesses they like?
What sites are most likely to influence them to purchase?
Who are the biggest influencers in your space and what platforms do they use?
If your audience is younger, you may want to focus on Instagram and YouTube, which have a strong following among Millennials. If you are a coach, consultant or agency, your focus is mostly business professionals, LinkedIn can be a good place to focus your efforts. If you’re targeting women or creative entrepreneurs, Pinterest is probably a good place to start.
Think of it this way…
You want to be where your audience is most active.
You want to publish most of your content on the platform where your audience hangs out the most. After all, you want your audience to interact with your content.
If you are publishing primarily on platforms where they don’t spend their time, they won't find you or become aware of you. And you are leaving lots of money on the table.
If you don’t know where your audience spends most of their social media time, simply ask them!
Send out an email to your list and ask them to tell you what social media platforms they use the most. Or create a poll on several different social media sites and ask your followers to respond.
Use metrics. Another great way to determine where your audience spends their time is to look at the content you’ve already posted on social media and see what has gotten the biggest response.
Have you gotten more comments, likes, and shares on one particular social media site? That may be the one you want to focus on.
One other thing to consider when choosing your social media platform is what you’re selling. Depending on the products or services you sell, one platform may be better than another.
For example, if you sell physical products or have a digital course, a visual platform like Instagram or Pinterest might be the best option for you.
On the other hand, if you’re primarily focused on selling services, a platform like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn might work more effectively for you since you can explain a bit more about what you’re selling.
Also, identify if your audience is most likely to interacting with social media through their mobile device or desktop.
As you consider which platform(s) to use, it’s essential that you think smaller rather than bigger. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin across multiple social media platforms.
It would be better to focus on and master one or two platforms than to try to constantly post on ten different ones. Get real consistent first. You can always expand your reach.
The reality is you don’t have enough time to just post across a variety of platforms. You will get better results if you focus 100% of your energy on a couple of platforms instead of 20% of your energies to a bunch of different platforms. You will be able to make more impact and spend less energy than trying to do it all.
If you’re still not sure which platform to focus on even after surveying your existing audience, you can always fall back on Facebook. With over 2 billion users, you can be sure that your target audience spends at least some time on the site.
At the end of the day, what matters most is not the particular platform you choose but rather that you choose one and stick with it. When it comes to social media, consistency is almost always the most effective way to win an audience.
So pick your platform and commit yourself to posting regularly on it.
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