Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter, Periscope and many many others. How the heck do you choose the right place to spend your marketing dollar? Social media is a great opportunity for you and for your business to reach a high number of potential customers. But lets face it, you can’t be amazing on every possible platform. It can be demanding on your energy and resources. With all of this in mind – what is the best possible way to exist on social platforms in 2017?
How We Use Social Media
Do you remember the advice of picking just one platform and focus on it? Forget it! This time has long passed. People use various platforms in a complex variety of ways and it is your responsibility to do the same. I am not saying you should be everywhere – but you should be very calculated on what you do where. You need to know how your customers use social media and be in all the right places at the right time and in the right kind of way.
Is Facebook the King of All?
Facebook has more active users than many of them combined. 1.15billion people. That’s a lot of heads and if you decide to skip Facebook entirely you may be missing rather big slice of the pie. In my opinion Facebook is a must place to exist in some way. Whether you like it or not, it is the elephant in the room. Worst even, with everything that is happening we don’t know the extend to which Facebook will grow over the next few years. As with everything, there are two sides of each coin. Whilst Facebook is undoubtedly the giant it is also becoming harder and harder to reach a decent amount of people on there. Facebook is changing it’s algorithm all the time and even for those really good at it, it simply is very hard to have a good free organic reach.
Which Platform Is for Me?
The bottom line is – be where your audience is. Why not ask them what social platforms they choose to engage in and start working on there? Another often unspoken aspect of choosing the right platform is your own personal goal and skill. What is your own personal objective of the whole social media game? Engagement, conversions, lead generation, idea generation, sales or the community growth? Regardless of the answer your presence on social media will create credibility and trust. The “I have seen this before” feeling of familiarity. The era of big banners on the street and ads in the newspapers is long gone.
Have Fun in the Process
When you are selecting the right platform don’t forget to choose one that enables you to be you. We all have different talents. Being good on a camera, making great photographs, writing good and snappy lines? What is the one thing that comes so easily to you? Try to match this skill with a social media platform. It is important as you will not be good at something you don’t enjoy. Don’t get obsessed with numbers either. They need time to grow and if you enjoy yourself there is no way they won’t.