We live in a time where there are tons of social media platforms available that can help you succeed in generating the awareness that you desire for your business.
For starters there are social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Whatsapp, and Linkedin.
Then comes discussion forums such as Quora, Reddit, Digg; and then platforms for bookmarking or content curation such as Pinterest and Flipboard, YouTube or TikTok; Review or industry specific networks such as yelp; WordPress blogs and lastly shopping networks such as Etsy, Shopify, Craftsy and so on.
And while it may get tempting to choose a dozen of them to increase your brand awareness, how do you know which ones are the best for you?
Now you may be signed up on ten different social media channels and yet no one has heard about you, or you could just have two social media channels and have built a large following over the period of time where your audience knows what you do and what you stand for.
It is always quality versus quantity. Right?
Now how do you choose the best ones for you?
Let’s start with these pointers that should help you simplify your decision making- .
- Know your audience
- Define your marketing goals through social media
- Identify social media channel type and actionability
- Weigh down pros and cons of your social media channel
- Build resources for a consistent content schedule
Know your audience
The first step into finding out which platform is good for you would be to know who your audience is. Who is that one persona that you are talking to?
Why?
So that you can tailor your content/product/services to their needs, maybe offer better range of specific services (than the competition of course) that will help resolve any challenges they’re experiencing or seeking.
This one step alone will ensure that you are building brand loyalty from the audience that wants to resonate with you.
And how do you learn about your audience?
One approach is to understand the general audience behind each social media platform by using the social media demographic data, in-depth research done by the Pew Research Center. This gives valuable insight into the kind of audience you will find on social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitter, Linkedin, and Youtube.
Second approach will be to deep dive into the social media channel that you have or want to choose and follow these steps-
- Note down and analyze what your current customers are like. Figure out their demographics with the information you have or in some cases from the sales team.
- Create a buyer persona by asking questions such as:
- What is your audience like and who are they (age, gender, profession)?
- What do they like or dislike?
- What challenges do they have?
- Where and when are they active the most?
- How do they use their social media platform? Problem solving/ idea generation/ Education etc
- Conduct surveys to understand current challenges that your audience or a buyer persona may be facing or if your services/products are helping them solve it in any way. If you already have a list of email subscribers then your task is easy. If not then look for your audience across several platforms and note down your or your competition’s mentions/engagements/feedback, if any.
- Find and know your competitors. Learn what type of problem solving they offer and what their audience is like.
- Watch for your engagement metric if you already are on a social media channel.
Define your marketing goals through social media
Ask yourself this- what are your marketing goals that you are trying to achieve through any social media channel?
Do you want more foot traffic to your store?
Do you want more engagement on your social media platform?
Increase more website visits?
Launching your new product?
No matter what stage your business is in, aligning your business or marketing goals to your social media channel’s actionability is the key. For example, if you are launching a new beauty skincare product and want your audience to be able to buy directly without visiting your website, then Instagram, Shopify and Pinterest are just perfect platforms for satisfying that quest. In the same way if you would want to demonstrate a product use, then the social media channels that you choose may be entirely different from the ones in your launch.
Remember that all social media platforms are different and they serve different purposes. But it is important to nudge yourself time and again in the direction of your goals. Check with your goals more frequently to see if the current channels are working for you or if the one that you are choosing is going to help you win your goals.
Identify the social media channel type and its actionability
Identifying which social media channel resonates with your goals makes your brand awareness goals achievable. Each social media channel serves a different purpose. Just by randomly sharing content on any channel won’t get you enough website visits. At Least not in the current complex scenario where social media has considerably changed. Therefore, deep dive into what type of channel would help you achieve your goal.
Evaluating Pros and Cons of your social media channels
Understanding the pros and cons of using any social media channel for your business is important to know which ones are working best for you, as your audience may be more responsive on one than the other. Say, you did a Facebook Live to increase the awareness of your new product launch, but only a few followers turned in. Few days later, you made a Youtube video and your website had increased visits.
So, knowing what channel works with what type of content and goals is crucial to your success.
Furthermore, a social media audit helps you identify the gaps that you may have in your social media marketing strategy. If you have some social media channels then conducting an audit will give you insights on different parameters that you can improvise when compared to your competition as well.
Build resources for a consistent content schedule
Gone are those days when it wasn’t a big leap to post on a Facebook page or Twitter account! Content posted as good as once or twice in a week was enough back then, when the online world wasn’t as competitive as it is today.
Social media platforms are ends to meet your different marketing needs. A content posted on Instagram can be different from the one posted on Youtube because they target a different mindset or attitude of your audience.
Conclusion
No matter which social media platform you choose, or how many, the bottomline is to choose the one that you find convenient to use, and have the right mix of content strategies to keep your followers engaged.
Related Posts
