I am sure you are sick and tired of everyone telling you that you need to start using social media for your business. Hopefully by now you’ve read all the articles, seen all the numbers, and are ready to jump on board the social media train. If so, good for you! In order to help you get started, I have put together a 3 part series on how to build an online community. This week, we are going to start off with maybe the most important element in your social media plan: Choosing a Platform.
I am lucky enough to have had the pleasure of seeing Scott Stratten, author of the book UnMarketing, speak a couple of times in the last year. In his speeches, as well as in his book, he talks about the importance of picking one platform when starting out in social media. Scott says, “Build a small stage-your platform-that you’re going to stand on and get people to come to. Pick one place where you want people to find you and play your best “show” there for as long as it takes to build a solid following”. This advice really stuck with me, and is something I always recommend to people who are starting out in social media. Especially small business owners, who already feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything they need to get done. The last thing they need is to have to commit to updating several different social media sites. People tend to jump onto multiple platforms right away (whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, etc.), and then expect to have a huge following just because they are “on social media”. The reality is, unless you are a huge, recognizable brand, this is not going to be the case. However, if you choose one platform to really invest your time and energy in, you can create a really great, engaged, and interested community, that in time will allow you to expand into other platforms as well. So, how do you know what platform to start with?
There are a ton of options out there when it comes to social media platforms. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “everyone is on Facebook, so I should be to”. Just because Facebook is the biggest social network of them all, that doesn’t necessarily mean your customers are interested in connecting with you there. While Facebook may end up being the best option for you, make sure you do your due diligence before coming to a final conclusion. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a platform.
What are your primary goals and objectives?
Before you even start to think about which platform you are going to use, you need to define some goals and objectives for your social campaign. What is most important to you? Is it driving traffic to your site? Driving sales? Is it creating brand awareness? Maybe you want to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry? Once you know what it is you are trying to achieve, you can figure out which platform is best suited to help you get there. For instance, Facebook is better for brand awareness and engagement than LinkedIn, but Blogging and Twitter are better at establishing yourself as an industry expert than Facebook.
Where is your audience?
In order to connect and engage with your audience, the first thing you need to do is find them. To do this, you need to spend some time LISTENING. Are there conversations already taking place about your business/products/services/industry? Where are these conversations happening? Use free tools, such as Google Alerts, Social Mention, or Twitter Search to help you find out this sort of information. Are you trying to reach decision makers in other businesses or are you trying to reach the end consumer? LinkedIn generates the most referrals and conversions for B2B’s, while Facebook generates the most conversions for B2C’s. You also want to take a look at what the online habits of your audience are? Are they more interested in news and current events? Then maybe Twitter is the best platform to reach them on. Knowing who your audience is and where they are spending their time online, is a crucial part of choosing a social media platform.
How much time can you commit?
Another key factor to consider when determining what platform to choose is, how much time you can commit your social media efforts. For instance, Facebook has a much higher initial time investment than Twitter, since it is much easier to set up a Twitter profile than a Facebook page. However, Twitter can require much more ongoing maintenance than Facebook, since your image on this social media platform is largely dictated by you crafting consistent, thoughtful, meaningful tweets while adhering to the 140-character maximum post limit as opposed to a profile page. There are certainly social media management tools, (which I will talk more about in the next article) that you can use to help make your time more efficient, however, whichever platform you choose, it will still require some dedicated time to ensure you get the most out of it.
Choosing the right social platform is a very important step in building your online community. Make sure to take your time, do your research, and be realistic about what you want to get out of it, and what you are willing to put into it.
Next week, we will take a look at the next steps after you have chosen your platform: Growing Your Community.