5 Questions To Help You Choose The Right Social Media Channel

Are you using the right social media platform to maximize your online reach?

It’s important, especially if your resources are limited, that you’re focusing your social media efforts in places that will generate the most return for your efforts.

Not all social media is created equal. Different platforms attract different audiences.

There’s no point spending your time on a particular social network if your audience isn’t there. Nor should you spread yourself too thin by trying to be everywhere at once.

Every additional platform your business is active on means additional time and effort required to engage on and create tailored content for that platform.

Before becoming active on a social network, try answering the following questions to help you choose the platform that is right for you.

1. Will this platform help me achieve my marketing goals?

Setting SMART goals to which you can align your social media activity is a good guarantee of online marketing success. If you can’t explain how a particular social channel will help you to achieve your goals, then it may not be the right fit for you.

2. Is my target audience active on this platform?

The most effective social media strategies are informed by social media data. Refer to Google Analytics for your website to see which social networks are sending the most traffic to your site. Look at existing data to learn where a specific demographic spends their time online. Statista and GlobalWebIndex are good sources of worldwide statistics on Internet usage.

3. Which social networks are my competitors using?

Which social networks are your competitors using? Are they active on networks you aren’t? Use a tool like Buzzsumo to identify the social channels on which your competitors get the most shares. Chances are if these channels match your demographics and are working well for your competitors, they will work well for you also.

4. Will this platform match the content I create?

If you want your content to do well on social media, you’ve got to be strategic about what you publish and where you publish it. You need to create content that aligns with your audience’s expectations on each social channel. Identify how, when, and where your specific audience likes to engage with content. Certain content formats will be more suited to particular channels than others.

5. Can I integrate this platform with another similar one?

It’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every social network. There is a degree of reciprocity between certain platforms — for example, Facebook and Instagram — the key is to choose channels which integrate well with each other to create maximum impact.

To Wrap Up

When choosing a social network always keep one eye on the bigger picture. Rather than being led by current trends, back up your decisions by aligning them with your goals and audience. When assessing a platform ask yourself if it is the right fit for what you are trying to do and for whom you want to reach.

Related Reading: 50 Social Media Stats to Help You Choose the Right Platform for Your Business [Infographic]