It can be hard to keep up with new social media platforms, and even harder to tell whether your business should be investing resources into these platforms when so many fade out within a month or two. If you spread your company’s marketing efforts thin across too many social media platforms, you risk compromising the strong, genuine connections that come from the few platforms that you know your audience is regularly engaging in.
The following are a few important considerations if you’re questioning whether you should be joining the latest social platform.
Your audience. If your target audience isn’t on the platform, it’s a good sign that it’s not really for you. Ask your present customers what platforms they are most engaged in, and if you’re looking to expand your audience type, research where this new group invests their time and let that be your guide. Think about where you’ve achieved the most reach and success in the past. With many options available, unless it is a stellar, never-before-seen platform, the chances are your audience won’t have time to join a new platform, and therefore neither should you.
Available resources. Do you already feel overwhelmed trying to manage content for the platforms you’re already engaged in? If yes, it’s probably not a good idea to add yet another one to your list. If you can’t dedicate enough time and effort to creating good, personalized content for each platform, odds are you won’t see positive results or engagement. It’s important to be consistent and frequent in posting and interacting with users on social media to maintain lasting relationships. Quality and quantity is only manageable within certain limits.
Brand identity. When assessing new social media platforms, it’s important to consider not only if your audience is using it, but also if it’s a good fit for your company. For example, if your brand has a serious tone or subject matter, a platform where content is typically an assortment of gifs and memes isn’t going to be right for you.
Consistency is crucial in creating a strong presence on any social media platform, so if you jump into a new one, be prepared to go all in. As important as creating and posting great content are the interactions you have with your followers. You want to create lasting impressions. An effective social media strategy isn’t about making one-time sales or small bumps in revenue, but supporting your product by curating a long-term customer base and avid supporters.
As with so many things in business, it’s important to think about your goals. Are you trying to increase engagement? Build relationships? Or expand your customer base? Strategizing will help you achieve these goals. rAVe [CREATE] can help you navigate new and existing social media platforms, with our proven success in social media marketing for the AV industry.
