What Social Media Platforms Should I Use For My Business?

Social media is an essential tool for any business owner, I don't need to tell you that!

But, what you might be confused about is which platforms you should use.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn… there are a lot of choices.

So, how do you know which social media platforms are right for your business?

Let’s explore the answer to that question now to help you establish where you should be focusing your social media energies to get the most bang for your buck, so to speak.

What Social Media Platforms Should I Use For My Business?

Prioritising Your Time

In an ideal world, you would have HEAPS of time to dedicate to your marketing and social media presence. But, the reality is, you only have limited time and resources, and those must be allocated to all the tasks in your business, not just this one aspect! So, to maximise the return you get from the goldmine that social media can be, you need to prioritise your time. 

It is really hard to be present on multiple platforms at once. And I mean really present, like engaging with your audience, utilising advertising, and strategically crafting the right kinds of content to publish. The solution is to choose one platform as your main platform. This will be the platform where you invest the majority of your marketing energy. 

Once you have the strategy and content created for your main platform, you can easily repurpose it to use on others. That will just consist of a slight tweak of the text to serve a different audience, change the imagery or even change the format (such as turning a text post into a short video or vice versa). This repurposed content can then be posted on your secondary platforms to extend your reach.

Choosing The Right Social Media Platform For Your Business

OK, so now we know you should be prioritising one platform. How do you choose which platform that should be? There are a couple of things you should consider:

Where does your audience hang out?

You want to make sure you are posting on the platforms that your ideal audience is using. That’s the people who are super engaged in your business offerings and the ones you can help the most with your products and services. If you find the platform most of them are using, then you can get your business in front of them frequently. This will give you a better chance to create valuable sales leads.

Where are your competitors hanging out?

There will be a reason your competitors have chosen to have a presence on certain platforms. It will be because they have achieved success there. So, those platforms will likely be good ones for your business to focus on too.

What works locally?

While some platforms may be popular globally, not all will be successful in New Zealand. X (formerly Twitter) for example can be patchy on the success front in New Zealand. So, be mindful of which platforms are popular for your local audience.

Consider your content

Think about the kind of content your business is going to publish. Visual content like images and videos perform well on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or even Pinterest. But, those platforms are not so popular for text based posts. Those do better on LinkedIn or Facebook. 

Will you advertise?

Each social media platform will have different advertising features and targeting capabilities. If you are planning to undertake paid digital advertising, then you’ll want to check that your chosen social media platform has the capabilities you require for successful campaigns. 

Ignore the trends

Due to the popularity of social media, there will be trends that come and go. It is important to not let yourself get distracted by these. Rather, focus on the platform you know will help you achieve your marketing goals.

Using The Platforms Effectively

Once you have chosen which platform you are going to focus on, you want to maximise the return you can get from it. Here are some of the ways you can do that:

Strategise

A social media marketing strategy helps you to know what you are going to post and when you are going to post. The strategy will also ensure everything aligns with your overall marketing goals and will ensure you always create content your audience will find valuable. 

If you are unsure how to create an effective social media strategy, then reach out to a social media expert like the team here at Face Up Now. We create practical and workable strategies that help NZ small and medium businesses maximise the return from their social media efforts.

Use Video

Video is a powerful tool that can create great engagement for your business. The great news is, many social media platforms recognise this and make it easier for you to create good video! The first step is to film something on your smartphone, then you can use various mediums to add captions and music.

Capcut, TikTok and Instagram give you options to do this. Then, simply add the video file to LinkedIn, which also adds auto-captioning. You just need to ensure you check the captions for all of these platforms before publishing, especially if you use any Maori words in your content.

Repurpose

Any videos you create become your core pieces of content. You can then repurpose the information you have shared in the video to text based posts, images or infographics to get greater mileage out of your messaging. 

Upskill

The best platforms for your purposes may not necessarily be the ones you are most confident using. So, if you have to, invest in upskilling yourself or your team so that you can start to use it with confidence. Here at Face Up Now, we offer approachable social media training for all the major social media platforms, so get in touch with us now if you need assistance with a particular platform.