Introduction

2023 has kicked off and the social media platforms are thriving. From influencers to small brands and large scale businesses- everyone is optimising their growth by increasing their visibility on the SM applications.

From Instagram and Facebook to TikTok and twitter, these platforms are growing at an unprecedented rate. With billions of users thronging through the social media applications, it is a no-brainer that these platforms are where the businesses need to be. But the big question remains how do you find the right fit for your business. Should you get on twitter spaces to open a discussion about a new product in the works? Should you advertise on Instagram so that the customers can DM to purchase your products or work through WhatsApp marketing?

Take a seat and keep scrolling to find the answers to these questions.

Firstly, it is very important to understand that every business is unique and so are its needs. What social media platform might work for a beauty brand may not yield the same effectiveness for a healthcare company. Hence, instead of making a choice that you regret later, it is better to base your selection on a few important parameters.

Quantifying the right social media platform

In order to determine whether a social media platform will work for your business, two things need to be considered- the demographics of your target audience and what can be executed by your business.

A) Demographics: different platforms target different demographics. For example, TikTok is extremely popular with the Gen Z. On the other hand, Instagram and Facebook are relatively more popular with the millennial generation. Similarly when it comes to products striving on getting female clientele, Pinterest is the place to be. Thus, based on what area your business specialises in, the decision should be make.

B) Execution capacity: a lot of businesses get this wrong. Replicating the same content on all social media platforms is not the way to market businesses. Chances are that it might not perform as well as you hope it to. Therefore, it is important to know if you have the capacity to create different types of content for different SM platforms.

Determining the target audience

With the small businesses, there isn’t much luxury of making the wrong choices. The advertising budgets are often fixed and therefore running after every new social media platform, you should be where your clients are. How do you know this? Well, it is important to check your website and get to know where the referrals are coming from. For example, if most of your clients are coming through Instagram, you know that you need to establish your brand presence here. But first determine the target audience before targeting them. For this you need to know the nature of your business, whether you are a business-to-business or business-to-consumer company. Accordingly, you can start analysing where does this audience hang out and which social media platforms do they prefer.

Types of content available

A lot of companies looking to diversify on social media already have a stocked up media library. This visual content can be repurposed for the posts you make on social media. You might have blogs or articles that have been written too. Great! So the first thing you do is take stock of what you already have instead of creating content along the similar lines and posting it on social media. Video content, undeniably resonates the most with the viewers on social media. If you have a lot of these then Facebook, Instagram and YouTube should be up your ally for advertising your brand. However, if you feel you don’t have the resources to create constant content for these channels then these platforms aren’t for you. Platforms like twitter and linkedin work best for blogs and article postings.

Taking a hard look at available resources

The most important factor which is often underestimated is the available resources. It takes a lot of effort in the upkeep of a social media account for a business organisation. So before you choose the right platform for your business, ask yourself a few questions.

Do you have enough people to take this on?
How much time can you spend in advertising on these platforms?
Can you afford a dedicated social media team?
Who is creating and managing the content?

When we talk about resources, you need a cost calculation mechanism that incorporates your social media ROI so that you can have a clear picture in front of you.

Competitor analysis

The most important factor to starting a full throttle advertising campaign on social media for your brand is competitor analysis. You need to know the platforms your competitors are using to reach their target audience. Check their social media pages and know what type of content they are posting and how it is working for them. After analysing the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors you can focus on creating a strategy that works best for your brand.

So instead of jumping on every new social media trend and application, sit back and think hard which one will work for your brand the best and then make the right decision!