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What's your social preference? Determining which social media platform is most effective for your brand


As a business owner, it's easy to feel overwhelmed when dealing with social media. With so many social platforms and niche communities, it can be difficult to decide which medium is best to utilize for marketing your brand. A common misconception is that every brand should be on every available social media platform. But mass exposure is not always best. There are some key things to consider when you are deciding what platforms your brand should be utilizing:

Do you have someone that will manage these unique communities?

So you've created business accounts for your brand on all available social media platforms? All of your work is done, right?

Wrong.

In order for these communities to flourish and benefit your business, you will need to have someone with social media marketing experience to nourish these communities, manage feedback and generate engaging content. Having a beautifully designed Twitter account doesn't mean much if you aren't regularly using it.

What is your industry?

If you're in the restaurant or customer service industry, then Yelp and Foursquare should definitely be on your radar. Yelp and Foursquare allow customers to share their experiences with others in a public forum, as well as check into your location via mobile devices. Creating an account and claiming your business is a great way to see how your business is viewed by others, as well as a great place to speak directly to positive and negative reviewers in a public forum.

If you're selling a highly visual product for women, such as clothing or art, than Pinterest is a must. With over 80% of users being female, Pinterest is a highly visual platform that allows users to share images from all over the web. If you're selling a service and not a product, then the traditional platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are best.

What is your brand's demographic?

Knowing your demographic is key when determining which platform is most effective for your brand. If you are selling a product or service that appeals to a younger demographic, then social media is the perfect way to engage with that audience. This isn't to say that older generations aren't adopting social media. In fact, the largest growing demographic on Facebook is 50+-year-old men and women.

If you're selling a techy product that appeals to men, then Google+ and Twitter are your best options with 63% of Google+ users being males. (socialwayne.com). Knowing who your buyers are, and each social media's demographic is key to determining which social media platforms are most effective for your brand. Getting your brand on the big players such as Facebook and Twitter is a must, and determining the other platforms to be involved with depends on where your customers are spending their time on social media.