It is hard to keep track of how the social media landscape seems to be changing constantly. New media sites don’t pop up every day, but our perception of them is always shifting. The same is true of the general public. You might feel like you need to maintain a presence on every social media site from Facebook to Instagram, but guess what?

You don’t. Not by a long shot.

In fact, it could be detrimental to your business to do that. Your target audience might be very active on Pinterest and Facebook and never give Twitter a second glance.

The trick is knowing which platforms are most likely to bear fruit – and which are better left alone. Here are some things that can help.

Understand the Key Attributes of Each Platform

Each social media platform has unique qualities. Sometimes the benefits of one platform overlap with another and sometimes, they don’t. Here’s a rundown of each platform’s marketing value as we see it.

Facebook

Facebook is still the biggest social media platform. That means that you’re likely to find a significant percentage of your target audience there. In most cases, choosing just one social media site for marketing probably means choosing Facebook.

Facebook is ideal for brand-building, establishing yourself as an authority in your industry or niche, and strengthening customer loyalty. It’s easy to share an array of content, including written, visual, and video content.

Of course, arguable Facebook’s biggest strength in terms of marketing is its advertising options. You can easily segment your target audience, run ads, view detailed analytics, and adjust as needed.

Twitter

Twitter is built for instant communications. It’s the perfect place to share updates with your followers, create an immediate give-and-take, and release company news without relying on the media.

Twitter’s use of hashtags also makes it easy to track your company’s mentions and trending topics. Many companies have integrated their customer service with their Twitter accounts to provide immediate support when it’s needed.

Pinterest

Pinterest focuses on visual content and is a great platform for driving users back to your blog or website. They also have an option that allows retailers to sell directly on Pinterest.

The ability to create micro-targeted boards and use hashtags can make it easy to ensure that people in your target audience see the content you create.

Instagram

Like Pinterest, Instagram is a visual platform where you can share photographs and videos of your products or services. It has a slightly more casual feel that the other sites we’ve mentioned so far and that can be useful for some brands because it can help them connect with customers.

Instagram is also a good place for user-generated content. For example. Starbucks uses Instagram every year for its White Cup Contest, where it asks users to decorate a plain white Starbucks cup with a unique design. The contest winner’s design is manufactured each year and available as a limited-run product in stores.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the best social media platform for B2B marketers. It’s where you can share relevant blog posts, connect with other leaders in your industry, and make the kinds of connections that can help your business grow.

You can target LinkedIn users by their industry and job title, as well as by using traditional keywords. Sharing information about your business is a good way to build credibility and trust.

Identify Your Target Audience’s Preferred Platforms

Now, you’ve got to take the time to clearly define your target audience and identify the social media platforms that they are most likely to use. To do that, it’s helpful to have a demographic breakdown of each site so you can narrow your options.

• Facebook’s users are most often between the ages of 25 and 45, and they’re slightly more likely to be female than male (there’s a 60/40 split)
• Twitter’s users are younger and mostly between the ages of 18 and 29. They are split evenly between men and women
• Pinterest’s users are 80% women, and most are between the ages of 18 and 35, and they also tend to be affluent
• Instagram’s users are mostly between the ages of 18 and 40, and skew slightly female with a 58%/42% split
• LinkedIn’s users are professionals between the ages of 22 and 54, with a very slight edge toward men, who make up 52% of users

These details should help you narrow your choices and decide which platforms make the most sense for your business. If you sell aspirational products that photograph well and appeal to women – for example, if you own a bridal boutique – you probably can’t afford to pass up on Pinterest.

Know How Much Time You’re Willing to Spend on Social Media

Let’s say that you’ve identified Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram as the most beneficial social platforms for your business. Does that mean you should set up accounts on all three?

Not necessarily.

To be effective, a social account must be active. That means you’ve got to tend to it every day, creating or curating new content and being there to answer questions and comments as needed.

Here is what some “social media marketers” think is a good rule of thumb for posting on each platform:

• Facebook accounts should post one or two times per day 
• Twitter accounts should post three to four times per day
• Pinterest accounts should post two or three times per day
• Instagram accounts should post at least once a day
• LinkedIn accounts should post two to four times per day 

That would mean that if you chose the three platforms we mentioned above, you’d need to be prepared to post, at minimum, four times per day. However, I feel that this might make sense if you were a bigger business and could outsource your social media marketing. If you are doing this all by yourself, posting a few times a week with great content might suffice. My advice is to pick one that makes the most sense for your business and spend the majority of your time leveraging that platform to identify prospects. Perhaps you could use one or two others and automate as much as possible.

Personally, I find these “rules of thumb” as dated. LinkedIn algorithms have changed and the focus is on engagement not content. I would strongly suggest posting once or twice a week but certainly comment and share relevant posts more often. 

While you can certainly overlap and post the same content in more than once place, you’ll also need to consider the platform’s strengths. For example, while you won’t need hashtags on Facebook, more and more platforms are adopting this strategy besides Twitter and Instagram.

Choosing the right social platforms may take a little time… 

But, it’s time well spent. Your time is valuable, and it makes no sense to waste it posting on platforms that your audience is not using. 

For example…

If you’re a CPA or Attorney, you probably don’t use Pinterest…

Auto repair shops probably aren’t too active on LinkedIn… 

Home remodelling & roofing contractors don’t do a lot of tweeting…

You see where I’m going with this?  Facebook would be a good choice for all of the above BUT LinkedIn would be the best strategy if your ideal clients are businesses or corporations.

I hope this article will help you make the best choice for your own business – and for your bottom line.

LinkedIn is by far the place that you want to leverage if you're clients are other businesses.

For these reasons, I designed and developed a 15 day Linked-In challenge with three objectives:

Use LinkedIn to Grow and Expand Your Business For The Long-term

 The 15 Day Quality LinkedIn Challenge has been created to help you establish solid and loyal relationships on LinkedIn.