Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest, Oh My!

The world of social media is vast, and it can be tempting to respond in one of two ways. Some businesses ignore social media completely, retreating into denial of how critical a presence is. Other businesses go all in, opening 20 different social media accounts, only to find they can’t possibly manage them effectively. So, what is a small business to do?

There’s no doubt the number of social media channels is overwhelming, even for large businesses and social media experts. My best advice for small to mid-sized businesses is to do your homework. Figure out where your target audience is hanging out online. Likely, the 90/10 rule applies here, with 90% of your target audience engaged with only one or two social media channels. Once you determine which channels those are, you can focus on getting a really great presence there, with effective and timely engagement. After all, social media is all about building relationships, and relationships take time to nurture.

So how do you figure out where your target audience is spending their time? Here’s a list of ideas to get your gears turning.

1.    Ask them! Most people won’t mind sharing which social media channel is their favorite.

2.    Consider their interests. If you’re a wedding photographer, I would bet your brides are hanging out on Pinterest, pouring over dress and décor photos. If your target is a ‘car guy’, I would bet they’re on You Tube, looking for videos on how to repair cars.

3.    Do a little research. Just search “social media demographics” and the results are staggering. The research has already been done for you. If you’re more of a visual learner (like me), search “social media infographic”.

So, now you’ve pinned your target audience down to one or two social media channels. Now what? Manage those channels well! The only thing worse than having no social media presence is to create more channels than you can effectively manage. Consider how bad it looks when a customer finds your Instagram or LinkedIn account, only to see it has been abandoned for two months. Hmm, maybe this business is out of business?

Do some research on the most effective frequency of updates too. For example, studies have shown that businesses that post Twitter updates between two and five times per day get up to 300% more retweets or shares than those who tweet more or less than that. Optimal time per day for tweets? 4:00 p.m., but don’t forget about time zone differences. On Facebook, five to ten posts per week is shown to be optimal. Post less than that, and you lose the connection with your followers. Post more than that and it begins to feel like spam.

Remember, you only have to be a social media expert on the small number of channels your target audience is using. Of course, Marketing Flexibility is here to help if you find yourself retreating into denial!