Whether you’re launching a new business or ramping up the marketing efforts for your established business, social media can be a valuable tool. But with so many social media platforms at your fingertips, making the decision about where to target your efforts can be overwhelming.

The reality? Not every business needs to be on every possible social media channel and if you’re being cajoled into a significant investment with marketing ‘experts’ who are telling you otherwise, getting s second opinion is always a smart thing to do.

Depending on the nature of your product or service, some social media may suit the engagement you need online – while other options might be potentially brand-damaging. It all comes down to your target market. If you know them well (and every business owner who is serious about growth should understand the ideal customer of their product or service), then you will know where they hang out on social media. Basically, for better business, you need to be where your target audience is – and you need to be communicating your message in a way that is clear, interesting and real.

Although it’s tempting to leap right in and set up your business profile on all the social media du jour, if your ideal client is not engaged on Snapchat, or Twitter, or Instagram, it’s probably not worth the time and effort or yourself – or your marketing department – to implement a strategy to roll out there.

Social Media Marketing Is Not About Promotion

What’s important to remember is that successful social media marketing takes more than mere participation. In the world of online engagement, authenticity is key – and people’s radar for the opposite is getting more finely tuned. Showing the human side of your business is important and when it’s done well – through thoughtful posts that are more about sharing values and ideas than they are about blatant advertising – the return on investment (ROI) can be enormous.

Focus On Personal Interactions

Back in the ‘good old days’, businesses relied on personal relationships to keep customers coming back for more. Today’s business owners need to recreate that personal experience virtually. In many ways. it’s easier – after all, with the convenience of almost instant communication as close as your smartphone, your business can reach a bigger audience than ever thought possible.

But the trick is to stay just as focused on people.

Success comes when you appreciate who people are – not what they might be able to give you. Social media traction can take patience and it’s smart to remind yourself that, although the people who follow you may not be your customers now, they might be in the future.

Social Media? It’s As Easy As 5…3…2

Whatever social media avenue you do decide to focus on, the 5/3/2 rule is a helpful guide:

• 5 social media posts featuring relevant info you share from other interesting sources 
• 3 posts that are non-salesy – and derived from info of interest to your audience
• 2 posts with a personal touch to show the human side behind your business.

Facebook

One of the best things about the undisputed king of social media? Whether you post daily or weekly, your fans will still be your fans. With the flexibility to run different pages, or groups, it’s a handy way to stay connected to specific sections of your audience.

Twitter

It’s become a popular way for customers to share customer service complaints and savvy businesses can manage this well, as long as they stay within that 140-character limit of each new tweet. You can also share videos, photos, links and enjoy the potential for wide reach of more than 320 million worldwide users. Obvious self-promotion is unpopular here. It’s all about sharing relevant, interesting content.

Pinterest

A tailored collection of digital pinboards can be created to showcase niche interests. It’s a very visual tool and one that works well for food-related business, fashion, architecture and design, as well as fitness and exercise. In relation to post frequency, Pinterest can work with a less regular approach but, depending how many individual boards you have, managing the boards themselves can be time-consuming.

Instagram

More than 400 million users are on this platform that is all about video and images. It’s the most mobile social media and offers interesting potential for any savvy business owner who ‘gets’ how to use hashtags. Don’t let the absence of your fellow industry mates fool you – this can be a powerful tool and it’s one that is worth researching to understand properly.

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Is your product or service pitched to younger people? You can share a variety of different post types (audio, video, photos, text, etc) and it is the home to more than 200 million blogs (most of them are created by people under the age of 25). That audience is what makes it stand out from the social media pack and, with its tightknit community made up of smaller, niche sub-communities, your focus can be laser-like.

With so many social media choices, do your research, find your target audience and focus on one or two platforms to start with. Don’t expect results overnight but do keep your eye on your conversion rates over time. If it’s not working for your business, there are plenty of other platforms to explore.