I was speaking to someone earlier this week who told me they ‘needed’ to be on every major social media platform – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, the lot!
It all sounds so easy; after all anyone can set up a new account on any of the major social media platforms in minutes!
With the use of tools such as Hootsuite, Buffer and others, there is little additional time needed to post the same content across multiple platforms.
However, there’s more to succeeding with social media than simply ‘being on it’.
Some of the challenges
It’s essential to be consistent with your social media posting. There’s no point tweeting ten times a day in one week and then not at all in the following week. This will only confuse and frustrate your followers.
Each social media platform has different etiquette with regards to what and how often you post. For example, posting on LinkedIn should be limited to one or maybe two per day. There is however nothing wrong with posting as many as six posts per day on Twitter.
Once you’ve decided what tools to use and how often to post, the posting itself does not take a lot of time or effort. The challenge is to find relevant content and/or create your own original content to post. The time, and hence costs, comes in the sourcing and/or creation of content.
Before you decide you need to be on all social media platforms, ensure this forms part of a wider discussion as part of your marketing plan. Define what part social media will play and focus on platforms where your prospects are most likely to be present. Oh, and have time, budget and resources for both original and curated content.
If you’d like help with your social media plan and/or with the creation and sourcing of content, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
