I get it, every time there’s a new, fun social media platform developed, you can’t hold your excitement to jump on the bandwagon and play around with it. But when it comes to companies joining social media platforms it’s important to take a step back and ask yourself a few questions. Some of these questions can even be asked when joining platforms personally as well.
1. What is the purpose of me getting this platform?
Straight forward. If you can’t answer this question right off the bat, you probably shouldn’t be getting this platform to add to your social media mix. Why? Because getting a random social media platform just for the sake of it, is like painting a black wall, black just for the sake of it. What’s the point?
2. What is my strategy and ultimate goals going to be for joining this platform?
So maybe you’ve realized that there is a purpose for adding a particular platform to your online marketing mix. Now is the time to ask yourself where this fits into your overall marketing and social media strategy. Do you even have a strategy? Maybe it’s time to consider developing one first! If you have no plan or goals for your platforms, it’s like driving a car with your eyes closed.
3. Will this platform bring my followers/fans value?
Ding ding ding! This is SUCH an important question to ask. What value is this platform going to bring to my target audience? For example: If I’m a photography business, the value of having Facebook would be that I could easily showcase and share my work visually. Although having Twitter may not be the most effective way for me to showcase my photos. Look at where your target audience is and their media habits, and look at if the content you’d be sharing on the platform will bring any sort of value to your target audience and make them come back for more.
4. Who is going to manage the content going online?
You may decide to join multiple social media platforms but have you thought about who is going to take the time to regularly manage the posts and content that’s going on these pages? Not to mention who’s going to be responding to your followers asking questions etc.? If your answer is “I don’t know” or “I’ll just do it whenever I have free time” then you probably should just not even bother getting it.
5. What am I going to post on this platform?
Often well jump on social platforms thinking we’ll have lots of great things to post and then find ourselves sitting there saying “I have no idea what to post today”. It’s important to have a plan of attack, think about what content would add value, where you’re going to get that content, and how you want to share it out to your target audience.
Source: [socialmediatoday.com]
