How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand

How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand | Click to learn how to pick the right social media platforms to grow your brand!

This guest post is from Dia Darling, a digital marketing strategist. Check out her blog for tips on balancing your side hustle
with real life and follow her on TwitterInstagram, or Pinterest

There are a lot of social media platforms out there and it seems like a new one is gaining attention and traction every few months. It’s hard to know which platforms to hop on to and which are going to waste your time.

If you are a one-person operation, then you don’t have the time to learn and become a master of all the social media platforms all at once.

You don’t want to halfway participate in 5 platforms when you could be excelling at two.

In order to really excel and connect with people on social media then you need to know 3 things:

  • Who your audience is
  • Where they hang out
  • The rules of where they hang out

Now let’s get into how to pick the right social media for your brand.

How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand

In order to have a successful blog or online business you really need to know who your target demographic is. Are you appealing to mothers? Business entrepreneurs? Job seeking millennials? Really take a moment to think about who your message is for. Often the main mistake people make when determining their audience is limiting it to like-minded people.

On the other end of the spectrum, some people cast the net too wide and try to connect with everyone and be the brand everyone picks. Obviously, you should have things in common with your audience, like you’ve been where they are or you are where they want to be, but you have to think bigger than that.

How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand | Click to learn how to pick the right social media platforms to grow your brand!

Who is your audience?

What is the age range?
What do they use the internet for?
Do you aim more towards a certain gender?
Are you an ambassador for a certain cause?
What are their interests?
What are their goals?
What motivates them?

Create a client profile and write out your ideal client or reader in a detailed description.

If you are a paleo blogger you may not find much success in vegan markets. Really think about the things someone who works with you would like and what they wouldn’t respond to?

Where do they hang out online?

While there are countless social media platforms this exercise focuses on 4 of the most common platforms; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. These are a great place to start.

Instagram

Image based mobile application. 2015’s fastest growing social network with over 400 million monthly users. Large teenage demographic.

Is your audience teens or millennials?
Does your product or service have a strong visual aspect, like design or art?
Instagram is great for very visual brands trying to reach a younger audience.

How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand | Click to learn how to pick the right social media platforms to grow your brand!

Niches that should definitely use Instagram include:

  • Fashion
  • Food
  • Photography
  • Fitness

Things to keep in mind: Instagram’s platform is very limiting when it comes to linking to products. Right now you can only have one active hyperlink in your profile bio. If you are looking for a heavy pick and click strategy you may want to utilize a more linkable format.

Pinterest

Image based online site with a mobile app. Easily shareable content. While the number of male users has increased, 8/10 Pinterest users are female. Pinterest has over 100 million users and growing.

Niches that should definitely use Pinterest include:

  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion
  • Fitness
  • Home- Real Estate and Design

Things to keep in mind: While Pinterest does have a promotional platform, there are applications that help your pins become more visible like BoardBooster. Only high-quality pins get good traffic, so you will need to either invest time or money into making the high quality attention-getting graphics.

Learn how to pick the right #socialmedia platforms for your brand in this post from @DiaDoll & @BrittneyLLynn Click To Tweet
How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand | Click to learn how to pick the right social media platforms to grow your brand!

Twitter

I love Twitter. It’s one of the easiest ways to meet and engage with others. I also like that it limits the characters you can use in a post. It’s a quick, easy summary and then a link to learn more. This is actually a wonderful platform to use to connect with your audience because sharing the content of others and engaging is very easy.

While you can post pictures this isn’t a super image-driven platform. Yes, tweets with images get more engagement but this may not be the ideal platform to focus on for niches like fashion or photography. The hashtags make it easy to get your tweets noticed and find people you want to connect with. Twitter is great for business because you can connect to potential customers on a public forum they already hang out on. You can answer questions, get insights and gain more connections.

Niches that should definitely use Twitter:

  • Business Bloggers
  • Financial Bloggers
  • Lifestyle Bloggers
  • Companies looking to connect with a younger demographic

Things to keep in mind: Twitter is all about pitching as quickly as you can. If what you offer requires lots of explanation this may not be the best way to get new connections.

Facebook

There is a lot of talk about Facebook being over and that with all the constantly changing algorithms and policies that Facebook is only good reconnecting with people from middle school. Trust me, this is not the case. While Facebook is rightfully known for mixing things up on its users it is still a valuable social media platform. Facebook has a lot of the same benefits of Twitter but without the small character limit and options for multiple pictures and graphics.

If you are a blogger, one of the best benefits of using Facebook is connecting with other bloggers in blogger groups. While some say it is a dying platform it is still one of the most populated social media platforms and reaches more age demographics.

Niches that should definitely use Facebook:

Everyone- If another platform fits your brand or audience better, I recommend focusing on that platform then adding Facebook to the mix.

Things to keep in mind: Like any of these platforms, Facebook is heavily governed by its own set of rules. Commit the wrong infraction or if the platform undergoes a major change you could lose your fan base.

How To Pick The Right Social Media Platforms For Your Brand | Click to learn how to pick the right social media platforms to grow your brand!

Final thoughts

While social media is so important in branding in business, it’s even more important to have a connection with your audience that you can control. Email subscribers are a stronger connection than social media followers.

Your favorite social media platform may not be where your target audience hangs out or where they search for the services you offer. Think like your potential customer not just yourself.

What is your favorite social media platform? Where do you see the most traffic? Do you use social media ads? How has that helped your business?

Get access to my resource library!


Free checklists, ebooks, workbooks, and more!

Note: By entering your name and email address you will be signing up for my email newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Powered by ConvertKit

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Candy

    June 7th, 2016 at 9:14 am

    Dial always has great tips and information to help us along our journey.

  2. Brittney Lynn

    June 7th, 2016 at 9:41 am

    I totally agree Candy! Thanks for commenting 🙂

  3. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:29 pm

    Awe thanks Candy!

  4. Kristin

    June 7th, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    Wow! This guide is awesome!!! I agree there are so many different factors and you did such a great job of laying them out!

  5. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    Dia and this guide are both awesome! Thanks Kristin!

  6. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    Awe thank you both! I really hope it was helpful Kristin. 🙂

  7. Valerie

    June 7th, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    This is a great post. I always struggle with some of my social media. Facebook used to be great for me but not anymore. I’m really loving Instagram but it doesn’t drive traffic to my blog. In terms of traffic Pinterest and Stumble Upon have been best for me.

  8. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    Hey Valerie! Pinterest and StumbleUpon are definitely great ways to drive traffic to your blog. Instagram is definitely a little trickier, but can be done. You should check out Caitlin Bacher’s Wham Bam Instagram course, she teaches all kinds of tips!

  9. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    I get a large percent of my traffic from Pinterest and StumbleUpon as well. If you have rich pins, you can see an amazing traffic increase.

  10. Cat

    June 7th, 2016 at 6:28 pm

    Great breakdown. Definitely something all new bloggers should consider!

  11. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    Totally agree, Cat! Thanks for your comment.

  12. Sophia

    June 7th, 2016 at 8:04 pm

    This is very helpful I am still trying to get a handle on all the platforms.

  13. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:33 pm

    Glad you enjoyed the post, Sophia. My advice would be to focus on one platform at a time, you can always add in more later!

  14. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    I agree with Brittney. Don’t bog yourself down. Little by little becomes a lot.

  15. Krista Dial

    June 7th, 2016 at 9:12 pm

    Seems like every few months a new social media tool becomes “the next big thing!” I use all of them now…but Twitter was the most difficult for me to figure out. I love it now, especially for getting news quickly. Thanks for the helpful tips!

  16. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    I love Twitter too, Krista! I use Hootsuite and Buffer to help me with scheduling — makes it a lot easier for planning!

  17. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    I am a big fan of scheduling Twitter just to stay present because as soon as it posts it’s almost gone. But I also recommend logging on once or twice a day to do some live engagement.

  18. Jenny

    June 7th, 2016 at 10:35 pm

    Always love Dia’s posts 🙂 They are always so informative.

    xoxo, Jenny

  19. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    She’s great, isn’t she Jenny? Thanks for commenting!

  20. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    Thanks sweet girl! 🙂

  21. Heather with WELLFITandFED

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:22 am

    I think based on your info I really need to up my Pinterest game. 🙂 that is where most of my deomographic. Also, on Facebook.

  22. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    Pinterest is awesome for driving traffic! I would suggest using a program like BoardBooster to help with scheduling…takes way less time using a program like that 🙂

  23. Angie Scheie

    June 8th, 2016 at 8:45 am

    I love the idea of using a client profile to determine your social media strategy. Once again Dia, you’ve nailed it!

  24. Brittney Lynn

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    Totally agree Angie! She’s awesome 🙂

  25. Dia All The Things I Do

    June 8th, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    Thanks Angie. I really appreciate it.

  26. Jessica

    June 8th, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    I had the problem of trying to excel at all the social media at once. When I finally scaled back things and gave focus to one platform at a time is when I started seeing results! Great advice, Dia!

  27. Brittney Lynn

    June 14th, 2016 at 11:11 am

    Totally agree, Jessica! Focusing on one at at time is a game changer, for sure!

PR Intensive

Book a 90-minute Intensive with our team where we create a custom PR strategy for you.

book now

the Human Connection Podcast

Tune into our podcast where you can learn how to be better at building authentic relationships with your audience

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Hire us

Work with our dedicated, passionate team and hire us to become your retainer publicist.

book a discovery call

ONE

TWO

THREE