You’re probably spread too thin.

Your brand needs to be seen, but it doesn’t need to inundate every platform.

All social media platforms are different, and that’s perfect, because no two brands are the same. Picking the right social media platforms to showcase your brand gives you focus and the time to devote to quality content and consumer engagement. Need a little help understanding how to start? Let’s break it down:

Why Shouldn’t You Be On Every SM Platform?

Resources: You only have so much time and energy (and money) to devote to social media. Use that time and energy to create the best content you can, and put it where your audience can easily find it.

Conversions: You need your audience to WANT to see what your selling, not be annoyed at the fact that you’re selling something. If you are anywhere and everywhere, not only does this come across as spammy, it is also seen as unfocused and sloppy which does not evoke confidence in your brand. You run the risk of pushing away potential customers, and devaluing your brand.

Relationships: Social media is about building a relationship with your audience. If you’re not engaging with your audience because you’re spending too much time posting content to every platform, your audience will ultimately stop talking and possibly start unfollowing.

Demographics Are Key

First and foremost, in order to understand which platforms you should be using, you need to understand who your audience is and bring the content to their platform. If your audience is men 35-45 that like action movies, sending them content about a tween comedy will not only be a complete waste of resources, you will alienate them and your relevant content suddenly will be irrelevant. Also, if you find that the majority of your audience is actively engaged on Facebook and Twitter, bringing in a third platform won’t necessarily add value to your brand, especially if the content begins to suffer. Keep it simple, and keep it easy to find for the people that are looking.

Quality Over Quantity

You want to be noticed and you want people to get involved with your brand, but you don’t need to be on every single platform to be seen. How you want your audience to see you and how you want to engage with them? The goal is to get people to stop scrolling and start a conversation.

Focused content where your audience is engaged the most will do far more for your brand than scattered, unthought-out ramblings. Follow your audience’s lead. A tweet with multiple retweets and 20 “@” replies will do more for brand recognition than a Facebook post with a few likes and a couple comments.

Plan. Automate. Outsource.

Just because you want two Facebook posts to go out everyday, doesn’t mean you have to physically post on Facebook twice a day. The best thing you can do for your brand is to plan your social media content in advance and automate. By “batching” your content and automating your posts, you’re spending a few extra minutes up front for a lot of extra time in the end. Time you could be spending on developing your brand and engaging with your audience.

What if you want quality content, but don’t have the time or energy resources to give your social media the attention it deserves? Outsource. It’s as simple as that. Well, almost. When choosing a social media company to work with, you need to trust that the company you pick will “get” you and “get” your brand.

Bottom line, when it comes to having a social media presence, it’s better to have a little and give a lot, than have a lot and with no offerings.

Have you established who your audience is and what their favorite platforms are? How has simplifying your social media platforms helped your company (and sanity!) over all? We would love to hear from you!

Do you have any questions on how to establish who your audience is? Effectivo.Social can help you with that, too!