Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest? Too many social platforms.

If you've have the fiscal means we advocate employing a social media team working around the clock, with a managed blog posting multiple times per day, and engaging on every social outlet--because we see the value. However the reality is that most companies don't have the resources to utilize social media to it's full potential so they need to be selective in their efforts. It's better to have 2-3 wonderfully managed social accounts that work for your company rather than 6 poorly managed that aren't working. So how do you decide? People hear Facebook and Twitter and immediately think their businesses should open an account and begin post. (please don't do that--you should have a plan in place first). While we agree every business should be on Facebook (it's new the Yellow Pages) we believe you need to be selective in the other outlets you choose to spend your time on. After all time is money. Start by researching what social outlets your audience is engaging on, keeping in mind the industry you're in. For example if you're a wedding photographer you should be on Pinterest considering brides turn to Pinterest considering 70-80% (depending on the stat you read) of brides are looking here for inspiration and if you're in the recruitment business it's likely you should be engaging with the Linkedin community.

Get to know the audience of each social network and match it to the characteristics of your audience. Now consider the power of the social outlet—perhaps if it has more buying power, than another or attracts your target audience, or perhaps compliments what you do. Now you must honestly decide how much time you have to dedicate to these outlets and determine from there. If you only have 30 minutes a week don't try to manage more than 2 social outlets, it's likely they won't be managed well. You can also learn a lot from what your competitors are doing, so visit their pages, note what you like and what you don't, and more importantly what you can learn. Now peek at what those you aspire to be like are doing, what social media outlets are they engaging on, how are they organizing their content? What type of messages are they creating? All of these insights can help you develop a social point of view that is uniquely your own.

Photo Credit: Hans S