How to choose which social platform to use is a common pain point among businesses. With so many social media channels to choose from, and limited capacity to produce content, businesses need to be strategic about which platforms in which to invest their time and effort.

How to choose your business’s social media platforms?

When you’re trying to decide whether to have a Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, SnapChat and YouTube channel for your brand - or whether to go for other options, it can get overwhelming.

To start, you may want to consider which type of audiences and consumers use the different types of platforms to see which ones match your target audience best.

The next step in understanding which social media platform is best for your business requires an audit of your own business, its capabilities and resources.

While it might be tempting to create a social media page and get posting, it’s important to make sure you can actually keep up with publishing content on a regular basis, and good quality content at that.

choosing social media platforms around content

The power of bold, unique content is what will set apart your brand from thousands of other brands. So your content needs to reflect your businesses’ unique selling points and the quality of your product and services.

Creating high quality content requires a lot of resources and time. Then there’s the planning and strategy to deliver the content effectively. This comes down to understanding your businesses goals for being on social media.

The most common goals for creating social media pages are to increase brand awareness and build engagement with an audience.

By sitting down and devising your social media strategy with marketing professionals, your business can capitalise on the benefits of social media and plan the type of content you need to create in line with your selected goals. Themes, formats, and tone of voice are some of the factors which need to be considered when devising your social media plan.

From a resource perspective alone, there are entire working professions dedicated to content creation and running social media accounts, giving insight into the skills it takes to produce good content.

From photography to graphic design, copyrighting and ad specialists, there are a lot of elements that go into award-winning social media marketing and being able to stand out from the crowd.

As a business owner, it is in your best interest to focus on the job that you are best at and sometimes running social media takes away from doing that. Again it comes down to an audit of your time and resources.

Social media platforms are most effective when you’re regularly posting content. So even if you only plan one post a week, you may have to dedicate many hours to posting and creating that content.

It’s therefore important to consider if you can maintain that cadence of work into the future.

From a financial perspective, outsourcing to marketing professionals like Green Socials can save you money, even though it costs more than your own time.

For example, creating an informative article may take you an entire day or two to write, while a professional copywriter may take only a few hours (and theirs may be SEO optimised to drive traffic to your website). This is time spent on an aspect of the business that may not be your strength, essentially losing you money.

Also, marketing professionals have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to effective ad targeting, making sure your money has a good return on investment. Investing in high-quality content is just that- an investment that elevates your brand. Assessing your business time, priorities and budget will help you to navigate whether you may need to get some extra help.

Which social platforms are best for brands?

As to which social platforms are best for the content you are able to make, using Instagram and Facebook which favour visually appealing content are best if you have strong design skills, whereas LinkedIn and Twitter favour more informative content.

YouTube, TikTok and now Instagram are considered video-centric platforms which require even more time and effort. Videos require additional resources to produce including the technology to film videos and programs to edit them.

There’s a reason why the demand for videographers has risen tremendously in the last couple of years because these creators make videos look fluid, easy and effortless when in reality it is fiddly and time-consuming.

If you are not someone who is tech-savvy, outsourcing a videographer can be beneficial, but again it needs to be a consideration within your business’s budget.

Influencers and content creators are another great option for those who do not have the time or resources to produce video content as they can produce content with a fast turnaround with a more personable kind of approach.

From a user perspective, people are used to scrolling through images quickly without digesting the content fully, while videos naturally encourage users to pause for an extra second longer. This provides an opportunity for a brand to grab the users’ attention and capitalise on this pause.

Videos also have the power to convey more information more quickly and there is evidence to suggest that social media algorithms favour video content over static images. With all this in mind, you should aim for a balance between video content and static images.

While videos have enormous potential for your business, it doesn’t mean you cannot start with a strong social media strategy without video and work towards adding that element in later for platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

The best strategy is to get a real handle on one platform before launching on another one. It is better to do one very well.

The final verdict: Instagram vs Facebook vs LinkedIn vs Twitter

Our recommendation would be to start on Instagram and Facebook for businesses offering both goods and services that are looking to connect with customers.

Much of the content can be replicated across both of these platforms with the exception of some different wording — for example, ‘link in bio’ for Instagram, and ‘link below’ for Facebook.

LinkedIn would be the best starting option for businesses looking to connect with other businesses.

Twitter can be integrated in later if it is within your businesses capability to stay active on this platform.

Video centric platforms should be introduced once you have a real handling on your first platforms. Start slowly and know that it’s a marathon not a sprint when it comes to sustainable social media strategies.

How to outsource your social media marketing to professionals?

This article has outlined how having a social media presence can be very beneficial to brands, but that it requires consistent effort to create engaging and attractive content.

Many brands choose to outsource their social media marketing to specialist agencies like Green Socials so that they can free up their time to spend on their core business, while getting the social media results they desire.

If you’re convinced about the benefits of outsourcing your digital communication needs, then consider our online marketing for eco-conscious businesses Australia services. Our services include social media management for eco-friendly brands Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania and any other area around Australia (or internationally).

Contact us to set up a free consultation to assess your business social media needs and how we can help you elevate your brand.