3 Steps to Get your Social Party Started

Launching a new business is one thing, but determining your social media strategy is a completely different challenge. New voices join the social media conversation daily, making it more difficult to break through the noise.

Imagine walking into a party with over 500 people chatting, laughing and dancing. You breathe deeply, exhale and scan the room for people you know and with whom you feel comfortable. You strike up a conversation with them and naturally move your way around the party.

Just like you would choose your social strategy at a party, you should carefully choose your social media platforms. To help you get started, we are sharing three tips to guide you in your pursuit of social greatness.

1. Know the Platforms

There are the platforms that started the social media party and stuck around — Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Then there are newer arrivals like Pinterest, Snapchat and myriad others.

When choosing the social media platforms that will best serve your business, it’s important to know that brands use different platforms for different purposes. Know the identity of each platform: who uses it and why. This will help you decide where to initially establish your brand.

2. Get Really Clear on Your Brand’s Goals

You know your brand inside and out, right? But when it’s time to introduce your brand at the social media party, you may freeze. There are so many questions: Who is your target audience? What is your voice? What is your “why”? You need to know those answers before establishing your brand’s presence on any social media platform. Whether you are a B2C or B2B, write down short-term and long-term social media goals. Do you want to drive sales, increase readership or start a movement? Once you know and fully understand your digital goals, then you can evaluate which platform will make your brand shine.

3. Choose Only What You Can Handle

When you walk in late to a party, you typically find two to three people who you know well. You grab a drink and head in their direction. You pick up on the topic of conversation and pepper in a few thoughts of your own. Once you feel settled, you start to jump around in order to meet new people.

Establish your voice and make it strong and present in the channels you initially choose. We like to use this same approach when choosing the right social media platforms for a brand. As you begin to set up your social media accounts, we recommend choosing three or four platforms that will serve your brand and reach your brand’s specific audience. Build out those platforms and know them inside and out. Establish your voice and make it strong and present in the channels you initially choose. Adding your brand to too many channels at once can become overwhelming and you may drop the ball on channels that really need to be developed.

The list of tips and tricks to choosing the perfect social media channels for your brand is endless. Once you feel comfortable entering social media and introducing your brand’s voice, then you can begin to explore the room more. If the thought of doing it alone makes you sweat a little, let us know. We can help you set a strategy to be the life of the social media party.