As a marketer, or even a small business owner (in that case you probably play the role of the marketer too) it can be a little overwhelming when deciding which social networks you need to be active on.
So, stop stressing out and repeatedly asking yourself these dreaded questions - Do I need to be on every single social network out there? Is having a presence on all of them that valuable? Do I have enough time for all of this?
Let's talk about where you should start.
Which Social Networks Should I be on?
The first step in deciding which social networks to be on, you need to ask yourself what social networks your personas are on. Personas are a fictional representation of your ideal buyers/donors of your product or service based on demographic, background, lifestyle and values. To learn more about personas, check out this blog.
Once you have defined who your personas are, find out what social networks they are active on and that's where your company should try to have a presence.
For example, 27% of internet users age 18-29 are on X / Twitter. Do you have a persona that falls within that age group?
Perhaps that 77% of 30-49 year olds use social networking tools, and 73% of them are on Facebook will help you decide if that's the right place for you.
Find out which social networks your personas are on and make an informed decision based on that knowledge.
Check out the Competition
It also never hurts to take a look at which social networks your competitors are on and how they are utilizing it.
Are they doing a great job? A poor job? Are customers coming to them via social networks with inquires and using it as a customer service tool?
If this is the case, your company should definitely be present as well. You'll want to have the opportunity to reach customers and potential customers, and allow them to be able to reach you too if this is their preferred method of communication.
Use an Automation Tool
If you're beginning to feel overwhelmed by being able to maintain social networks, there are a lot of great automation tools out there that are free for basic services.
Personally, I prefer Hootsuite and have since 2010. You can link Facebook, X / Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ accounts and more for easy social media management.
Google+
If I can offer one suggestion, I would suggest building out your Google+ page. Whether you choose to post to it, or not, is really up to the way you decide to implement your social media strategy.
This somewhat explains it all.
Google+ is becoming a more dominant force when searching and it is smart to at least populate contact information, logo and put a link to your website. The more information you can provide to make it easier on users, the better.
Check out this image below. The content inside the red square are all being pulled from Pottery Barn's Google+ page.
Try to remember not to be intimidated by all of the social networks out there. Find out which ones your personas are active on and stick to that. Also, you don't have to do it all at once either. You can always do one at a time. Quality is always more important than quantity.
Good luck and you have any questions, feel free to comment below!