What is holding you back from promoting your business through giving social media marketing? Is it deciding which social media platform should you use? Should you use all, just a few or many? Social media is very much like your social life: it can be rewarding, awkward, confusing, demanding or even fun. Many people believe that social media is a very valuable resource, but at the same time, great care needs to be exercised in terms of managing the amount of resources and time invested in it. With the insurmountable number of available social media channels on the Internet today, you may be tempted to simply throw up your hands and scrap the whole idea of social media marketing. Too many choices have been shown time and again to be overwhelming, which can make it hard to choose anything at all.

In today’s market, here is the bottom line: If you want to keep your business growing and increase sales and profits, you will need to use social media. Which forms of social media you select and how many of them you manage are, of course, entirely up to you.

Pick Your Targets

Considering the networks your target markets will be most active on in order to maximize your time and resources on social media is the first step. Do you recall your parents or guardians reminding you to choose your friends wisely when you were young? Keep that in mind as you choose social media marketing for your

business. With all the available social media platforms out there, it’s important to select only the best social media sites for running your marketing campaigns in order to maximize your limited social media time and resources. Certainly utilizing many, if not all, of the available resources and networks may seem ideal at first glance, but be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.

Social media management does not take too long to see a profit, however, there is a point of diminishing returns and how much time and budget you have available for these undertakings. Investing no time or finances will reap no reward, but investing too much will leave you tired, confused and frustrated. It’s essential to focus only on the social media platforms most likely to raise awareness within your target audience and net you profit. 

Know Your Customer Base

Instead of just blindly following the social media crowd, it’s better if you approach it the same way people choose their hangout spots when for social activities. When choosing, they simply ask themselves, “Where do the folks with the same interests as me hang out?” The more familiar you become with using social media, you will start to realize that the term “cool” or “relevant” is subjective and could mean different things for different people. So when it comes to social media marketing, you need to know your prospects and customers as well as their interests.

Narrow Down Your Choices

Lastly, you must narrow down your choices of social media platforms to use based on which networks your customers will probably gravitate towards. If you are targeting primarily middle-aged men, you’ll be looking into entirely different networks than if you are aiming to catch the attention of twelve year old girls. Choosing the strategy that works best for your target market will result in success for your business.