Social Media Platforms

There are many social media platforms out there; Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, SlideShare, Instagram, YouTube – it’s enough to make your head spin! So instead of spreading yourself thin by trying to be everywhere at once. Rather, it would be more effective to take a targeted approach, find out which the majority of your customers frequents platforms. And then establish a strong presence on these particular platforms.

Social Media Communication

Each social network has a personality and preferred mode of communication. Consequently, your potential clients are likely to flock to the platforms that are best suited to their tastes and interests. Therefore, it’s crucial to identify your prospective audiences preferred platforms and the most effective language to use on each one. 

Otherwise, you may end up investing a lot of time and effort into launching a social media initiative on a particular platform – only to discover that your target customer isn’t active on that platform. As the number of social networks continues to grow, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to determine which platforms your customers are using.

The Importance Of Finding Your Audience On Social Media

When you join a social media platform, you don’t always know how many, if any, of your customers are using it. I’ve always been an early adopter, and I can remember opening accounts on many major social media platforms. The problem? I found myself talking to an audience that wasn’t there.

I was posting hoping that people would see my updates and interact with me, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, I had massive fails early on with a tumbler and flicker because I didn’t truly understand how the platforms worked. 

My key audience doesn’t even use those platforms! So although I frequently posted what I hoped was great content, no one saw it on these networks and those who saw my posts.

No one interacted with those posts or engaged with me because my content didn’t resonate with the audience on those platforms. Eventually, I realised that my potential audiences somewhere else. 

My key audience consists of sales professionals, sales leaders, and business owners interested in sales and social selling topics.

And this audience prefers to network online on specific platforms like LinkedIn, for example. And I found that the most effective way to achieve success in social selling is to reach a large number of your target audience consistently.

How To Find Your Audience On Social Media

I achieved this by identifying the top three social media platforms used by my target customers and concentrating my efforts on those three platforms. Why should you focus on three platforms? Well, only using one is risky, and it’s time-consuming. You’d be putting all of your eggs in one basket. More so, this can place a considerable strain on your resources of time and money. 

So concentrating on your top three platforms are ideal because it requires a manageable effort, and you’re more likely to stay focused on the task at hand. So why is consistency an essential element of a successful social media campaign?

Well, unless you exert a consistent effort, Your business or product will soon be drowned out by all of the other noise. It’s not enough to hit the jackpot with one promoted post on Facebook and to spend hundreds of dollars on one. Its strategy will not guarantee a positive return on your investment.

At the same time, I wouldn’t recommend joining a discussion group on LinkedIn unless you’re prepared to commit to regular interaction and participation. It’s just not enough to make one or two good comments every so often. Your audience needs to come to view you as consistent and credible before they’re going to trust your message.

Now, aiming to reach a large number of people, make the best use of your time. The more prospects you reach, the sooner you’re going to achieve your sales targets. So join your prospects discussion groups where you access to hundreds or thousands of potential customers.  

Maybe they’re on Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger. We chat with Instagram. Tech-Talk LinkedIn, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, Telegram, Twitter – you name it. They could be anywhere. 

When I started using social media, I didn’t understand that each platform has a language and culture and a distinct look and feel. And because I hadn’t identified the subtle nuances of each platform, I had very little engagement with other users. So after failing to connect with people on some of these platforms, I realised that certain platforms were better suited to my target audience.

Once I determined that most of my customers used LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, I started voting my attention to developing a strong presence on those platforms. For example, whenever I delivered training courses and motivational keynote speeches, I would ask members of the audience about how I might best connect with them on social media. As well as allowing me to stay in contact with these potential clients, their answers provided clues as to where I could find more people like them.

Social Selling Mistakes

Many people believe that you need to establish a presence on every social media platform. Well, the opposite is true. It’s worth spending the time and effort to develop a strong presence on one platform before venturing onto the next. Now another commonly made mistake is to draw false conclusions about which platform is the best.

For example, although Facebook is the largest social media platform. Well, there’s no guarantee that your target audience actually uses it. You also can’t be certain that your audience wants to be contacted on that platform. It’s really important to question your preconceptions and to ask your customers about their preferences.

What You Need To Do Now 

So here’s what I suggest, email your top 10 customers and ask them which social media platforms they would like to connect with you on. Next, identify the top three methods for reaching a large number of your ideal target customer. Then, review the social media platforms that I’ve just shared with you right now, and then determine which of your target clientele prefers three platforms.