What’s Your Primary Social Media Tool?

OK, if you read my earlier story about starting simple with social media then you selected one tool and ran with it.

Hopefully, you’re doing well with it!

You may have also moved onto to other social media tools.

And now, you’re beginning to ask yourself, “How do I prioritize using all these tools, how do I find balance?”

Don’t be embarrassed, we’ve all been there!

(If you haven’t found yourself there yet, go back and check.  You might be overlooking something.)

Especially for small and mid-sized businesses, you know the type – those without large social media staffs and budgets, trying to balance all the social media tools can be difficult, lead to burn out or worse.

The solution is to identify one of the many tools out there and among all those that you use (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) as your primary social media tool.

I don’t recommend that your blog, as important as it is, be your primary social media tool because for most small and mid-sized businesses it’s difficult to have the type of following (i.e., very large) to justify the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket.  (I’ll talk more about your blog in future stories.)

Why should you have a primary social media tool?

Each of the major social media tools has a large number of users.  (Facebook has more than most countries have people.)

You have own a piece of this community with your followers who have their own followers and so on down the line.

You’ll get more leverage from one of these communities than going out on your own and you can leverage your investment of time and effort in your primary selection with your other social media tools.

The idea is to take your original content (including your blog), reshared content, comments, likes, etc. to leverage this preexisting base in your primary selection.

Two of your most critical resources, time and effort, are limited and they must be used in the most cost effective way possible.

(What our marketing friends like to call, “More bang for your buck!”)

How do you go about selecting and leveraging your primary social media tool?

The first question that you have to answer is, “Which social media tool is best for you?”

The right choice will meet your organization’s goals and objectives.

Next, does the tool have the right audience?  (Consumer versus business)

Can you manage this tool both from a technical as well as a time perspective?

(Here, when I say manage, I mean master.)

Is the tool suitable for your content?

(There’s a big difference between LinkedIn Publisher and Twitter.)

Once you’re past these questions then you have to build this into your social media program.

Ideally, you’re thinking about your primary social media tool as you start planning your social media program.

By doing this you allow your other, secondary, social media tools to leverage your primary choice.

Proceed slowly and thoughtfully.

Haste does make waste in this process.

And, please remember to have measurable goals and measure them!

(Can’t say that one enough!)

For the small and mid-sized business, a slow and steady approach is far better than trying to be all things to all people all the time.

That’s it for now!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!