3 questions that can help you decide which social channels to concentrate on

With all the hundreds of social media channels available and new ones popping up everyday, digital marketers are faced with the temptation to join as many social networks as possible when starting out with marketing on the social web.

Unfortunately, having a profile on every social media channel requires quite a lot of manpower and attention. Whether you are using social media for monitoring purposes or engaging with your clients, it takes time and effort. You cannot create all the social media profiles and leave them as ghost towns because this will have a negative impact on your digital reputation.

One way to avoid this is if you can select one or two social media channels that really work for your brand and only focus on those channels giving it your best. You are not restricted to only using two channels, but in most cases it will be easier to manage than ten different channels.

How are you going to pick the social media channels you want to use and will be the best used for your brand?

What do you want to accomplish?

At the end of the day, any social media strategy should boil down to your business objectives. Do you want to use social media only as a vehicle to drive targeted traffic to your website or use it as a customer communication channel? Do you want to establish yourself as a thought leader? Increase sales?

Having a strategy in place that outlines your business objectives will make it much easier for you on where to build your presence on the social web. Many retailers have made a great strategy on the social web by using Twitter as a front facing customer service channel since short messaging is the perfect format for this.

Where can you find your target audience?

You most likely heard this often, but choosing the right social media channel for your business isn’t really a matter of your choice. Instead you need to engage on a channel that your prospects and clients are already using. While many people are using Facebook because it’s so popular. If you are a luxury or fashion brand, why not utilise other visual channels such as Pinterest? Most of their customers are likely to be the type that shares graphics and product shots.

What content will be used to promote your business online?

The type and format of your magnetic content that you create for your social media strategy plays a major role in choosing the right social media channel to use. Photos can be used on a variety of networks, but consider the active photographer that communicates on other social media channels such as Google+, Flickr, and online video channels such as YouTube and Vimeo. If you are going to share documents and presentations, Slideshare and Scribd are your best choice.

Digital marketing and social media has evolved tremendously over the last couple of years but one thing has always stayed the same — quality content. Whether you are busy with an SEO campaign or just using social media to engage with your target audience, magnetic content will definitely help you make a big impact on your campaign. The only question is; which social media channels are you going to use?