Making people and ideas findable

How do you decide which Social Media platform to use?

With a multitude of platforms and more being added with regularity, how do you choose your platform(s)?

Is there a fear of being redundant? Are you sending the same messages/posts to the same people via the different platforms?

Have you determined that one is better than another depending upon your message and audience?

Is there a fear of over-saturation?

Tags: media, social

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill Bean on August 17, 2010 at 7:16am

It's a good question, Andrew. I think some people avoid it all because it is overwhelming. Others worry they've picked the wrong one. Still others waste time trying to do everything.

Simply put, it all depends on what your goals are. If the primary purpose is business, then participate where most of your customers or potential customers are engaged. Start small, go slow, listen a lot, and be consistent.

Engaging in social media, at some level, is a must for businesses and organizations. Check out http://www.hubspot.com/ (if you haven't already), they're a great source of charts, graphs, etc... (There are many others as well.)

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Permalink Reply by Robby Slaughter on August 17, 2010 at 10:17am

Pick two that are popular, and be willing to abandon one for another one. That's an easy system and one that has worked for me.

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Permalink Reply by Duke Snyder on August 19, 2010 at 1:00am

Another top-notch subject.
Have noticed Andrew has become involved regularly and find his contributions very welcome to SI.
Both Bill and Robby again gave us good answers/insight and I just wanted to thank all three of you.

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Permalink Reply by Lorraine Ball on August 20, 2010 at 5:57am

For Business:
When we talk to clients about this subject, we start with their target customer. If their market is comprised of women 30 - 60 in Carmel - I love Facebook. If their market is primarily corporate execs, they should probably spend more time on LinkedIn.

Personally:
I like Twitter because that is where I connect with most of my friends and associates, but the rapid style of short messages is not for everyone.

We did a survey of small biz owners and you can see the results here: http://www.roundpeg.biz/2010/08/social-media-survey-final-results/

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Permalink Reply by Duke Snyder on August 20, 2010 at 11:51am

Yet again Ms. Roundpeg provides us with informative and useful material.
Interesting results of a local socialmedia survey Lorraine describes as "non-exhaustive" although personal inclination says a more in depth look will find these results to become largely unchanged in general.
A truly well thought out and inclusive survey.

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Permalink Reply by Blake Ensign on August 20, 2010 at 3:54pm

Read Shama Hyder Kabani's Book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing. Or attend the BS&T Forum, (www.bstforum.org) where social media is regularly discussed and used by its members. Its good to be able to decide based on both research and case study as well as experiences of thoughtful colleagues sharing information.