Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket: The Benefits of a Diversified Social Media Presence

In today’s digital age, a strong social media presence can mean the difference between success and failure for many small businesses. However, many business owners make the mistake of relying on just one social media channel for their marketing efforts, which can be a major setback.

In this blog, we will explore the dangers of relying on just one social media channel and why you should diversify your social media presence to get better results.

Your audience may be scattered across different social media channels

Relying on just one social media channel restricts your reach to only a specific group of people, for example, Instagram has a younger demographic compared to Facebook, so if your target audience are millennials, having a presence on Instagram could be crucial for reaching them. So, if you’re only concentrating on Facebook in your social media marketing strategy, you’re not going to reach your target audience or desired levels of engagement.

Some people just ‘view’ some channels, whereas on others they may ‘chat’ more, like for example Twitter or Linkedin. Engagement and interaction is an important part of social media marketing, not just being ‘seen’, so diversifying your social media presence allows you to reach a wider audience and tap into different demographics. This can help you grow your brand and expand your reach to new markets.

With the ability to purchase directly from some social media platforms, like Instagram and Pinterest, it’s important to factor that into your marketing plan. You want to be seen, to engage, to interact and to encourage your audience to fulfil that call to action/make that purchase. Achieving all of this requires using more than just one social media platform.

By having a presence on multiple social media channels, you can reach a more diverse audience and increase your chances of reaching potential customers and being able to interact with them. This can result in increased engagement rates, conversions, and growth for your business.

Different content works best on different social platforms

Different social media channels have different audiences, primarily because of the different content styles of each platform. Tik Tok is very different from Facebook, and Pinterest and Linkedin are poles apart from each other! By relying on just one social media channel, you may not be fully utilizing the potential of each platform.

For example, visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are great for businesses that want to showcase their products or services through visually appealing content. On the other hand, Twitter is a fast-paced platform that’s great for businesses that want to stay on top of current events and engage with their audience in real-time.

With a diversified social media presence, you can better understand the preferences of your audience on each platform and tailor your social media posts accordingly. For example, if you find that your Instagram audience responds well to visually appealing content, you can focus on creating more visually appealing content for that platform. Similarly, if you find that your LinkedIn audience responds well to thought leadership content, you can focus on creating more of that type of content for that platform.

There are some other differences between platforms that worth being aware of. Some social media channels use hashtags, which can make it easier for people to find you and what you have to offer when searching on the platform. This means it can be harder to build up a following on channels where you aren’t so ‘searchable’ through keywords and your audience have to specifically look for you or ‘encounter’ you some other way, such as responding in comments on posts, for example.

Rather than searching on sites like Google, some people will go to the social media channels to find you and can be quite disappointed to not see you there and will go to a competitor instead. So just having a presence on each platform is the perfect opportunity to encourage a few more people to get in touch with you.

Not all the channels have a review section. Social proof is an important part of the sales process and some people will look for reviews before making a purchase, or even contacting you! If you’re only using social channels that don’t have reviews available, you’re missing an important part of the sales conversion funnel and need to be sure you’re compensating for it elsewhere in your social media strategy.

More social media channels = better insights and analytics

When relying on just one social media channel, you miss out on the opportunity to gather comprehensive insights and analytics across multiple platforms. This can limit your ability to understand your audience, track the success of your campaigns, and make data-driven decisions. Having a presence on multiple social media channels provides a more complete picture of your audience and marketing efforts. This not only benefits your social media performance but can help you to improve your overall marketing strategy too.

By having a presence on multiple social platforms, you can compare the insights and analytics to see which platforms are attracting the most diverse audience, and then tailor your content accordingly to ensure you’re meeting your business goals. Ensuring more of the same content on the platform that’s working well, and refining the content on other platforms to get a stronger presence and higher engagement levels will help you attract more leads and prospective customers to your business.

Analytics can also tell which platforms are being used at particular times of the day. People tend to use different social channels at different times according to circumstances and how they’re feeling. For example, we might use Linkedin during our work day, use Instagram on our breaks and wind down at the end of the day with some Tik Tok videos. Figuring out when your active users are for each platform and scheduling your posts for this time can boost your views and engagement.

How to manage multiple social media channels for your small business

So, you know that diversifying your social media presence is important but you might be thinking “I haven’t got time for all of that!” There are some ways we can help you manage your time and resources more effectively:

Have a social media marketing plan – know what you want to achieve, outline your goals and how you aim to achieve them, and ensure you review this regularly. A social media marketing plan will help you to focus in on what you need to be doing with your social media content to get results.

Establish brand guidelines for your social channels – including tone of voice, brand language, and style. You should also ensure that your visuals, such as your logo and profile picture, are consistent across all platforms. This helps to build a strong brand identity and ensure that your audience recognizes your business, no matter which platform they’re on.

Post consistently across your channels – This includes the type of content you post, the frequency of posts, and the timing of posts. By maintaining consistency in your content, you can build a strong brand presence and ensure that your audience receives a consistent message, no matter which platform they’re on.

Make sure of scheduling tools and other apps – scheduling tools can help you effectively manage your social media presence and achieve your marketing goals. Scheduling tools allow you to schedule your posts in advance, freeing up time for other tasks and ensuring that your content is posted consistently.

Hire a social media manager – hiring a social media manager is an effective way of allocating resources for best results. A social media manager can prioritise the right platforms, use tools and apps you may not have access too, have the expertise to know which social media strategies work best and they can digest the data in the analytics tools so you have the information you need to get results from your marketing.

Relying on just one social media channel can limit your reach and hinder your marketing efforts – if that platform has any downtown then you have no social media presence until it comes online again! By diversifying your social media presence, you can reach a wider audience, engage with your audience better, and receive more comprehensive insights and analytics.

If you’re struggling to find the perfect balance with your social media marketing or don’t have the time to manage more than one channel, get in touch with me now to discover how I can help.