FOMO is not just for social lives - it happens to businesses & practices too. Especially when it comes to social media. Every few years, a new social media platform takes the world by storm and we worry that if we don't get on board immediately we will miss out on audiences and / or not spend our marketing time wisely enough. But that means training on a new platform, potentially creating new types of content (when we just got used to the last one), additional marketing time not just for the set up stage but over the long term as each platform changes their functionality every few months and we need to keep up to date,
2-3 Platforms is Enough
From a smaller business / practice marketing point of view, I suggest focusing on 2-3 platforms and do them well. It can be as little as one if you are reaching the right audience - more on that below. If you set up more than that, you may spread yourself too thin and there is nothing worse than setting up profiles are not populating them. It looks like your practice is a bit out of date and much like an old website this perception may extend to your services no matter how good they are if that is all a potential client has to go on. By becoming familiar with a couple of platforms, you can quickly develop posts, keep them up to date, engage with ease with the learning curve limited to the whims of just a couple of tech companies!
Source: Datareportal Digital 2022: Ireland
Go Where Your Decision Makers Are
Who ultimately decides to engage your services? You may provide services for all ages but when it comes to younger people, parents or guardians will often make the decision for them. So when you are limiting your platforms for efficiency, where are most of the decision makers? Not on Tiktok (yet!). Tiktok is a close third in popularity in Ireland but skews much younger so you won't reach the same amount of adults as other platforms. Whereas the number 1 and 2 platforms (Facebook and Instagram) are holding firm with adults so you will reach a lot more of your intended audience over there. In addition, you can link your business Facebook and Instagram profiles so that posting on one automatically carries to the other - a great time saver.
Are Your Clients or Customers People or Businesses?
If your clients or customers are businesses (and not the general public), LinkedIn should be one of your chosen platforms. It is a professional social media network and will allow you to reach people based on their industry, company, job title or profession. You can build a network of people/businesses who are interested in your services and demonstrate your expertise and knowledge. Its a great research tool and has an active Groups function so you can connect with people in your profession or target professions.
Social Media is here is stay so it's advisable to include it in your marketing mix.
If you need a bit more help on this, check out some of our options here: