This is the most important question you should ask. Because making content takes time, and when you’re running a business, you’re already so stretched as it is. You really don’t want to waste precious time posting content on platforms your customers aren’t likely to see.

If you’re thinking, “Well, my customers are basically on everything,” there may be some truth to that. However, you need to think about things in the context of your business and your customers’ buying mindset.

For example, let’s say you are a B2B with clients in the professional space. Yes, your clients may be on Facebook, but they are unlikely to be in the buying mode when they’re on that platform. When they use Facebook, they are most likely not acting as business representatives, but rather as regular consumers engaging with the platform for personal purposes.

For B2Bs, the more natural choice would be LinkedIn.

On the other hand, if you run an e-commerce store, LinkedIn is typically not a good choice. Your customers would be more likely to be in buying mode on Facebook or Instagram, where businesses can directly set up product listings. 

Of course, there will always be exceptions to rules. What we’ve mentioned are likelihoods, it’s still up to you to gauge how well your marketing strategy is working.

1a. What’s their buying behaviour?

Put yourself in their shoes and think about which platform you would go to for your buying needs.

The advice I give my clients who are just starting is to set up an account for every platform but focus on one. For example, even if your clients are predominantly on LinkedIn, it’s best to still have accounts on Instagram, Facebook, or even X (formerly Twitter).

When users search for specific businesses on Google, social media pages are most likely to show on the results before anything else. That’s why it’s best to set up an account on all platforms and make sure all the important details, such as your company description, service offerings, and contact information are easily visible.

You can also direct this traffic to your primary marketing platform by adding a link to your profile. So even if you’re not planning to spend much time on some platforms, you still should, at the very least, be present on them.

A monthly post on those platforms is enough to let your prospects know that your business is still active. Just don’t forget to check them for comments and messages in case prospects decide to reach you through them. 

If you want to create and maintain a successful social media presence, you have to think long-term. Social media marketing is a long-term commitment—three years would be a reasonable expectation. 

When conceptualising your three-year social media plan, it helps to choose a platform that’s easy for you to use. Not just about the amount of time you typically spend on it, but also about the sustainability of creating content for it. 

Look for a platform where you spend a lot of time and where there’s the least resistance, so it’ll be easier for you to do your job. To give you a few ideas: YouTube or TikTok may be good options if you’re comfortable in front of a camera. If you take good photos, you can leverage that by posting on Instagram. 

As we’ve mentioned earlier, pick the path of least resistance. If you’re creating long-form content, you’ve already got a lot of content for your social media pages. 

Cascading content is a strategy that makes it easier to maintain your social media presence. It involves creating a long-form piece of content that can be chopped up into smaller, more readable posts.

A good example is this blog you’re reading right now. With this one blog post, we can extract multiple sections to create content on Instagram and Facebook. We can also summarise its key points and put it on LinkedIn or in a newsletter. 

Finding platforms you can cascade your content to will help you save a whole lot of time creating them from scratch.

These questions hopefully will help give you a better idea of which platform to choose for your business. You don’t have to stick to just one, but be careful not to spread yourself out too thin. Be wise about the amount of time and effort you can realistically put into each one. And of course, don’t forget to enjoy the process.