There are literally hundreds of social networks to choose from, and you don’t have all day. In fact, you likely only have a few minutes to squeeze social media in between your other mission-critical tasks. Choosing the right mix of social channels is essential to your productivity and your organization’s success
Here are my top three tips for selecting the right social tools for your mission-driven organization and maximizing your time on social media.
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Go where your people are
Let’s assume that you already have a clear understanding of who you’re targeting with your marketing efforts, and that this group is very specific and narrowly defined. If you do (and you better!) you can use your knowledge about this group to decide which social media channels to use. Think about and research how your target uses social media. If you’re targeting suburban moms, Facebook is likely to be a great option for you. If you’re targeting other businesses, LinkedIn deserves your attention. Don’t know where your target hangs out? Try visiting the popular social networks and doing searches for terms they would be likely to use in their profiles. For example, if you’re targeting tree huggers, you could head to search.twitter.com and search for words like green, eco-friendly, environmental etc. in order to see how many people with related interests are on Twitter in your specific geographic or demographic category of interest. You could even narrow your search by location or gender. There is no point in trying to draw your target to a platform they’re not already using. Going where your people are will save you effort, and will feel more natural for both your organization and your community.
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Choose three
Most mission-driven leaders want to do it all. We want to create innovative products and services and change the world, all while maintaining an active presence on every major social network. That’s a tall order. Rather than trying to cover all your social media bases, focus on choosing just three social networks (the ones most relevant to your audience) and managing them really, really well.
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Keep your goals top of mind
Your choice of platform should be directly tied to your marketing goals. All platforms are not created equal, and some are better at achieving certain goals than others. If your goal is to establish yourself as a thought leader, Twitter could be a great platform for you. If you’re more focused on collecting donations, it might make sense to focus on a crowdfunding platform like Indiegogo in conjunction with another channel like Facebook or Google+.
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Consider a blog
Blogging is one of the single best things you can do to build interest and engagement online. So much of the content we see on social media is simply regurgitated and repurposed. Original thoughts and opinions have become a rare commodity, and sharing yours can really help you stand out. Want an even more compelling reason to blog? How about the fact that Google favors sites with regularly updated blogs? However, blogging is certainly not for everyone. Before you commit to starting a blog, make sure you have the resources in place to write on a consistent basis (ideally at least once a week) and that you actually have something original, provocative and useful to say.
Have you streamlined your social media habits and improved your impact in the process? Tell us about it over on Facebook or Twitter @prosperstrat!
Photo Credit:LoboStudioHamburg
