Your social media strategy is like a house. The foundation and the base of it all, is your website or other place where you convert visitors. Each channel has its own theme, feel, culture, and rules. Every time you want to share a piece of content, you’ll need to know which “room” of your house it belongs in. Many people think it’s all about gaining likes or followers on your social media channels. It’s not. It’s about what impacts your bottom line.
Before you pick a channel, before you get fancy with the tools and toys, do this:
- Identify your revenue streams. (Where/How do you make money?)
- Increase opportunities for your customers to spend money.
Social media tools are slippery slides that smooth the path for your prospective and current customers to spend said money. Social media isn’t THE POINT. It’s a vehicle.
Facebook was designed for college students. If you’ve ever been in a dorm, you’ve seen the common area. These rooms are filled with couches, ping pong tables, TVs and people hanging out. These people are wasting time, visiting with their friends, eating snacks, and playing games. This is NOT the place to hard sell your audience. This is their living room.
This is a crafter’s heaven. Ideas on food, crafts, art, photography, travel, fashion, shopping, and so much more. Pinterest is one of the best ways to sell your products and a favorite way for users to waste time. Like an after dinner snack, the activity here peaks at 9pm.
This business networking tool has no online competition. Here busy professionals make connections, express and declare their thought leadership, vet reputations, promote themselves, and investigate the competition. No puppies, no kittens, no bacon, or boring conversation. This is all business.
This is the voyeur and the exhibitionist, a peek behind the curtain, the illusion deconstructed , the “candid” shot of who we really are who we want the world to see. We are all teenagers trapped in the bathroom trying on who we are. As I mentioned before, instant and raw, unpretty and unvarnished is what people expect here. I call this “Pimples Not Perfection.”
TikTok
This is the room with the best lighting and equipment. Ring lights, mirrors for makeup tutorials or fit checks. This is a bit of an alternate reality. Not designed for living and contains no functional furniture.
YouTube
The TV of today has the most engaged traffic in the social world. This is a legion of people willing to watch “just one more”.
Gossip, rumor, rampant bots, and viral content travels at the speed of light. Twitter is the good, bad, and the ugly of human communication. Twitter is simply the most effective tool to spread information around the globe. This is the one with the potential to burn it all down. Forever a problem child.
Hiding in the basement near all the money and the birthplace of all the best content. This tool is about community, conversation, value based resources, and NOT for selling. Find communities of people that are interested in what you are a specialist in and provide help when they ask for it. There’s lots of opportunity to be impactful and this site is drives a lot of silent but powerful traffic.
What you need to remember
Your social media home will fall apart if the foundation isn’t strong. You are driving traffic to your points of conversion whether that’s an email sign up, a shopping cart, or other action you want your customers to take. Social media channels are shortcuts to the prize.
Download a pdf copy of Social Media Channel House Outline so that you can map out how you’ll be using your channels.
Love the info graphic, Kerry! A great way to tell the story of the role each channel plays in our lives. The gym metaphor takes the cake! P.S. I just posted that cake recipe on Pinterest at 9pm last night from my kitchen… right?!
You sure did! I really enjoyed working on the graphic to show a visual side of these channels that most people don’t think about.
This is a great way to grasp what the different social media channels are being used for. I am going to take this into the leadership meeting here to support my recommendations on which sites we should use at work. Thanks!
I’m really glad you find it helpful, Robin. Good luck in your meeting!
Excellent, comprehensible, fun, analysis that will give structure to my efforts and stick in my memory. Thank you.
Thanks, Sarah! I have been describing the “rooms” of social media interaction for years and finally realized that seeing it would be helpful for my clients, readers, and students.
Thanks for sharing informative article.
You’re welcome!