Ask a Marketer: Which social channel should I focus on?

Dear Abby. Siskel & Ebert. The two guys from Car Talk. Ask Jeeves.

For generations, people have sought the wisdom of sages to help them untangle their thorniest problems. While I can’t tell you how to get your brother’s neighbor’s cousin to stop overstaying his welcome at your barbecues, I can help you figure out how to make the most of your marketing budget and time. As the chief marketing officer for Kapowza, a Baltimore-based creative agency, I’ve seen it all. I’ll share my hard won advice from over a decade in the industry.

I can help with questions ranging from “How do I connect with potential customers?” to “How can we get our ideas in front of investors?” to “What’s the best way to eat a full meal of appetizers at a networking happy hour?” (go for the wings). I’ll teach you how to build a brand that is authentic and within your budget and help you identify and overcome pain points.

I love working with up and coming entrepreneurs, so hit me with your best shot (aka questions).

Q: Which social channel should I focus on?

A: There’s no shortage of social media platforms to spend your time on, especially considering the investment that Meta (formerly Facebook) has made in developing the metaverse. With the popularity of the video platform TikTok not abating, and with brands recognizing the true potential of connecting with their customers, there’s never a bad time to focus on expanding your social media marketing efforts.

At a startup, or a company at really any stage of development, your time is pulled in several different directions so when considering what social channels to focus on, distill it down to two questions:

• What’s the purpose of your social media marketing efforts?
• What network has the best chance of getting me/my company/my product in front of my target customer?

Depending on your answers to the above questions, that’s where you should focus your efforts.

I’m a firm believer, as well, in the notion of whole-assing one thing instead of half-assing multiple things, so it might be best to focus on one or two core platforms first before trying to build out presences on all the other sites. The worst thing you can do is recycle content from one platform to another; it doesn’t work. Trust me on this. Each individual platform has it’s own quirks, and a simple copy-paste or scheduling through Hootsuite is going to make it look like you can’t speak on any of them.

For instance, if you’re looking to connect with a younger audience, consider TikTok or Instagram. Older, go Facebook. And if you have the budget and are going to connect on a more B2B level, LinkedIn’s the route to go.

The most important thing though to ask yourself before taking the plunge is this: Why am I bothering to be on a social media platform to begin with? There has to be a reason, and for the most part, you’ll at least come away with an answer like: my customers are there and I want to have a better connection to them.

If you’re consistent enough, give them a reason to come back to your account, you’ll have not wasted your efforts.