Today it is fully expected that every business will have a presence on the web. What that presence entails can vary wildly by the type of business.

I’ve been marketing via social media since pretty much every social media platform has been launched. I was the one who setup all of the social accounts for my previous company when Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest launched.

Back when all of these services were starting, there wasn’t much known about who used which platform, and why they were using them. So, as you might expect, it was through a lot of trial and error that we were able to determine which channels were going to work for us.

We were selling products B2C as well as B2B and the audience pickup varied across social media by product.

People who were looking for a B2B solution were more likely to engage with our social media presence on professional platforms like LinkedIn. Those who were more interested in the B2C products were more likely to be interested in engaging on Facebook. This was just for one software company.

What I recommend is developing detailed personas of your buyers, and this should definitely include the types of social and online media that they interact with on a daily basis. Do they read online forums? Do they get inspiration for their work from Pinterest? Dribbble? Are they regularly conversing with their peers on Twitter? Learn their habits and you will know where you need to be.

Since we are well beyond the initial stages of social media development, a little user research will go a long way to getting in touch with your future customers.

Of course I’m available on many social platforms. Check out the links in the footer.

Want to chat about social media? Shoot me a note!