ONE is better than many when it comes to social platforms: here's why
All the cool kids are on more than ONE social media platform, why are you telling me I need to stick with only one?
This is a great question. Let’s take a look at why.
If you would rather listen than read then push play below to hear ONE is better than many when it comes to social platforms
When you are starting to show up online, Social Media is the most visible part of your online presence.
Of course, if you have read any of my previous blogs you will know social media is only part of your overall online presence and your online content strategy.
However, social media is the one area where most people start their online journey.
The main reason people start here is it can be free and seem easy enough.
You don’t need to pay for an account. You are familiar with at least one if not more than one platform. You have kept up with friends for years on Instagram, you may have a business account on LinkedIn, even your mum is on Facebook.
Then there’s Tik Tok, the saviour of many in lockdown across the world. Even Clubhouse is fun to jump into and listen to any number of inspirational online gurus. Not to mention Youtube, Pinterest, Snapchat, I could go on.
Starting out online
When you start to promote your business and show up online, you see the people that inspire you on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok and Clubhouse. They have great information, they are entertaining. They have so many followers and comments on their posts.
You want to be successful too.
You think: I simply have to do what these people are doing. I have to be on ALL of these platforms too.
It feels overwhelming, but if that’s what I have to do, then I’ll do it for the success of my business.
So your roll up your sleeves, and you start posting. You post on ALL of these platforms every day!
Then you get tired, you can’t think of anything to say. You get burnt out and worse you see no results for the time and effort you put in!
Then you STOP.
You start to avoid your business page but continue to scroll and feel annoyed when you see all the perfect highlight reels You start to hate being on social media. It feels like you are there all the time and you do not want to do it anymore!!
Any momentum that you may have created at the beginning is gone.
So reason number one for sticking with only ONE platform to start with is to keep you consistent.
Showing up online consistently will be a big part of your success. If you are showing up in too many places. It can be hard to maintain that consistency long term.
But the successful people do it all the time!!
What you may not realise about your social media guru, the person you see in all of these places online is that they may have something you don’t.
They may have a team of people working with them. One of those people may be contracted to post on their social media platforms for them. This is exactly WHAT I did for my clients when I first started Your Virtual Fit.
The second thing is I used scheduling tools to post all of their posts in advance. Often six weeks in advance. These tools made it easier to post to multiple platforms on multiple days.
These clients knew exactly what they wanted to post on each of the platforms that they used. They knew how each platform worked for them and their business.
Now before you go off and hire a Virtual Assistant or payout for a scheduling tool take a minute to breathe and ask yourself the following questions:
Do you know how each of these social media platforms works?
Do you have a plan, an intention for your online content that you can share with your VA?
If you don’t already know what you want to post, on what platform, how are you going to tell someone else what you want?
Choosing ONE platform to learn about makes things easier. One thing to learn at one time gives you focus and you can get really, really good at using that platform to promote your business.
But how do you choose that ONE platform?
Which ONE is the best ONE?
To be honest, it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. What does matter is that you use it.
To help you choose you can answer these questions:
Do you have a personal account that you love to use? Where you stay in touch with family and friends and love jumping on to share things happening in your life.
Do you have any online presence for your business?
If so is it where your potential clients hang out?
If you love one and your audience is there, then it’s an easy choice.
For me it was Facebook. I used Facebook in two of my previous businesses, pretty much exclusively. It was when I worked for other people helping them with their social media that I actually learnt about the other platforms.
Reason number two to stick with ONE platform to start with is so you can focus on one thing.
Really learn what works on one platform. Learning how to use one social media platform really well first makes transitioning to a second one that much easier.
What can you commit to?
Deciding on this can be huge. Besides making it easier to stay consistent it can give you something else that we don’t talk about often and that is it gives you permission NOT to be on “socials” all the time.
If you know in your worst possible week, that you can absolutely commit to showing up online for THREE days then do it! Schedule it into your calendar and go for it.
If it’s only ONE day then do that.
It’s so much easier to start small and build, than like I mentioned earlier, start posting seven days a week and getting burnt out!
Committing to what you can easily do will ensure you still love showing up. It will help you really dive deep and learn about your chosen platform. And as an added bonus it can open up some time for you to use your social media platforms for what they are meant for: being social!
Part of the process of gaining your audience’s trust is:
one showing up,
two being consistent and
three engaging with your audience.
If you are trying to post on all the social media platforms at once you run the risk of getting sick of being on social media. Then what can happen is that you “post and run” . You don’t stick around to engage, chat, be social.
You lose the opportunity to really get to know your audience and they don’t get the chance to know you. When they dont know you, they will take their business elsewhere.
So the third reason to choose ONE platform is t to save you time. If you don’t want to be on social media all the time, now you have permission not to.
Starting out showing up online doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Choosing ONE social media platform makes sense. Like all new things, you need to give yourself time to learn. Getting the basics dialled in sets you up for success.
There is a lot to be said about the ONE thing. It’s a mantra I love for many aspects of your online content.
Choose ONE social media platform for your online business to start with for these three reasons:
to stay consistent
to keep focused
to save time and keep you social on socials in your own way
And when you are ready you can jump on to the second one, then the third. By the time you get to this stage, you will have a really good idea of how social media works for you and your business.
By the time you are considering your next social media platform, it’s also a good idea to think carefully about your overall online content strategy.
Having a plan shows how each piece of your content fits together to effectively promote you and your business online. If you would like to take a look at how that’s possible I invite you to
DOWNLOAD my guide 7 Steps to Creating Your Own Content Strategy.
Or if you would like to bypass that and get it done with some 1:1 help then
Book a Call with me here.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
