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Do you ever wonder how many social media platforms you should have? As in, the different platforms themselves. Not the amount of accounts you should have per each platform. If that is something you are interested in though, I have already previously done an episode on that topic (episode 052).

For so many of us Instagram is the name of the game and it’s the only place people seem to be living on these days. In fact some business owners ONLY have an Instagram account, and nothing else. That’s right. No website. Just an Instagram account, and honestly, this is totally doable. But if you want to know whether or not I think this is the smartest decision ever… keep on reading.

THERE IS NO RIGHT ANSWER

The truth is there is no real right or wrong answer to how many social media platforms you need. No one can tell you what you SHOULD be doing other than yourself. You have to decide what is right for you, yourself, your family and your business. So if that means just sticking to one platform for now and going all in, then great! Do that!

But I do also believe that certain platforms can easily be overlapped without much extra thought. Such as Instagram and Facebook as well as Pinterest. 

And the reason I say Pinterest is because technically Pinterest is not social media. It’s a search engine. So you do not have to be creating any new content for that platform, just repurposing and posting the content you have already done on Instagram. 

I won’t make this a full tangent about Pinterest but I highly recommend checking out Episode 049 after this because that goes into a deeper dive on how to use Pinterest for your business.

(episode 049 – using pinterest for your business)

GET GOOD AT ONE BEFORE ADDING ON MORE

If I was going to give you a more tangible answer, I would say to start with one or at most two and get really good at those before adding more on to your plate. 

Let’s say Instagram and Tik Tok are your choice of platforms; what do I mean by getting “good” at those specifically?

First you want to make sure that you are able to freely create content for each platform. Meaning that it is not an issue for you to come up with content on the fly or in advance. You are comfortable with showing up, and posting and are able to do so consistently. 

If you are still struggling with this step, then you definitely do not want to add on another platform because it will only become more of a challenge to stay consistent and create content for multiple platforms. Once you feel like you have a good posting schedule and flow, the next thing you need to make sure you have down is your engagement. 

Being on a social media platform is more than just posting and walking away. You want to be actively engaging with your audience and trying to expand your reach by engaging with other accounts. 

If right now you are not taking 15-20 minutes for EACH platform to go on, leave comments, respond to comments, DM’s, consume some content, then it would not be wise to add on another platform into your strategy just yet.

GET CLEAR ON WHY YOU THINK ANOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM COULD WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Why do you think another platform is going to benefit your business?

Notice my use of the word “you” because I want it to be what’s in your heart, not based on what you have heard me or anyone else say.

Sure, I think there are benefits to being everywhere on the internet you possibly can be, but I also think that you have to have a good understanding of who is hanging out on each platform and how you are going to specifically cater to them on that platform. 

People go on Instagram for very different reasons than why they go on Tiktok, Youtube, Facebook, etc. While yes, you can essentially repurpose content onto all of these platforms you do not always just want them to be a direct copy and paste. 

You have to keep in mind the user experience for each social platform itself and what you want the audience to get from your content while they are consuming it. 

MY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM STRATEGY

Over the years I have added a variety of content platforms and social platforms into my overall marketing strategy. I have my blog which is basically my main hub where everything lives. I also have my Podcast, and Youtube channels which are secondary to the Blog but they all work together. 

Each episode of the podcast has “Shownotes” which is just a blog post containing the overall summary of each episode with any links attached that are discussed on the episode. 

For Youtube it is the same concept. I make the Youtube video with a corresponding blog post where the video is embedded and I have links, resources and notes.

The reason why I do this is so that everything I put out into the world can live on my website in some way shape or form which boosts SEO and makes sure that I am in control of my client / customer experience since I own my website. I do not own Youtube or my podcast hosting platform. 

From this point, I use those pieces of content to cater to my social media platforms for shorter form content. I could probably break down a podcast episode or a youtube video into 3 different Instagram posts if I really wanted to. 

And then I can use platforms such as Pinterest and my email list to point people to the content as well since they are not really individual social platforms and more so used as promotional assistance.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

Remember, the most important thing when it comes to choosing an amount of social platforms to be on, it really just falls back on what is going to work best for your lifestyle and your business. Be realistic with yourself as there truly is no right answer. 

It’s also important to get really good at one or 2 before adding on any more and overwhelming yourself which will lead to burn out which will get you nowhere. And finally, just make sure you understand why and how you think adding another platform into the mix is going to serve your current audience or a new one. 

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Resources

OTHER EPISODES YOU’LL ENJOY

1. Should you have multiple Instagram accounts?
2. Using Pinterest for your business
3. How to select a content platform that makes sense for you

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