Picking The Right Social Media Platform

Tune in or read the blog version below!

Hi everyone and welcome back to The Wanderlover Podcast!

This is our last episode of 2024 and I just want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you listening for tuning in and making this year such an incredible success. I am very excited to be sharing life and business changes going into the new year.

And if you have any questions, suggestions, or episode requests, please always just feel free to DM me on Instagram.

Plan Your 2025 BEFORE Reading

If you haven’t reflected on this past year, and if you haven’t goal mapped the new year yet, please tune into episode 223 where I walk you through exactly how to do so.

We want to first start with solid foundations before diving into anything tactical and technical.

So I highly encourage you to listen to or read last week’s episode first, before we dive into today’s episode!

Why Social Media Confuses Entrepreneurs 

This is such an important topic that often confuses entrepreneurs and creators, which is how to choose the right social media platform for your business.

If starting your online business, if scaling it, if pivoting is in store for you for the new year, this episode is really going to help you because where I see a lot of new entrepreneurs go wrong is they get tripped up in the first few years in thinking, that your business relies on social media and then getting frustrated when they’re not expert content creators on the said platforms.

I feel like social media is so in your face. You can go on it as a consumer or as a creator. And oftentimes because they are designed to keep you hooked on the platform as a consumer. That is what you see.

And so when you switch over to being a business owner and a creator, you are thinking that that is what your business relies on because you’re so familiar with the other side.

But the truth is your business is not one social media platform. It’s not Instagram. It’s not Tik TiK, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Google. And unless you are a full time content creator, which many, many, if not most of our students and community members and my clients, most of them are not full time content creators.

So if you are not a full time content creator, you don’t need to be a professional at video editing at content creation, and you don’t need to be posting every single day. These platforms are simply marketing tools designed to help you generate leads, attract clients and customers. build trust with your audience, grow your business and make money.

They are the marketing tools, but when you close the sale, when you actually perform the services, deliver the products of your business, that is all off the table. Of these platforms. And that’s what you have to remember that your business does not rely on one social media platform.

So if you’ve been stuck or if you’ve been feeling overwhelmed about which platform to focus on, maybe if you’ve spent this past year on one platform and it’s just not working, you’re not seeing the sales, you’re not seeing the clients and maybe you want to try a new one and you don’t know which one, keep listening because this episode is really going to help you.

Shift Your Mindset

So let’s first start with a mindset shift. Your business exists out of social media. I’m going to reiterate this, and this is the big overarching theme that we are going to focus on because it is in the end, the value you provide, the products or services you offer, and the transformation you create for your clients or customers.

That is what sells and that is how you grow your community and grow your following. Social media platforms are simply the vehicle you use to reach and connect with your audience.

So again, I’m going to reiterate Instagram is not your business. TikTok is not your business. YouTube is not your business.

They are tools for visibility. engagement and conversion. So the key that we’re going to explore is selecting the right platform or combination of platforms for you to reach your goals. And there’s no one size fits all solution.

So we will discuss three crucial considerations to guide your decision making and what you should be focusing on in the new year.

We’re going to pick one platform for the entire year. When you try to chase two rabbits, you’re not going to catch either one.

We want to make sure all of your efforts are targeted to a platform that is suited for your business.

Where Is Your Target Audience?

The first question to ask yourself is what platform does your ideal client or customer use? Where are they hanging out and where are they trying to get help from?

This is the foundation of your decision. You need to understand your target audience, their demographics, their behaviors and preferences. So ask yourself, where does my ideal client spend their time online?

And going off of that, are you trying to target B2B? So are you targeting other businesses or are you targeting other consumers or individuals? Sometimes I see a lot of people trying to target Individuals where in fact, their business is more catered towards businesses.

So for example, if you want it to be a travel influencer, you are creating content for the consumer, but your actual service is for hotels. It’s for travel brands. It’s for other businesses. Right?

So you need to also have a marketing tool in your business to communicate and to generate leads for brands and businesses. It’s not all B2C. So ask yourself, where does your ideal client spend their time online? How are you going to reach them?

What Content Type? 

Next, ask yourself, what type of content do they consume? Videos, long form articles, quick updates. Are they searching for information? Are they searching for inspiration? What is it that they are consuming and looking for?

Ask yourself, are they using the platform actively to search for solutions or are they passively consuming content? Where does your service offer the most value?

For example, if you are targeting, let’s say, Gen Z. TikTok and Instagram are probably your best bets. You’re probably not going to be targeting Gen Z demographic on Facebook for professionals and B2B services. LinkedIn will probably be the way to go for visual brands, creatives, or lifestyle products.

then Instagram and Pinterest are where you want to kind of look at. And if your audience loves in depth tutorials or product reviews, then YouTube or even Google SEO blogging is where you want to be. I know a lot of you guys listening, are drawn towards Instagram. And that might be where you spend the most time.

Second is probably TikTok or YouTube, but really think, are you the most likely to reach your ideal client or customer on these platforms? Or is that where you spend the most time, not your ideal client? So think about that.

Where Do You Already Have Credibility?

The second consideration is where do you have the most street credibility, or where are you already seen as an expert so that you don’t have to start over and build your brand from nothing. It really helps if you already have a leg up in the industry, if you already have time invested or experience that people see immediately. So street credibility is also known as social proof, and it’s all about where you can show up. As an authority, different platforms showcase expertise in different ways. So ask yourself which platform already aligns with my skills and content style.

Where do I have the most followers, engagement or reputation? What’s my unique strength? Is it writing, speaking video or photography? And ultimately, what is easiest for me to build a brand around? Where are you already strong and expand from there? So as an example, if you are a great writer, then blogging and LinkedIn articles might showcase your expertise best, especially if you have years and years of experience in something.

If you’re comfortable on camera, then YouTube or Tik Tok could be where you’re going to thrive. But I know from experience that a lot of my clients, don’t want their face in front of the camera all the time. And that’s completely fine. You have other options. If your content revolves around photography, then look into Instagram, look into Pinterest so that your visuals can really shine, but don’t force yourself.

To be a photographer or a videographer. If that’s not where your expertise lies, let’s say you’re highly educated and you’ve worked in corporate and now you’re trying to start a business in a different niche, but you still have the expertise. Look into LinkedIn. If that’s where you come from, if that’s the world you come from, not every single person has to be an Instagram influencer or content creator, especially if you’ve been trying.

This past year, and you just don’t see the results, maybe 2025 is your time to pivot because again, there’s no one size fits all solution. And you really do need to check what works for you the best.

Where Can You Be The Most Consistent?

The last consideration that I advise you to think over is where can you produce the most consistent content? Consistency is the secret sauce of social media success. It doesn’t have to be every single day, but it should be consistent for an extended period of time, at least a year, two years, or three years. Ideally for just the rest of your business, you’re going to have this consistent, but it’s not about posting everywhere on every single platform.

It’s about showing up consistently where it matters the most. And the idea is that you want to be able to do this most getting your workflow down so that you are consistent on one platform and then expanding from there. You don’t want to tackle too many platforms at once. So ask yourself, which platform feels sustainable for me to post regularly?

What type of content can I produce without burnout? Can this content be repurposed in the future across multiple platforms easily? Another mistake I see very often is People think they need to only post travel content in order to succeed on social media, but they’re not traveling full time. They’re only traveling on long weekends or they have limited vacation days.

And so over time, They feel the burnout and they feel like they don’t have enough content. We don’t ever want to be in that position. We want to pick a platform that feels like you can continue creating even when you’re not traveling. So this could look like threads. It could look like podcasting. Think outside the box.

And once you do choose your platform and you do have your workflow down, you can always expand from there. So I really made it my mission to be consistent with these podcast episodes every single Monday and over time. I’ve learned that they can be repurposed into blog posts, and then the same episodes can be repurposed on Pinterest.

So it expands, but you don’t have to start with it all at once. Choose one first, make it feel manageable around your schedule, and then expand from there.

Consistency Tip

A pro tip for producing consistent content is also leveraging your content with paid advertising. Which is what I encourage all of my students and clients to do.

If you are creating, for example, high performing Instagram posts, you can use them as ads to target specific demographics and interests and leverage the same piece of content, but then put money behind it. So that you start attracting new leads, you start converting clients and customers.

The same goes for promoting on any other platform like TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, even Reddit. Think about how you can increase the lifespan of one piece of content outside of just having it show up in someone’s feed for a day or two. You can check out the blog post on how to start running Facebook Ads here.

The Action Plan

Going into the new year, let’s tie it all together with a step by step action plan.

Define Ideal Customer

So you know exactly who they are, what they’re interested in and how you’re trying to reach them, right down their age, location, interests, online habits. And where are they hanging out online?

Identify Your Strengths

Next, you want to audit your strengths. So identify which platform aligns with your expertise and content style and where you feel drawn to create. It doesn’t have to be something you’ve never tackled before. It can be somewhere you are already.

Choose ONE Platform 

Next, you want to choose one primary platform for the entirety of 2025, so you can really hone down your workflow and optimize. So focus on one platform to start with this January and commit to consistent posting.

Repurpose Content

Next, I would say by Q2, Q3, by Q4, April or July, we want to think about repurposing all that content. So focus on being consistent first and then adapt your primary content for other platforms. So for example, you can turn a YouTube video into Instagram reels or LinkedIn posts, or like I said before, you can turn podcast episodes into blog posts. Think about how you can be omnipresent on multiple platforms with the same piece of content. 

Analyze and Adjust

And then lastly, we want to make it a habit to analyze and adjust. So track your metrics to see what’s working, see which posts have higher engagement, higher reach and conversions, constantly be learning, maybe take some new courses, try new ways, try new features to grow and really hone in on what makes you stand out.

This is a never ending learning process. So don’t get discouraged if it’s not working in the first month or two. Again, social media is a tool, not your business. So you really want to focus on building relationships and providing value. And I promise you the leads and sales will follow.

If you found this episode helpful, don’t forget to share it with someone who might benefit from it. And as always, if you have any questions, my DMs are open for you.

If you have a minute, I would also so appreciate if you could just rate us on Spotify or leave us a review on Apple podcast. I’ll see you guys in 2025. Thank you all so much for an incredible, incredible year. And I hope you all have an amazing New Year.

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