Why Brands Should Double Down On A Single Social Network, Rather Than Trying A Scattershot Approach

Too many brands and businesses still try a scattershot approach at social media. They try to be everywhere, spread their efforts too thin, and end up annoying users.

Particularly for smaller or niche brands - or really, anyone on a constrained budget - it makes more sense to double-down on a single platform, learn its culture and idiosyncrasies, and become an expert at cultivating its audience base.

In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we dig into the best strategies on each of the social networks and the reasons why platform-centric approaches are so much more effective.

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When choosing where to focus brand efforts, here are a few of the key ways to approach each of the major social networks:

1. On Instagram, ask users to share their photos about your brand, as Nike does in their Instagram feed, telling users, "You tell the story ..." And don't forget hashtags, but don't use more than one.
2. Don't fear YouTube on a budget. Yes, it will look bad if a brand video is done poorly. But if there are already TV assets available, these can be ported over to YouTube. Services like Vine are also making users more receptive to short videos that require less investment.
3. Use Twitter to find influencers and get them to promote the brand. Integrating a Klout score can help more easily identify who these influencers are.
4. Make your voice and persona on Facebook authentic and distinct. This means defining who the brand is speaking to and what the brand's voice should be. Facebook can be an intimate channel with broad reach as long as the voice doesn't sound scattershot or disembodied.
5. Use Pinterest for curating beautiful images that relate to the lifestyle of the brand, along with strong images of the products themselves. Create boards that are not just about the products but about thematic ideas that fit in with products.
6. Make LinkedIn a content destination. If an executive at your company can become an "Influencer" on LinkedIn, that represents a huge opportunity and should be pounced on. If not, you can still focus on making sure top executives are building connections. Creating a LinkedIn Group is important. A new Group can be hard to get off the ground, but is the best way to build a critical mass for the brand's thought leadership.

These are just some of the recommendations. Once a brand or business commits to a particular social media channel, possibilities begin to open up. The report includes in-depth explanations for how to approach each of the social networks and the benefits of a platform-specific approach.

BI Intelligence subscribers also receive full access to over 100 in-depth reports on social and mobile, as well as hundreds of datasets and charts you can put to use.

For full access to the report on Platform-Specific Social Media Content Strategy sign up for a free trial subscription today.