Social media is exhausting and overwhelming.
But it’s a necessary evil for business.
Everyone has their favourite social media channel and they all have their perks, but trying to be on every single one of them is dangerous.
I have spread myself too thin and tried to be everywhere and it just does NOT work.
I am currently going through my own social media strategy for 2024, so I will update you here as to what I decide.
Now, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for this and you have to do what’s best for your own business, but I’m going to summarise what the social platforms look like in 2024 and who it should be for and is currently doing well on them.
You can determine where your time should be invested based on your own business goals.
I feel like LinkedIn has been disregarded by many entrepreneurs for years, which is quite crazy as it’s the only platform that is supposed to be business-first.
But LinkedIn was originally designed for job-seekers.
Today, it’s so much more than that, and many entrepreneurs are flocking there to build a personal brand and position themselves as a thought-leader in their industry.
Personally, I think that every entrepreneur should be on LinkedIn, whether your direct audience is on there or not.
Even if you run a B2C product business, you can still be talking on LinkedIn about what you do.
I have landed speaking opportunities, been introduced to incredible people and even got paid to create content on LinkedIn.
This one is a necessity IMO.
YouTube
If you have any form of video content you want to produce, then you need to get on YouTube. I think it’s making a huge comeback in 2024.
Now, that sounds like a silly comment as YouTube has only grown.
BUT, it shifted in terms of who it was for and the type of content on there.
I think that it’s going to be a place where more people go to to learn and absorb business content and if you have anything to offer in this realm, then get on YouTube.
Have a podcast? Stick a video on while you’re recording and put that on YouTube.
My view? YouTube content can be repurposed to be appropriate for any platform, so it’s the best one to invest in.
This is still pretty huge for businesses in 2024 and Reels have really taken over.
It’s pegged as “the only way to grow” on Instagram and therefore, video content is more important than ever.
Following on from what I said about YouTube content, this makes a lot of sense to create an Instagram account for your business and share this, as well as BTS stuff with your business.
A mixture of content which is educational, engaging and inspiring works well on Instagram.
Plus, you can now create broadcast channels to talk directly to your audience on there and make it more personal.
TikTok
I predict a boom of businesses hitting TikTok in 2024. It’s no longer the social channel that is just for those “silly dances”.
TikTok is becoming a search engine in its own right with the Shop selling thousands of products every day.
Businesses are now trying to engage communities on TikTok by posting more informal content and letting people see the “real” them.
If you prefer less polished content, then TikTok is a great place to try this out.
Twitter/X
I still haven’t got used to calling it X yet, so I’m still going to refer to it as Twitter!
Many people thought the platform would die when Elon got his hands on it but it still seems to be strong.
However, I wouldn’t invest too much effort into building a huge audience on here as the future of it is dubious.
It seems to be well-suited for businesses who put out a lot of news pieces, those in finance or politics and already-established names.
A very underused channel IMO. Pinterest is still hugely popular with e-commerce brands, as they can advertise products on there while people are creating moodboards.
It’s also very popular with interior design companies, the travel industry and food & drink. This is because it’s a highly aesthetic platform and so brands with great visuals benefit.
However, pins have a much longer shelf-life for content than other platforms, so if you create blogs or other bits of long-form content, try Pinterest to link to that content as an extra backlink.
Summary
Whatever social platforms you decide to go on in 2024, please do not let it be your only strategy.
It can be so time-consuming and it may only be a tiny proportion of your sales, which means you’re wasting your time.
Remember that there are so many other elements to marketing to think about.