Social media networks come and go very fast. It is both the most exciting and most frustrating part of a digital marketer’s job to decide what social media networks their business should be using.

New networks are exciting because they typically have:

Innovative technology, like how Snapchat allows for fast & easy video conversation

New forms of content, like how Meerkat and Periscope enable live mobile video broadcasts

Unique culture, like how reddit is spawning new communities (subreddits) every day

However, committing to a new social network is a serious risk for companies, since there are so many ways for the network to fail, such as:

The network could lose its hype, like the ad-free and much-anticipated Ello

The network’s active community can revolt and leave, like what happened to Digg

The network can slowly decline and fall behind competitors, like MySpace

Or the network can simply never gain momentum, like Google+

Operating a business’ social media profile takes a lot more company resources than most people think, so if you’ve chosen the wrong social networks you could be wasting serious time and effort. That is why a company’s approach to selecting their social media networks is just as important as the strategy they use for each individual network. It doesn’t matter if you have a killer social media strategy if the network you’re on can’t deliver significant, long-term value.

To help out with these hard choices, here are 4 separate approaches to the question: 

“Should my company be on (enter new social media network here)?”

1. The Branding Approach

Your business’ social media accounts will be the first impression many new customers have of your brand. Just like with job interviews and dating, first impressions in branding matter. When taking a branding-minded approach to social media, you should be asking yourself:

• What is the branding of the social network like? Does it align with our company’s branding?

• What are the demographics of the social network’s users? Are they generally the same as our target customers?

• Is our brand already being mentioned on this network? Are our competitors?

The most important thought to keep in mind when thinking about branding on social media is this: Once you commit to a social network, you are aligning your brand with that network’s brand. 

Take reddit for example. They have had their fair share of PR fiascos. Do you want your brand and reddit’s brand to mix? This is a consideration you have to make before entering any new social media network, or else you might degrade your own brand. Why do you think companies stay away from 4chan?

2. The Analytics Approach

In 2014, social media overcame search as the top source of referral traffic on the Web. That makes social networks like Facebook the most active source for lead generation, which is why you’ve been hearing so much about Big Data and analytics. In an analytics approach to choosing your company’s social media networks, you want to be asking yourself:

• How big is this social network? Is there a large, untapped audience there?

• How engaged are the social network’s users? How effective is the network at getting something to “go viral”?

• How valuable has referral traffic from this network been in the past? How engaged are users on your site after they’ve come through this network?

That last point is what it all boils down to: conversions. How valuable is a social network after it sends someone to your site? You can answer this question pretty simply through UTM codes. If you notice that the users who came from some new social network named “Pinyadda” are making more purchases on your site than others, that is a great reason for your company to commit to that network.

3. The Practical Approach

Like I mentioned before, social media for business takes a lot of time and effort. When you’re weighing the pros and cons of a new social media network, you shouldn’t forget to ask yourself:

• Who in the company would be responsible for looking after this new social media account? Do we need to hire someone for this?

• Is entering this new network more important than sustaining our current networks?

• Do we have content to put on this social network? Are we producing enough content to build a following?

That word “content” is the most important practical consideration for businesses to make when thinking about new social media networks. There’s nothing that can make social media marketing harder than a lack of content, especially a lack of good content. Repromoting the same content over and over again can work for some brands, but new is always better than old.

4. The Wrong Approach

There’s a wrong way to do everything, especially when it comes to big business decisions. Here are just a few awful reasons for a business to enter a new social network:

Because it’s new: Just because something’s new doesn’t mean it’s good. Social networks are never any good when they’re just starting, anyway. If you’re only interested in a social network because it’s the “new thing” that everyone is talking about, then you haven’t done enough research.

Because our competitors are doing it: Don’t get jealous if you’re competitor seems to be doing well on a new social media network. First, it’s easy enough to make a social media account look like it’s doing well. Or in other words, fake it. And second, you can’t know how much tangible value your competitor is really getting out of their social media account. What looks good on a screen might look very bad on paper.

Because it exists: The worst approach any business can have to their social media strategy is “We need an account on every network, so whenever something new comes out let’s make an account.” You don’t need an account on every social network, especially if they’re new. New social networks don’t usually have large audiences anyway, so it’s better to remain focused on the accounts you already have. 

The one takeaway I hope you got out of this article is: social media demands strategy. 

So the next time you hear someone in the office talking about “some new social media network,” take the time to really investigate it before you sign your company up. And, as always, if you have any questions about social media networks and strategy, Streetwise Studio is here to help!