Do you need help finding the best social media platform for your handmade business? If so, you need to ask yourself a few questions.

Is your target market on the platform you're using?

First things first, the most important thing to look at is each platform's target market.

Believe it or not every single platform has its own reason and its own target market - it appeals to different people and has its own niche in the market. If they didn’t they wouldn’t succeed…they’d be trying to please everyone and pleasing no-one. 

Facebook historically has a slightly older age range, than TikTok and Instagram. Instagram, primarily is made for those who are really into creative aesthetics and pictures and being a bit more front facing.

A great way to find out who is following you is by looking at your stats…what are they telling you?

On Instagram, if you've got a professional account, you have an insights tab, have a look at that and compare it to your own target market and the other platforms available. This way you can make sure that the people you are trying to reach are on the social media platform you’re using.

Do you like using it? 

Simply, if you are using a platform that you don't like, you won't succeed on it. No doubt you’ll do everything within your power to avoid posting on it, because you naturally don't really like it.

So, for me, TikTok is not my vibe. TikTok ‘should’ be the perfect platform for me…I do a lot of lives, video content, YouTube shorts and reels. But, my target market isn’t hanging out there. I find it very in your face, and I don't really enjoy using it. So, I'm not gonna force myself to use a platform that I hate.

And, honestly, guys, you only need one social media platform to get to the sixth figure mark. This is what we call your home hub. You don’t need to be doing all the dos and showing up everywhere…that just leads to overwhelm and burnout.

I know it sounds bizarre because you've probably been told the more platforms you're on, the more people you're gonna reach. Chances are it's the same people following you on Instagram who follow you on Facebook.

Can you schedule on it in an easy way and does it fit in with your life?

This is where Instagram wins for me. although the app can be a little buggy! It’s something I can quickly open, snap a little pic, story, video, go live, do a reel and post it within a few minutes. Like, that is literally it. I'm done!. It fits in with my lifestyle.

With Pinterest I find it's more of a sit-down, plan it out and schedule things, a month or two ahead of time. But you might be the kind of person that doesn't want to be on social media every day, snapping stories and making reels on the go. You might like the sit down and plan out approach. 

You also need to be looking at when you are going to be using the platform. Is it going to be on the fly every day? Or is it going to be something where you set time aside to schedule and plan out everything? And does that fit into the way that you currently work? 

For every single one of you say to yourself “I know I should be doing XYZ, but I procrastinate” Ask yourself, 'is it because I need to know where to start or is it just because I don't really want to do the work?' I don't really want to be on it. I don't really want to do it. I don't really get it. It doesn't fit in with my life.

It's a bit like when you start to exercise, right? You might start off going for runs, going for swims, lifting weights and so on. But a couple of weeks down the line, your steam has ran out. And you realise you don’t want to do it anymore and the motivation has gone. Or, you were totally overwhelmed because you went in hard and heavy.

Whereas if you start slow, maybe like a 10 minute walk a day for two weeks, then a 20 minute walk a day for another two weeks, it’s more of a sustainable way to do things. Take it step by step and ease yourself in gently.

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What are your goals with social media?

It could be sales, engagement, or brand awareness. If you’re new I’d urge you that your goal, initially, should NOT be to get sales from day one. You’re probably trying to figure out how to use the platform for your business, what to post and when, and the posting may be a little heavy one day and thin the next. Your goal should be in being consistent on your socials.

If you’re not it’s a bit like rocking up to a first date in a wedding dress. It’s a little too much, too soon. You have to nurture the audience that you have. If you are consistent, then great. We can go straight into that sales goal. 

With your social media home hub you need to think ‘What is going to work for my business? And what is going to work for the goals that I have?’ And relating that back to the platform you’re using.

So for example, Pinterest. If you're looking for engagement and growing your brand Pinterest might not be the best suited - Facebook or Instagram might have more engagement and might help you build a following.

If you want to get the conversation going, you want to engage with different people, to start conversations with them, then Instagram might be more your bag.

If you'd prefer me to visually teach you this blog post, then you can watch it HERE.

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