“Should my company be using TikTok/Wechat/Instagram/(Insert another social media channel)?”

Does your boss or client ask you this?

The problem with this question, if you think about it, is that it is back-to-front.

Imagine this scenario:

When you see a doctor, do you ask the doctor what medicine is best to take, or would you normally start by describing the symptoms of your illness?

The thing that you will find most people asking sometimes is that they focus on the tools, not the task.

Most companies jump onto the next social media marketing tactic/trend without thinking, because their competitors are doing it, and/or because it is seemingly the trend, hence they have to do it.

But should they be doing it? Do they know what success look like? What are they expecting from this new social media marketing tactic?

If your boss or client ask you this question, you should consider reframing the question.

A better question that you can reframe it to:

"How might X platform help achieve your goals?"

This is how you can help them reframe their problem, and get to the core of their need. The purpose, so to speak, of needing to market digitally.

In order to help you, here’s what Simon Kemp, CEO of Kepios (Strategic Marketing Consultancy) suggests as points we have to consider:

• Audience reach - What % of your brand’s target audience are potentially ‘living’ on that platform?
• Usage frequency - How often (and how much time) do they spend on it?
• Audience affinity - What is the prevailing perception in terms of appeal and credibility of content the platform has?
• What formats does this platform have, and how will your content appear vs. Others on it?
• How much time, effort, money will it take to achieve your objective on this platform (e.g. if client wanna start a Telegram channel, they need someone to monitor etc.)

After you get a better understanding of the situation, will it only be clear as to what any platform can help with, how to go about it, and with what potential costs it may be.

Then, you'll be able to suggest to your management team a clearer way forward, and your briefs to the team (or social media marketing agency if you're working with one) will also automatically be more focused on the purpose and objective.