Step 3: Select the platforms

Now that the audience was identified, social media platforms need to be selected. Channels include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tik Tok, YouTube, and more.

Consider the following questions before selecting the social media platform(s):

• Where does the audience connect: Via text, mobile app, or online social media platforms?
• Which platforms does the audience use?
• How much time needs to be committed to each platform?
• Are you able to monitor and provide ongoing feedback, support, and participation?

Some helpful resources include the following:

• Conversation Prism 5.0 - is a visual map of social media platforms with categorizations of platform functionalities and purposes.
• Statista – shows real-time statistics of social media platform use.
• Buffer Analyze is a social media analytics tool for online brands that want to make better decisions about their social media strategy and measure their results without feeling overwhelmed.
• Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management and monitoring tool that provides a host of enterprise-level options.
• Hootsuite is a great combination of social media management, listening, publishing and analytics tools.
• Zoho Social is a unique and powerful software suite with CRM, collaboration, and other SaaS options that take care of your entire operational workflow.
• Sendible is a social media management tool with considerable monitoring, listening, and reporting features.
• Keyhole offers various trackers that help you monitor your events, campaigns, influencer activity, brand mentions, and industry-specific social conversations.
• Rival IQ lets you track a number of different companies and compare their performance across social media platforms and SEO.
• Social Report - provides an overview of your activity on multiple social networks and blogs (Read, 2021).

Remember that sometimes not using a specific technology is fine. Do not get caught up in being on every social media platform. Start out small on Facebook and/or Twitter or any other relevant platform in your country. As you learn more about your audience, build other social media platforms to meet them.