You know social media is essential for your business, but let’s be real—not every business owner enjoys it. Maybe it feels like a never-ending chore, or you’re simply too busy running your business to want to think about it.

Every time a new social media network pops up (for example: Threads, BlueSky, RedNote…and the list goes on), I personally experience the overwhelm of trying to figure out whether or not I should join that network, start posting on it, or just throw up my hands and get stuck in frustration and anxiety.

Managing social media as a small business or as a small marketing team can feel like too much!

But, there are ways to do it if you figure out how to concentrate your efforts.

Here’s my strategy that has worked for me and my clients for more than a decade.

The simple strategy is: Focus on depth, not breadth.

Get really good at one or two social media networks before you jump on to another one. It doesn’t hurt to reserve your name or create an account on some of these newer networks. But devote your time and energy to the depth of developing your brand on only one or two social media platforms that you can enjoy and stay in front of your ideal customer.

You Don’t Need to Be Everywhere On Social Media—Just Be Where It Counts

The more social media platforms you’re on, the better, right? After all, you want to reach as many people as possible…

The reality is that social sites are like a band playing at music venues – only some places are for you. Trying to book every opening available may mean that more people hear your band generally, but the wrong performance venues won’t necessarily bring in audiences who want to hear you. 

You might feel like you’re missing opportunities by selecting only some of the options, but potential pitfalls of social media FOMO (fear of missing out) include:

• Posting low-quality content or neglecting platforms because you or your team’s time is spread too thin.
• Wasting time and resources on social media channels that don’t fit your goals or audience.
• Creating silly videos or posts because it’s trendy. 
• Missing out on prospects or advantages that other platforms offer.
• Damaging your brand credibility by being on outlets unsuitable for your niche. 

Using too many platforms may send your intended audience mixed messages. It’s better to focus on the relevant social media platform that is most effective for reaching your business goals.

Where Your Brand Belongs in the Social Media Universe

Not all social media platforms are created equal—each has its strengths, challenges, and ideal audience. Instead of trying to be everywhere, focus on the platform that aligns with your brand’s goals, content style, and audience behavior the most.

For starters, here’s a breakdown of the current top social media networks:

• Instagram: A highly visual platform for showcasing products, stories, and engaging content. Offers strong engagement but faces declining organic reach and increasing creative demands.
• Facebook: Still a broad-reaching platform with advanced advertising tools, but organic reach continues to decline due to high competition and evolving privacy restrictions.
• LinkedIn: A professional network perfect for thought leadership, personal branding, discussing success and company culture with a great opportunity to make industry connections. Content published can have a longer content lifespan.
• TikTok & RedNote: Fast-growing platforms for short-form (under 60 seconds) video content with high engagement potential. However, limited editing capabilities and an uncertain future (especially in the U.S.) pose challenges.
• YouTube: A powerful platform for in-depth storytelling, tutorials, and brand-building through short videos and long videos. Focus on creating high-quality content and increasing video watch time to get more organic visibility.
• X (Twitter), Bluesky, Threads: Real-time platforms ideal for quick updates, news, and engaging in trending conversations. They offer viral potential but have a short content lifespan and high noise levels.
• Pinterest: A discovery-driven platform perfect for brands in fashion, DIY, home decor, and wellness. It drives long-term traffic but requires consistent visual content.

Rather than spreading your brand thin, choose platforms that align with your strengths, invest in high-impact content, and build meaningful connections where your audience is already engaged. To help give you an idea of which platforms may meet these values for your business, I’ve developed this handy chart:

A Simple Checklist For Social Media Self-Scrutiny

After you’ve listed your top two potential social media networks to build your influence and authority, here are crucial questions to ask. Review this quick checklist any time you are attempting to weigh the pros and cons of each social media network or if you are feeling overwhelmed by the wealth of options.

1. What do you want to achieve? For example, increase brand awareness, generate leads, or improve customer service.
2. What do you know about your ideal customers? Learn about their demographics, interests, preferences, pain points, and challenges. Find out where they hang out online and what content they like. More on this in the next section.
3. What are your niche’s trends and best practices? 
4. What are your competitors doing on social media? 
5. What are the expectations and standards of your industry?
6. What type of content can you create and manage on social media? 
7. How much time, money, and human resources can you invest in content creation? 
8. What kind of content formats can you produce and distribute?

Based on your answers to these questions, you can more easily focus on which platforms will actually bring value to your business. That’s where you should focus on depth.

Once you complete the checklist, if you already have social media profiles, then it’s time to scale back and decide which are your top two.

If you will be creating social media profiles, pick up to two.

Know Your Audience, Love Your Results

Now that you’ve selected your top two social media channels, it’s time to think about how you will speak to your ideal customers.

Start with what you know about your customers like you did on the checklist above. You should know who they are, their interests, social media platforms they engage with the most, if they prefer to observe or engage with content, and their pleasure or pain points. 

Researching your audience is a step that should be taken outside of any social media posting. You or your team should have a clear picture of your customer. If you don’t already have a clear picture then take a step back and get to know your customers better with any of these methods:

• Surveys: Ask them questions online and offer incentives for participation.
• Interviews: Talk to them one-on-one and record their opinions and experiences.
• Focus Groups: Invite them to discuss a topic or issue and observe their reactions.
• Analytics: Track and measure their behavior on your website or social media.
• Qualitative Data: Engage with your audience through comments and messages to understand their “why.”
• Social Listening: Monitor and analyze what they say about your brand, industry, or competitors.

When you know your audience, you don’t just market to them—you build a relationship with them. And that’s when social media stops feeling like a guessing game and starts driving real results.

Crafting Content To Match Your Social Media Channels

Next comes Content Strategy. Think of Content Strategy as a roadmap that will guide you on what type of content to create, how to make it, when to publish it, where to distribute it, and how to measure its success. 

It’s much easier to plan your content when you are focusing on your top two social media networks. By keeping this streamlined approach to content creation, you can strategically create content and write post captions that are not a one-size-fits-all approach but rather one that connects with your audience, depending on where it is seen.

Let’s use a real-world example. Imagine you are the owner of a roofing company and you are ready to set up a new social media business profile.

If you decide that Instagram is your top social media network, then here is how you could approach outlining your Content Strategy to promote your roofing company.

1. Content Goals: My goal is to increase brand awareness and get new leads based on showcasing our roofing work.
2. Content Topics: The topics our Instagram account will post include: Before & After examples of roofing jobs our team completed, videos of client testimonials, photos of our Google reviews, and photos of our staff on the job.
3. Content Format: We will present our content as Photos and Videos. We want to share our photos and videos in the Instagram feed and in Instagram Reels.
4. Content Style: We are professionals with more than 20 years in business and we want that to reflect on our social media. We also want to sound friendly and approachable. 
5. Content Frequency: We plan to post new content 3 days a week. 

This example is an outline, and you could work with your team to develop a more comprehensive strategy. But I am also a firm believer in just getting started! So don’t concern yourself with the nuances of having the perfect strategy, just get started!

Brand Consistency On Social Media

Finally, when you launch your new account (or revisit your old one), ensure your brand is consistently positioned.

Brand consistency means making it easy for ideal customers to recognize your brand by keeping your logo, brand voice (how you speak), and brand message (what you say) clear and aligned on all posts and profiles. This harmony strengthens your business’s image, boosts trust and enhances your competitive edge. 

Let’s go back to our roofing company example and imagine we make a final decision to create profiles on both Instagram and Facebook. If I wanted to maintain brand consistency across Instagram and Facebook I would:

• Use the exact same profile name on Instagram and Facebook.
• Use the exact same profile image (such as logo or team photo) on Instagram and Facebook.
• Select 3-5 brand colors and keep it consistent whenever I post.
• Select 2-3 brand fonts and font sizes and keep it consistent whenever I post.
• Communicate the same core ideas or value propositions to my followers and audience that defines my brand, what we offer, and our unique competitive advantage.

If you wanted to go a step further, you could also higher a designer or agency to create a brand style guide documenting your brand’s color usage, fonts, and messaging to achieve consistency across all social media platforms now and in the future. Creating brand guidelines also helps as you hire an assistant, social media manager, or other employees or contractors to co-manage your social media.

Making Social Media Work For You

You should not be structuring your day or starting your day around the stress of what to post on social media or the feeling of missing out if you see other brands in your industry achieving great success. Remember, this is a marathon and you need to run your own race at your own pace.

Your brand’s additional growth can hinge on its social media presence depending on how you approach creating and publishing consistent content that is enjoyable for you and your colleagues, simple to create without the feeling of overwhelm, aligns with your ideal audience, and allows your audience to engage with your brand.

Taking the time to select one or two of the right platforms (and getting really good at engaging with your audience on each) will prove to yield the right rewards over time—wider brand awareness, elevated customer connections, and high-performing promotions.

Not sure where to start? Let’s talk. I help business owners like you find the best strategy whether that’s auditing your brand’s online presence, creating a strategy, or producing content.