Facebook, Twitter, Xing, LinkedIn, Flickr, Google+, Pinterest – the list of social media channels is long. Initially, it was mostly Twitter and Facebook that were fed with information, but now many companies add Pinterest and Google+ to their marketing and PR plan. For some, a corporate blog is a “must have” – after all, one wants to keep pace with one’s competitors in the digital world. But does a company have to be present on every channel? What makes sense and, more importantly, what doesn’t?

Starting Point Social Media Strategy
Certainly, every appearance in social media starts with a thorough analysis of the current situation and of the aims through key performance indicators. What content do I want to communicate? What are my target groups? What do I want to achieve with addressing the respective group? With this scheme, the number of social media channels can be reduced as a first step. During the subsequent fine tuning, it has to be considered carefully whether the selection made is really suitable for realizing my targets.
Finally, the question is: Is the chosen social media channel relevant for the future? Basically every company has their own Facebook page. According to the latest PR trendmonitor by News aktuell and Faktenkontor, Facebook is going to be the great PR loser in online communication. Google+ is also past its peak. YouTube, on the other hand, as well as communication with moving-image content is increasingly gaining momentum (keyword: Storyshowing). Twitter ranks second place, followed by the photo service Instagram on place three, which scores high in terms of visual storytelling.

Interesting Content and High Writing Frequency
In the end, not only the selection of the most promising channels is what matters, but also the content. Social media is only recommendable in case I really have to say something, which means using my channel has to offer a real value to my target group. One of the no-gos of a corporate blog is, for instance, to publish content without any recognizable added value and without topics tailored to the target group. After all, the content should be adapted to the medium – because corporate blogs thrive on subjectivity!
Justifiably, insignificance is the death sentence for every blog. As for every other social media channels, it can be stated: Only by regularly posting content, I can motivate my readers to interact. A deserted blog, which is filled with content only quarterly, or a Twitter account that I only use once a month won’t deliver the desired results. Better choose a limited number of social media channels and run these professionally. As for many other areas, also in this case the principle ‘less is more’ applies.#

https://www.hbi.de/en/2018/08/08/social-media-news/