How to Pick Your Platform

Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I’ll be talking about which platforms you should be on as an influencer. 

Today I wanna talk about platforms! There are SO many out there and people always ask me which ones they should be on, and how many they should be on. It can be quite overwhelming if you’re trying to be everywhere on everything.

So what I like to tell people is to FOCUS on just one primary platform and one secondary platform. Once you get that down, then you can expand and do more. 

For your primary platform, I’m talking about your long form content meaning your blog, podcast or videos. Your blog should be on your own website on your domain that you own so you own that real estate. As far as your podcast, you’ll need to host it somewhere but you can also put it on your blog and have a player for your podcast.

For video, you can have a YouTube channel or Facebook which should also live on your website. So really, your primary platform is your website, whether or not you have a blog, podcast or videos. 

You get to choose which one you wanna do. If you love to write, stick with the blog. If you like to talk but don’t want to be on camera, then do the podcast. If you do like being on camera, then video is the way to go.

Don’t just choose something because you heard someone say that’s what you should do. You have to choose a method you enjoy and are passionate about because it’s something you’re going to have to do every single week. 

You wanna make sure you make this decision quickly and stick to it for at least 90 days. If you don’t like it, then you can always change your mind. But be sure to stick to it for at least 90 days, so that’s 12 posts or episodes. 

For your secondary platform, that will be your social media channel. That can be Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIN, etc. Right now, brands favor Instagram as that’s where they are paying influencers for sponsored posts.

If you’re trying to pick one you need to have an Instagram. To setup a business account on Instagram, so you will need to also setup a Facebook page for that. You can post on this page or share your Instagram posts to this page if you don’t want to create separate content for it.

So that’s it at a minimum. Do not add any more content channels if you can’t keep up with posting on your primary platform consistently every single week and your secondary platform every single day.

And on Instagram, you want to be posting on your feed once a day at least and in your Stories too. So that’s also two things you need to be doing on your secondary platform. 

Now once you have this down to a science and you’re planning at least a month ahead on your primary platform and at least a week ahead on your secondary platform, you can start adding in more platforms. 

For example, you can start creating Pinterest pins for your blog, podcast or YouTube videos that go back to your website. You can also share your primary content to your Facebook page, Facebook group if you have one and your LinkedIN profileYou can also create graphics that you can share on your Instagram feed and Instagram stories.

And then you can repurpose that content and break it up into tweets. You’ll need to come up with a content distribution strategy to spread out your content as much as possible. 

The bottom line is, you don’t want to try to do everything in the beginning if you can’t consistently keep up with posting on your primary and secondary platform.

You have to get that down first. And then you can in another hed, then another. One by one, step by step. Or else it will be overwhelming and what happens is that people then don’t even end up posting. 

So right now, make sure your next 4 posts for your primary content is all planned out and you have to schedule time in to create that content.

You want to batch create that content so that you’re not worrying about it every single week. Try to do it all in one sitting so you’re done for the month and you can focus then on your daily content. 

For your secondary content, you can use tools to make things easier. I use Planoly for Instagram and I schedule posts out ahead of time so I’m not worrying about what to post every single day. Then you can just focus on doing Instagram stories every day and connecting with your audience. 

The main thing is to plan ahead of time and batch your content so you are consistent. And then you can add more platforms once your system is in place and working consistently. 

I hope that helps you out with picking with platforms to be on! 

Book a call with me: thesparksociety.org/call

Listen to the full episode here: 

Listen to Previous Episodes: 

Build Your Influence on LinkedIn featuring Brittany Krystle

Dealing with Haters

Building a Unique Brand with your Personality featuring Tyler J McCall

Influence = Impact

Using your Influence for Good featuring Ashley Fultz

How to be More Confident on Camera

When to Hire a Professional Photographer featuring Lin Marty

Why Brands Pay Influencers the Big Bucks

                  Connect with Gwen Lane

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