One of the most challenging aspects of establishing and growing the online presence for your small business is the initial decision to do so. Likely, developing a website was Step #1, followed by starting your first social media account for your business. Now that some time has passed with that website and single social media profile, and you have a good handle on how they work and how to use them for your business, you may be toying with the idea of starting a second social media profile to continue to grow online.

It’s always been crucial to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket, particularly if Facebook was your 1 basket. You also want to avoid getting too far ahead of yourself and your capabilities, and ending up with a poorly executed social media campaign.

So how do you know if you are both ready for another social media profile and can keep up with all that goes along with it? Here are 6 things to consider in making that decision.

How to Tell if you are Ready for Another Social Media Profile

• Do you have the time? I know, I know – you’re busy. Small business owners and independent professionals always are because they have limited headcount to perform all of the normal business tasks of a larger company. If you’ve been pretty consistent with your current social media presence, but it’s been a real struggle to keep up, now may not be the time to add in something new.
• Do you have a solid handle on your current social media and blogging work load? Are you feeling lost on what to post to your current social media account? Do you feel like you don’t really understand if you’re reaching your target customers and if it’s making a difference with your online marketing goals? Are your business blog posts becoming fewer and further between? Focus on locating new content sources and generating new business blogging ideas before starting something new. Make sure you’re executing well on your existing accounts before adding to your workload. Need help developing a strategy for your social media presence or business blog? We can help you.
• Have you determined if your customers are active on this potential new platform? Just because it’s the “It” platform of the moment or your friend who also owns a business has had great success using it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a worthwhile investment of time and energy for your business. Start by asking your current customers is they use that platform, and search the platform for businesses like yours. Answers to both of these questions will help you determine if this makes sense for your business.
• Do you have the right kind of content that’s needed for this new platform? We get a lot of questions from clients asking about starting an Instagram account or Pinterest account because so-and-so told them that it was a popular, “now” social media platform. We always tell our clients that those are both currently very popular and effective social media marketing tools. We then go on to clarify what is needed to make those profiles effective and successful for their particular business. Usually by the end of the discussion, the client has moved past one or both of these because they can’t commit to taking regular photos to use on Instagram and/or they have a simple, 5-page website with no blog or online store. Different social media profiles have different content needs which makes it that much more important to learn about the social platform you are considering before signing up.
• Can current content by reused or reworked for this new platform? The content you post to your social media channels does not have to be 100% original to each platform. It’s OK to reuse and rework an update you prepared for 1 social media account, on another. You might find a lot of time savings in reusing content, and realize that adding another social media profile usually doesn’t mean that you’ll also be doubling your time spent.
• Do you understand the benefits and best practices of the new platform? Each social media platform has its own set of best practices and terminology. The way something works on one platform isn’t necessarily going to be a universal truth. There’s no sense in starting a new profile for your business if you have no clue how to use it. A potential customer might find you there and be turned off by what they see. And in that case, your social media presence would be hurting you instead of helping.

What are your most important determining factors in this decision?