There are a lot of social media services out there. Far too many, really. No one can really hope to know about them all, let alone understand them and use them. But over time several have risen to the top as the de facto leaders in the field. Services such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, and some others have gathered the most attention and the most users, and since social media is all about the number of eyes you can draw to your information, it’s all about users.
But even that many services may seem daunting. Businesses looking at getting into social media may be asking themselves which is right for them. The answer is usually: Yes.
The trick, if there is one, to social media is only partly picking the right one. More important than the service you use is the content you make available. Just being on Facebook will not guarantee that any of it’s 500 million users will even look at your page. Using Twitter could be like the proverbial tree falling in the forest–if no one hears you, you won’t make a sound.
Ultimately the real question of which service is right for you comes down to this: Which one do you most enjoy using? It’s as simple as that. While you can be successful on multiple services at once, you’re likely going to be the most successful on the one you use most.
If you understand Twitter and enjoy conversing in small, concise bursts, then by all means, focus on Twitter–at least until you get a good following built up and want to try some other services. If you like the various features of Facebook and can spend hours in there posting and talking to people, then use Facebook.
You will invariably perform your best in the places where you’re the most comfortable. It’s true in business, and it’s true in social media. Experiment with the various services and find out which one you’re most drawn to. Then dive in, use it, and start engaging with your audience.
Doing one social media service well will always be more beneficial to doing a half dozen of them poorly.