Should your MSP have a presence on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, TwitterX, etc etc?

Should your MSP have a presence on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, TwitterX, etc etc?

Short read: Nope 😃

Longer read: It's a common question for me: "Hey Paul, should I be on <insert platform here> ??".

Often I get a flurry of people asking this when a new platform launches - remember Clubhouse and BeReal from a few years back?

This year it's been questions about Twitter, fuelled by Elon Musk destroying 17 years of brand equity by renaming it to X.

And also Threads, the Twitter-replacement launched by Meta, that's linked to its Instagram platform.

My answer to these platforms is...

"Don't worry about them. Stay focused on LinkedIn as your MSP's main social media platform."

Why? Because that's where you're most likely to meet the business owner & manager decision makers you most want to reach.

Don't get me wrong, some of the other mainstream social media platforms have a value, especially Facebook. This can be useful for reaching decision makers in their downtime, and used for remarketing adverts (where you show an advert to people who've already visited your website).

But assuming you don't have a huge marketing resource, the more you stretch yourself across multiple platforms, the less impact you'll make.

Be a laser. Not a flashlight.

Here are the top social media platforms (excluding those intended primarily for messaging such as WhatsApp, Messenger, Telegram), and my view on the marketing usefulness of each one:

• LinkedIn: This should be your MSP's main social media platorm. Use your personal profile not a business page. Set up a system to attempt 10 connection requests a day. Then every day add one new piece of content , comment on other people's posts, and weekly do a LinkedIn Newsletter.

• Facebook: If you're going to embrace a second platform, make it Facebook. Again, use a personal profile rather than a business page (which are more or less dead, these days). Your content needs to be more personal than business or tech-related.

• Instagram: Use it to reach consumer-focused businesses that use it for their own marketing, such as retail and hospitality. Why? Because the decision makers are likely to be the ones on the platform, so are more likely to see your stuff.

• X (Twitter): Use this only if you are passionate about it, or you are targeting a vertical that uses it heavily.

• TikTok: Ignore. The audience you want to reach mostly doesn't use it.

• Threads: See Instagram above

• Reddit: It's the wild west! Use this only if you are passionate about it, or you are targeting a vertical that uses it heavily.

• Discord: Ignore. The audience you want to reach mostly doesn't use it.

• Pinterest: Ignore. The audience you want to reach mostly doesn't use it.

• Tumblr: Ignore. The audience you want to reach mostly doesn't use it.