Stop and blink and you might just miss the next big thing when it comes to social media. But how do brands decide where to put their marketing dollars and which platforms to invest in? Before creating that new account and uploading your profile image, consider these questions.

As a business, what are your goals and what are you looking to accomplish with social media? Are you wanting to increase sales, or are you looking to build up your database? Maybe your brand wants to position itself as a leader in your industry and you need to create value-based content for your audience?

After you’ve identified your goals, you’ll want to evaluate your budget. Your budget may help guide you in deciding what platforms to be on. It’s important to be consistent and active on a couple of platforms rather than spread yourself too thin while trying to manage multiple accounts.

Whatever your goals and budget are as a business, identifying them will help you decide where to invest your time and money when it comes to social.

Next, think about your target audience. Who are they and what social platforms are they most active on? If you don’t know where your audience spends their time on social, a good place to start is to look at your competition and see what they’re doing. What platforms are your competitors on? What kinds of content are they posting, and most important, what kind of engagement are they receiving? Knowing which platforms your target audience is on and what your competition is doing with social can help guide your decisions.

To help jumpstart your search here’s a short list of social media platforms with possible applications for your brand.

LinkedIn: Ideal for B2B companies, generating leads, connecting your brand to key decision makers, sharing your expertise with value-based content.

Facebook: Helps with visibility, building a community, offers tools to interact with customers, ways to promote events, and solutions to sell products.

Instagram: Perfect for visually engaging with audience, ideal for ecommerce.

Twitter: Ideal for providing quick timely customer engagement.

TikTok: Great for brand awareness especially with Gen Z, a platform designed to highlight your brand’s lighter, creative side.

YouTube: Perfect for engaging with audience in a way that’s visually compelling. Ideal for product reviews, behind the scenes, promoting and sharing events, interviews and filming podcasts.

When you consider your goals, evaluate your budget, and think about your target audience, you can find the right mix of social media platforms for your brand. And you can keep an unblinking eye out for the next big thing to benefit your business.