#36 How to choose the right channels for your business

[00:00:00] Hi, and welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter, a podcast about all things communication without the waffle. I'm Mel Loy, and in this show, I'll give you short, punchy, practical communication tips and insights you can start using in your communication practices right away. I'm a former corporate communication executive who happily took a redundancy, started my own business, and never looked back.

[00:00:32] These days I use my 20 plus years of experience to guide organizations of all shapes and sizes in how to communicate more effectively. I'm wife to Michael, auntie to 12 nieces and nephews, a gym owner, group fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and a bunch of other things as well. I promise these episodes will always be short, sharp, and insightful, so let's get amongst it.

[00:00:56] Hey friends and welcome back to the show. Thanks for tuning in [00:01:00] once again, or if this is your first time here, a big welcome to you. It's been another busy couple of weeks here at Hey Mel HQ, a huge amount of consulting and training work going on, which we absolutely love. And also our first online course launched a few weeks ago and I have another couple of courses in the pipeline.

[00:01:19] So we are heading into the end of year at pace. And when it comes to pace, we are all working at an incredible speed most of the time these days, especially when it comes to managing channels.

[00:01:34] If you're new to comms and not sure what I mean by channel, it's basically any media you use to communicate. So like an email or a text message, for example. Now, gone are the days when we used to just have a nice, simple website, a media release, or a CEO email. It was a simpler time. These days we have so many more channels to use and choose. Every type of social media channel under the sun, just as an [00:02:00] example. Then you've got messaging apps, phone apps, uh, voice messages, as well as websites, intranets, and so on.

[00:02:09] The challenge is knowing what to choose and this challenge is especially important for those who are starting a new business or starting from scratch in an existing business. And when a new social media app comes on the market, for example, it can be really tempting to jump onto it right away because it's the latest shiny thing and apparently everyone is using it.

[00:02:32] Or let's say for example, your organization now has Microsoft Teams. So you start relying solely on that rather than the channels you already have. So when you have this smorgasbord of channels to choose from, how do you pick the right ones for your business? And that's what we're going to cover in this snappy little episode today.

[00:02:54] I'm going to share three top tips for choosing the right channel for your business, plus a bit of a bonus at the [00:03:00] end. So hang around for that. Let's get amongst it.

[00:03:03] Tip number one is potentially the most important of all. Go where your audience is. So for example, there is no point hopping onto TikTok if your audience is on LinkedIn. There's no point relying solely on Microsoft Teams if your audience doesn't use it and prefers their weekly team meeting. Like everything we do in communication, we start with who, not why. So this is where you'll have to do some research on your audience or your ideal client or customer if you're looking externally.

[00:03:36] Find out where they already communicate or where they go to get the information they are seeking. So externally, this could be a news site or a Facebook group or LinkedIn, for example. Internally, it could be a specific Yammer group or a regular meeting. Maybe even the dreaded company newsletter. Where they are is where you want to be.

[00:03:57] Because otherwise, you're just shouting [00:04:00] into the abyss and wasting so much time in the process. So find out where your audience is talking and join the conversation there, rather than trying to convince them to come to another channel. Now, caveat to this, there's always a caveat. It's not a case of, well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[00:04:19] Especially if your channels are fundamentally broken. But it is about finding out what channels they're using and why they prefer those channels. Especially when it comes to internal comms. So for example, there might be a really active Facebook group that employees are using. But obviously that carries some risk to the business because it's off the grid, so to speak.

[00:04:42] So there could be privacy and security concerns. Also, it's not available to all employees because not everybody uses Facebook. But rather than cut off use straight away, find out why people prefer that to use that channel. You know, maybe it's because it's really easy to access on their own [00:05:00] devices. It's something they already use.

[00:05:03] It's interactive, maybe it's because it allows connection and sharing very simply and easily. So once you know why people are preferring a particular channel, then you can work on creating an alternative that still meets their needs, but within your risk parameters. So that's the first tip, go where your audience is.

[00:05:24] The second tip is to choose the channels that best showcase your service or product. And this is especially true for external facing communication. So if you are a wedding cake maker, for example, then you want channels that show off your amazing work, which means you need visual platforms like Instagram or Pinterest.

[00:05:46] A podcast would probably be a big fat waste of time, but a YouTube channel would work quite well. Now also couple this tip with tip number one. So for example, if brides, your ideal audience are using Pinterest to search for your [00:06:00] wedding cakes, then that is absolutely where you should be. From a corporate comms perspective, because I doubt very many of you make wedding cakes, although, hey, let me know if I'm wrong.

[00:06:11] But from a corporate comms perspective, if you are, for example, in the consulting business, then you want to be somewhere that best showcases your knowledge. In this case, a blog, a podcast, or LinkedIn posts will work better than more visual mediums. But if you're a visual communicator like Hayley Langsdorff, who we had on the poddy a few episodes ago, then you absolutely want to be on YouTube and Instagram, and maybe even TikTok if you have an audience there to reach.

[00:06:39] Another example, if you're a top ASX listed company and you're building the brand of a CEO, then you want the channels that best showcase their thought leadership, build their credibility. So this could be opinion pieces on your website or YouTube or an article that they share in a prestigious group on LinkedIn, something like that.

[00:06:58] Now, related to this [00:07:00] is the channels that also best suit your brand. So you could be in a fairly boring business, like I don't know, roofing - sorry if you're a roofer, um, but you have a really fun, engaging brand, which means you do silly content on TikTok and that goes down really well. But if your brand is much more formal, then you absolutely steer away from channels like TikTok and more toward established channels like Twitter or LinkedIn.

[00:07:26] So in short, showcase your product or service via channels that give it the best chance of success. The final tip of the three is one that's often forgotten until it is too late, and that is Choose a mix of channels that is feasible to manage and sustain. If you are a sole operator or part of a small and really busy team, then you absolutely need to work smarter, not harder.

[00:07:52] So as I said at the top of the episode, it can be really tempting to use a bunch of channels and thinking you need to show up everywhere. [00:08:00] But here's the thing with managing a lot of channels. It takes up a lot of time. Think about, not only do you have to deliver content for all these channels, but you need to repackage it or tweak it for the different audiences and different requirements for each channel.

[00:08:14] Then you need to moderate and respond to comments, track performance, and so on and so on. And you need to do this almost every single day. Do you have time to do that for 10 channels? Because I sure don't. So, while you may want to use a bunch of different channels, We need to remember that even just a few is a big commitment.

[00:08:35] And if you're doing your channels really well, then you're putting a lot of time and thought into planning, writing copy, creating visuals, and so on. And on top of this, you need to be flexible. Things do change, and often very unexpectedly. So you need to be able to act quickly with your channels and AI can only do so much here so far, my friends.

[00:08:57] So for example, April on my team and I, [00:09:00] we meet every week to look at the content for the weeks ahead and we plan as much as we can, but invariably. Every week, something will change, even if it's just something small like a sentence or a graphic because she's been harassing me to draw something and I've forgotten.

[00:09:15] Through to completely rejigging the schedule because a person wasn't available for a podcast interview or something has happened in the outside world that we need to respond to or has taken up our time in other ways. So then, we're drafting all the content, creating visuals, scheduling posts, etc, etc, etc.

[00:09:34] So that's why we're keeping it tight with just a few channels that serve our purposes of reaching our target audiences, but also boosting SEO and driving business development opportunities. So we have this podcast, we have the blog, and both of those things are updated every week. And then we have a fortnightly email.

[00:09:54] And from a social media perspective, we are only using three channels, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. [00:10:00] And for each one of those channels, we're rewriting copy to meet the parameters of the channel because each one works differently and it has slightly different audiences and different tone. It takes time to record and edit and produce and schedule this podcast, as well as write and edit and schedule the blog posts.

[00:10:18] And it can take a few hours to get the fortnightly email absolutely right. Now, this is actually a very small content operation compared with bigger companies and teams. And you can see how much time that takes us each week just to manage those things. If we added one more channel to the mix, I might keel over, I'm not going to lie.

[00:10:38] So the message here is rather than spreading yourself too thin, choose just a few channels and do them really well. You'll get a much bigger payoff for your hard work.

[00:10:49] Okay. It's time for today's episode recap. And as I said, hang around because I've got one final thing I want to share around channels.

[00:10:57] Now, as I promised. This episode is short and snappy. [00:11:00] We covered three big tips for choosing the right channels for your business. Number one, choose the channels your audience is already using. Go where they are, rather than trying to drive them somewhere else. Otherwise, you are just yelling into a big black hole where there's nobody listening.

[00:11:17] Number two is choose the channels that best showcase your product or service or brand. So for example, if you're a videographer, then you'll definitely use YouTube and maybe Instagram as well. And number three, do not overcommit. Choose the channel mix that is feasible and sustainable to manage. Rather than being tempted to do all the channels and all the social media, choose just a few and do them really well.

[00:11:45] Now here's your bonus tip. There is one more consideration I want to touch on with channels and that's about crisis communication. Make sure you're thinking about how you might communicate in a crisis if you needed to urgently get information out to people. So [00:12:00] whether that's your employees or your customers or anyone else.

[00:12:03] As part of your crisis comms planning process, you really should be thinking about these scenarios and the best way to broadcast these messages. And think about what your backup channels will be. So for example, if your systems are hacked and you can't update your website or internet or use company email, how will you get your messages out?

[00:12:25] So while these particular channels may not factor into your everyday mix, You should absolutely have them in your back pocket in the event of a crisis. Okay, so that's all for today's episode. I hope you come away with some ideas for how you can choose or even streamline your channels more effectively.

[00:12:42] And if there's any topics you'd love me to cover on the show, please get in touch. This is The People's Show. I exist for you. In the meantime, keep smiling, keep doing amazing things. Bye for now.