Sure, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+ are important, but most of your attention should be on writing quality blog posts that you host yourself.
1. You own your blog
You do not own Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on. But what you do own is your blog. This means there are fewer restrictions when it comes to the format of what you want to post. More importantly, it means that the rules aren't going to change anytime soon. You never have to worry if your blog is going to change its news feed algorithm, if the post is too long, or if the rules will be set in such a way that you now need to pay to reach new or existing fans. Most importantly, you will always have your content. You put of lot of effort into your content marketing, and you should be hosting it on your platform. Social media can be fickle, and today's hot new toy can be tomorrow's forgotten platform. Obviously you still want to place your content on other channels, but make sure you are also storing it on your blog.
2. Keep potential and current customers on your site
You are a marketer. You are trying to get people to buy more of whatever it is you sell. This is more easily accomplished when they are already on your site. When people are on your site it is much easier for them to learn more about you and your business. When they see your message on a different social media platform, there is an extra step necessary to redirect them to your site. The more people have to click, the more likely they become uninterested. Simply put, it is easier to convert potential clients and customers on your site then on someone else's site.
3. Email marketing
Email marketing is not dead, not by a long shot. And your own blog or website is the easiest way to obtain those email addresses. On other social media platforms this is next to impossible. Email marketing is valuable because there are few restrictions on reaching your own fans. It is easy to miss a post on Instagram or Twitter, and Facebook picks and chooses what to show your fans. Email allows you to get your message directly to your fans (as long as they open the email obviously). If you are unfamiliar with email marketing you can start for free with MailChimp.
4. Use your blog as content for your social media
Social Research Strategies uses its own blog as content for all social media platforms. On Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter we share our most recent blog articles. On Twitter we share these posts several times. And again on twitter, we break down our blog articles sentence by sentence and turn them into informative tweets. Think about your blog like an environmental hunter would think of killing an animal: no part of the post should go to waste. The more you are able to repurpose the content in your blog, the more mileage you will get out of it.
5. Better educate your audience
Blogs are best platform for when you have more than an image or 140 characters to share. Some ideas cannot be shared in a tweet, a picture, or a Facebook post. Blogs allow for more nuanced discussions of ideas. Educating your audience increases your perceived expertise. This trust helps build your brand. When you are an authority on a topic, your credibility increases. When a potential or current customer views you as a trustworthy source, sales follow.
Do not take this advice as a reason to neglect your other social media platforms. Instead, make sure that you are putting enough effort into your own blog.