Double Down On A Top-Performing Social Channel Or Diversify Efforts Across Multiple Channels?

Summary

MarTech Podcast ™ // Marketing + Technology = Business Growth

Episode: Double Down On A Top-Performing Social Channel Or Diversify Efforts Across Multiple Channels?
Release Date: May 2, 2025
Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Guest: Scott Morris, Chief Marketing Officer at Sprout Social

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Introduction

In this episode of the MarTech Podcast, host Benjamin Shapiro engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Scott Morris, the Chief Marketing Officer at Sprout Social. The focal point of their conversation revolves around a critical decision marketers face: whether to concentrate efforts on a single high-performing social media channel or to diversify across multiple platforms. This debate is particularly pertinent in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, where new social platforms frequently emerge, and audience behaviors shift accordingly.

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The Core Debate: Focus vs. Diversification

Scott Morris initiates the conversation by emphasizing that the decision to double down on a top-performing channel or diversify across multiple platforms is contingent upon a brand's specific goals. He states:

“Strategic platform diversification really is key. It's kind of hard to predict what's next the way everything is evolving so quickly.” [01:58]

Morris acknowledges the challenges marketers face with the introduction of new platforms like Threads, Mastodon, and others that resemble established giants such as Twitter (now X) and TikTok. He highlights that nearly half of marketers observe their audiences migrating to these emerging platforms, making it imperative to consider demographic variations and platform-specific dynamics.

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Strategic Platform Diversification

The discussion delves into the concept of strategic platform diversification, where brands experiment with new social channels while maintaining a strong presence on established ones. Morris advises that brands should:

• Meet audiences where they are: Focus on platforms that align with the target demographic and the brand's objectives.
• Avoid being "everything to everyone": Instead of spreading resources thin across numerous channels, prioritize authenticity and relevance on selected platforms.

He elaborates:

“Meeting your audience on the platforms they prefer is more authentic than trying to be everything to everyone and everywhere.” [02:55]

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Mastering Before Expanding

Benjamin Shapiro concurs with Morris's perspective but introduces an important nuance—mastery of a few channels before expansion. He refers to the 80/20 rule, suggesting that:

• 80% of efforts should be concentrated on 20% of the channels that yield the highest engagement and results.
• For instance, Sprout Social focuses primarily on YouTube and LinkedIn for their video content, allowing them to excel rather than diluting their presence across less impactful platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

Shapiro emphasizes the importance of quality over quantity:

“You want to be somewhat selective in making sure you're doing a good job in the channel.” [03:17]

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Evaluating Your Social Media Journey

Morris adds depth to the conversation by advising marketers to assess their current position in their social media journey:

• Established Presence: Brands with a robust presence across multiple platforms have more flexibility to experiment with new channels.
• Starting Fresh: New brands should identify the most relevant platform aligned with their goals and focus their initial efforts there before considering expansion.

He asserts:

“You can't be on all of them, so you got to pick the one that's right for your brand goals and then expand from there if that's the right thing for your brand.” [04:20]

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The Importance of Audience Insights

Understanding where your target audience is active is paramount. Morris recommends leveraging social listening tools to monitor conversations and trends across different platforms. This data-driven approach ensures that any decision to diversify is backed by concrete insights about audience behavior and preferences.

He notes:

“Understand what shifts are happening across those different networks, even maybe using social listening to understand across those networks where the conversations that are relevant for what you're trying to achieve are.” [05:24]

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Concluding Thoughts

Both Shapiro and Morris converge on the belief that while diversification is valuable, it should not come at the expense of excellence on primary channels. Mastery of selected platforms ensures that brands can deliver meaningful and engaging content, fostering stronger relationships with their audience.

Morris concludes with practical advice:

“Sizing the content for those experiences and for those user bases matters more than the blanket coverage across multiple different channels.” [05:24]

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Key Takeaways

1. Strategic Focus: Prioritize platforms that align with your brand goals and where your audience is most active.
2. Quality Over Quantity: Excel on a few chosen platforms before considering expansion to others.
3. Data-Driven Decisions: Utilize social listening and audience insights to inform platform strategies.
4. Adaptability: Stay agile and be ready to pivot as new platforms emerge and audience behaviors evolve.

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Conclusion

This episode underscores the delicate balance marketers must strike between focusing on high-performing social channels and diversifying their social media presence. By understanding their brand goals, mastering selected platforms, and staying attuned to audience preferences, marketers can navigate the complex social media landscape to drive business growth effectively.

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Notable Quotes:

• Scott Morris (01:58): “Strategic platform diversification really is key. It's kind of hard to predict what's next the way everything is evolving so quickly.”
• Scott Morris (02:55): “Meeting your audience on the platforms they prefer is more authentic than trying to be everything to everyone and everywhere.”
• Benjamin Shapiro (03:17): “You want to be somewhat selective in making sure you're doing a good job in the channel.”
• Scott Morris (04:20): “You can't be on all of them, so you got to pick the one that's right for your brand goals and then expand from there if that's the right thing for your brand.”
• Scott Morris (05:24): “Sizing the content for those experiences and for those user bases matters more than the blanket coverage across multiple different channels.”

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For more insights and to stay updated with the latest in marketing and technology, subscribe to the MarTech Podcast ™ and follow us on YouTube. To connect with Scott Morris or delve deeper into Sprout Social's research, visit their LinkedIn profile and website.

Transcript

[Benjamin Shapiro]

The Martech Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com.

[Scott Morris]

From advertising to software as a service to data across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55 to 65% open rate. Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising. Typical life span of an article is about 24 to 36 hours. We're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action. Then it's just a matter of timing.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world class marketers that use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

[Scott Morris]

I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me to discuss the difference between what marketers think and what consumers actually want from social media is Scott Morris. Scott is the Chief Marketing Officer at Sprout Social, which is a social media management and analytics platform. And his team recently surveyed a group of customers, social practitioners, and marketing leaders to uncover how consumer relationships are changing and how that's different than what social media platforms want. And today we're going to discuss those findings and how marketers can break through the noise. All right, last question. Double down or diversify? Should brands double down on top performing social channels or diversify their efforts across multiple channels?

[C]

So it definitely depends on what your brand goals are. And this is a question that social media folks think about all the time, especially if they've invested a lot in the traditional channels that have been around for a couple of years. And then you have things like Threads and Mastodon and others that are coming on and they're struggling with whether they also need to expand to those channels. I would say that what we like to call strategic platform diversification really is key. It's kind of hard to predict what's next the way everything is evolving so quickly. Brands are experimenting with new platforms. Almost half of us marketers say that their audiences are starting to spend time on those emerging platforms. Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, all of which are sort of Twitter or X like Lemonade, which is the TikTok like. And platform usage really varies by demographic. So you've gotta be thinking about all of those things. And so I guess my final answer is meeting your audience on the platforms they prefer is more authentic than trying to be everything to everyone and everywhere. So you really need to think about what each of those platforms serves the audience you're trying to target. That should inform your strategy rather than trying to be everywhere all at once.

[Scott Morris]

You lean, diversify, yes. Be in multiple channels and be where your customers are. I don't disagree. I lean a little more towards focus on the channels that you can master first. And I think there's an 8020 rule here, which is for us, for example, we create social shorts, we focus on YouTube, we focus on LinkedIn, we don't spend a ton of time on Instagram and Twitter trying to fine tune and tweak and the conversations are a little different. But our primary channel is video delivery and we think that YouTube and LinkedIn are right. So we can continue to go and spread on Mastodon and bluesky, which I always want to call blueski, but you can go and you can spread the peanut butter real thin. And I think that you're right in the sense that you need more than one channel, but you also want to be somewhat selective in making sure you're doing a good job in the channel. So I lean more towards do a great job before you expand. And it seems like you're make sure you have some expansion and coverage, but obviously you still have to do a good enough job for each channel.

[C]

Well, I actually think you hit on a really important point, which is this idea of doing a good job before you expand. So it depends on where you are in your social journey. If you already have presence on a bunch of networks and platforms, you have a little bit more wiggle room or capacity maybe depending on how many resources you have to start experimenting on some of those newer networks. If you're just getting started started. We named what10networks on this conversation. You can't be on all of them, so you got to pick the one that's right for your brand goals and then expand from there if that's the right thing for your brand.

[Scott Morris]

I think if you're seeing continued growth in one primary channel, you should focus your efforts there and make sure that you're getting the most of the channel, that you're seeing positive business results before you get distracted trying to replicate what you think will work on another channel. And then when you hit the point of diminishing returns, then you think about expanding. But I do think that mastering the one or two channels that really matter first and right. Sizing the content for those experiences and for those user bases matters more than the blanket coverage across multiple different channels.

[C]

Definitely agree. The only thing I would add to that would be that you might be going really deep on one of those networks because you're successful there and you want to build on that, but you need to make sure you know where your audience is or where your target audience is, I should say. So doing a little bit of research and understanding what shifts are happening across those different networks, even maybe using social listening to understand across those networks where the conversations that are relevant for what you're trying to achieve are, that might also influence if or when you decide you're going to expand to something else.

[Scott Morris]

I couldn't agree more. Scott, I appreciate you coming on the show. I appreciate you telling us about your research and giving brands an understanding of whether they should slide into their consumers DMs or not.

[C]

Thanks a lot. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for having me.

[Scott Morris]

All right, and that wraps up this episode of the Martech podcast. Thanks to Scott Morris from Sprout Social for joining us. If you'd like to get in touch with Scott, you could find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes. Or you could read Sprout Social's research on consumer and marketing behavior by visiting their website, sproutsocial.com and if you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feedback, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or follow us on YouTube. All right, that's it for today, but until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

[Benjamin Shapiro]

Thanks for listening to the Martech podcast and I hear everything. Production Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iheareverything. Com.