First step: Pick an established social media platform. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit.
Second step: Pick an emerging platform (e.g. Quibb, Medium). Emerging = hasn’t raised hundreds of millions of dollars of VC money (yet)
Third step: Engage via the established platform and the emerging platform equally and often.
Why?
On the established platform it’s fairly clear what you need to do to build a decently sized and engaged following. On the downside, there is lots of competition for attention there. So you can get reasonable – but not outsized – “returns” from investing in the established platform.
The emerging platform is the Wild West. There’s less competition for attention. And it’s wide open for someone (maybe your company) to take some risks, experiment, and maybe build a strong following on what could be the Next Big Thing. On the downside, it could be the next MySpace and you will have nothing to show for your efforts.
Think of your investment in the established platform as the base and the emerging platform as the bonus. And then execute on both.