Looking To Other Social Media
Everyone uses Social Media these days, it’s just a fact of the increasingly online world we live in. With so many people checking their feeds every day, it only makes sense to try and insert your brand into that feed, doesn’t it? Master the art of Social Media and you can start attracting customers from all over the digital world in just a few clicks.
For today, we’re going to go beyond the usual suspects of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Instead we’re going to look at other social media platforms whose functions and audiences are a little more niche.
YouTube
Now this one’s not exactly a niche product, it’s true. With 2 billion regular users it’s one of the biggest sites out there for hosting user created content. We’re looking at it here because it’s a site that only hosts video. This makes it an interesting place to attempt to market your business if you don’t already deal in video.
If your business is suited to being shown off in video then this is probably the best place to do it. Those 2 billion users represent a vast variety of audiences and demographics, so you’re sure to have access to the people you want to reach.
If your business doesn’t translate well to video however, then this platform will do you absolutely no good whatsoever. YouTube’s automated copyright system is also notoriously abusable, and losing monetisation, or even the videos themselves, for no good reason is frustratingly common.
In short, this is a platform that’s great for some, and useless to others.
LinkedIn, the social networking platform exclusively for professionals, is another divisive one. If you sell to the general public, you’re probably wondering how on Earth they’re supposed to find you here.
The answer is, you’re right, they’re not going to. There are however plenty of businesses here that you can reach, a blessing if you deal in business to business.
This can still be useful for recruiting however, maintaining an active LinkedIn account that shows off what it’s like to work for your business is a great way to attract more of the right kind of applicants.
It’s a platform with some niche uses, but won’t be very useful to most.
With 400 million monthly users Pinterest offers a sizable user base to pursue, but what kind of strategy should you be pursuing them with? There’s one answer to that, and it’s Ecommerce. If you run a digital store, you should definitely be using Pinterest to advertise your products.
Pinterest offers a visual focused platform with access to a wide range of interest groups. Each of your images can be accompanied by a short piece of text, enough to include a description of your product and a link to your store.
Even better than that, if you’re using Shopify then you’ll be pleased to know that Pinterest has full Shopify integration, allowing you to display your entire catalogue in just a few quick steps.
If you sell products online, get onto Pinterest.
If you’re seeking out the truly niche, you won’t find anywhere more niche than Reddit. Home to countless communities ranging in size from a few dozen people to thousands, Reddit’s claim to fame is allowing the creators of those communities to create incredibly niche communities.
There are communities for appreciating nice graphs, quizzing historians, talking about model plane building, and so many more.
Reddit’s advertising tools allow you to take advantage of this by targeting ads to the interests that those communities represent, even to pick out individual communities yourself. This kind of precision audience targeting is the kind of thing you dream of, and well worth going after.
This can also be a great place to grow leads organically, either via your own subreddit if you’re lucky enough to have one, or by being active in communities that are interested in what you have to offer.
Reddit is not as big as Facebook, and it can be confusing at first, but it’s a useful resource.
Snapchat
Snapchat is an especially unique platform, one you may be hard pressed to see a use for. The core identity of the platform lies in the fact that the photos and videos that are posted to it vanish after 24 hours. This creates a uniquely transient form of media, and by extension a platform that is only interested in the here and now.
Posting ads for products to Snapchat won't get you nearly the same kind of exposure that you would get posting them elsewhere, but it can potentially be useful for event promotion. Your promotion of your product launch, sale, conference, or other limited time event will only ever be up while it’s relevant.
Useful for events, but for any other uses there are much better options available to you.
Nextdoor
Like Snapchat, Nextdoor has an interesting gimmick at the centre of its brand, being linked to real world neighbourhoods. When creating an account with Nextdoor you will be required to enter your address, which will be used to add you to a community formed of those in your immediate vicinity.
Now if you're running a business that services a wide area, the whole state, or the whole country even, this is going to be quite limiting.
If your focus is more local however, a couple of suburbs at most, this can be a great way to build awareness in the area that matters to you. Anyone looking at your posts is guaranteed to be living nearby, and therefore guaranteed to be part of your target demographic.
A boon for eateries and other local focused businesses, limiting for those with a wider range.
So there you have it, a selection of Social Media platforms with
unique benefits and limitations. Not all of them will be a good fit, but to a business that’s poised to take advantage of them, they could prove a valuable asset.
