Social media is the ultimate leveller. When you employ social media as a defining part of your digital marketing strategy, you are commanding a framework that gets you talking with real people and encourages them to actively engage with your brand. Now, as the list of social networks grows ever longer, this potential goes way past the realms of Twitter and Facebook…
Social media is growing at such an exponential rate that it warrants more care and attention than many companies and businesses currently lend it. The reason for this is simple; the average person already spends a considerable portion of their day interacting and engaging on social networking personally, so surely there is very little to learn?
The truth is that the skills and knowledge required to harness each network’s potential does not come from personal usage. Establishing your business as a driving force on social media takes ingenuity, analysis and a willingness to evolve. Part of that is identifying how every new network could slot into an already-robust social media strategy.
With that in mind, here are a few networks that you may have yet to tap into, and how each of them could help you achieve your goals:
Periscope
We’ve already discussed at length how live streaming apps like Periscope are changing the face of social media. The premise of social media derived from the concept of a platform that would enable instantaneous communication of information and ideas, so it stands to reason that live streaming fits in quite nicely. Live streaming has been around in one form or another for many years now. However, it’s come into its own with the widespread use of untethered data exchange and smartphone technology.
Small businesses can use Periscope to engage with their customers in real time, and it could really help to give a human face to your brand. Our article on How to Build your Brand with Periscope takes a more in-depth look into how you could use it, but the possibilities are endless. Examples include behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive sneak-peeks of new products, and even how-to Q&A sessions. Periscope could very well be the network that helps your brand break out on social.
Snapchat
Snapchat is often dismissed – partly because of its younger demographic and partly because content that is posted on there is, by its very nature, finite and short lasting. But, can you really afford to overlook one of the fastest growing social networks out there?
Snapchat can be particularly useful to businesses and companies who are looking to appeal to and engage with younger people. You could use it to boost sales, making use of the limited nature of the app by providing exclusive discounts to your followers. Snapchat has also recently been tailored towards providing content for local users through the use of Geofilters. This gives you the option to send your promotion to nearby users.
Instagram has a community of over 400 million active accounts who use the network for visual stimulation and inspiration. The two things that set the network apart are its users are often highly engaged and the content has to be purely visual.
If aspects of your business are visually stimulating then you should be using Instagram. We have our own guide on the social media app and what you should be doing in regards to you business here.
LinkedIn is a great platform to connect businesses with other companies and like-minded individuals. A business is not only about sales and profit but building relationships and creating connections in your industry and out of it, and LinkedIn is the perfect place to do that. In 2016, statistics showed that 450 million people used LinkedIn. However, as of 2018, the number of LinkedIn users rose to 562 million, making it the ideal place to showcase your brand and highlight what your business provides to its customers.
Alongside these prominent social networks, there are plenty of other small-scale and growing networks that could prove useful as time goes on. Our advice is to never dismiss a network without considering if and how it could be a good fit for your business.
Edited by Olivia Newman: 05/09/2019.
