Photo credits: Bloggingpro.com
There is no doubt that in this day and age, majority of people in the world depend on their social networking accounts to send and receive information. Be it about news abroad or events happening right next door, nothing can beat the speed, ease of use, and power of the Internet. With all the benefits sprouting from the World Wide Web, it is a surprise that businesses have utilized this space to market themselves. In all honesty, it is the best chance they have to serve and attract their targeted audience, because of the number of people who log into their accounts every single day.
However, putting up their website is only one part of the process. If they want to gain more customers, they need to go where the people are – and that is to publish content in various multimedia platforms. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are just some of the popular social networking sites that are being used today. However, advertising your brand in these spaces can be complicated because of the number of competitors present in these different media.
Luckily, there are other sites out there that can compete with the strengths of these three media. These forms of media have a lot of untapped potential, so if you decide to advertise in these following social networking sites, then you must be knowledgeable of its ins and outs, and how to’s, in order to optimize the proliferation of your brand name in these spaces.
- Snapchat
Snapchat is a mobile application that can be used in both iOS and Android powered phones. Now what makes Snapchat different from all the other apps is that not only are their users allowed to personalize their content, but also, make their photos and videos only last for ten seconds, before it completely disappears in the face of the internet. Now, do not take this limited time as a downside because sometimes, it only takes ten seconds to get someone’s attention. Because of the duration of the information that is posted, you are able to give your audience a unique experience with just one photo and a few words. Some of these approaches may include:
- Give a sneak peek into important events
- Provide private and personalized content
- Offer fun and over the top promotions by using their creative tabs
- Showcase behind-the-scene materials
- Enables you to partner with other well-known brands, giving you the opportunity to spread awareness to a certain demographic
- StumbleUpon
What makes StumbleUpon unique is that it is capable to provide personal content to their respective users. Each day, they provide users with sites that tickle their interest – making sure that their audiences are getting the content they want and need. Unlike search engines, StumbleUpon presents their pages not by list but immediately, by website. This interactive approach spares their users the boredom of looking at a wall of text on top of a white background. If they are not interested with what was given to them, they can just click on to the next site and be entertained.
To survive in this environment, your content should be pleasing to the eye. You may also want to play around with your in-page animation, to keep your targeted audiences interested. Also, since this site caters to the specific interests of their users, you must not forget about the quality of your content. It must be complimentary with your page’s design, so that the users won’t have a hard time scrolling through your site.
Other tricks of the trade: StumbleUpon features paid discovery. Unlike other systems, like Facebook Ads, you are not using a small space and image to get clicked. By using this method you will be able to bypass building your own community – making it a faster way to get your brand across the network.
Another app that relies on photographs and similar media is Instagram. Though it is famous for being the number one site for taking selfies, you are able to utilize its program to make it work for your company. Because of its status, Instagram is now available on both iPhone and Android devices, and can be accessed via desktop devices as well. Because of it being available in so many platforms, large numbers of audiences are just waiting for that perfect product, service, or offer to show up.
However, posting content is not as easy as it looks. You must be able to understand the dimensions that are provided for your photos and videos, in order to present your content clearly, and that you always have to be in the loop with the popular hashtags. Other ways to entice people to click your brand may include:
- Hosting photo contents
- Giving out rewards and promos through simple images
- Taking photos of your events
- Featuring members on your pages
Pinterest also utilizes photos, videos, and similar media to spread information. Unlike the other sites however, it caters more to the user’s personalized interests. When someone is searching for something on Pinterest, they will only be seeing what they want to see in the form of icons they call “pins.” Now, these pins can be about anything under the sun – from fashion designs to cake recipes, and if their users like the content, they will be able to save it in their boards so that they will be able to go back to them later. Pinterest has a new technology that would enable users to search the site using images. This makes it easier for their users to discover content that they normally would not come across when they type a search query.
The best way for the Pinterest users to click your brand is to utilize this app’s tools wisely. You need to optimize and build your pins and board. Also, take advantage of its messaging and analytics tools. By doing so, you will be able to monitor the interaction between the users and your profile, and at the same time, give you the ability to respond to your audience on a one-on-one approach.
- YouTube
When it comes to providing the best videos, there is no other site bigger than YouTube. This site has more than one billion views and has become a gateway for some of the most well-known entertainers known today. Its ability to spread across different social media networks is what makes it one good place to advertise your brand. Now, you must remember that the lifeblood of YouTube is the video, so in order to garner an audience in this space you need to produce videos that not only accumulates likes, but is also being shared across the different social networking sites. To be able to do this, you must maintain both your YouTube profile and the videos you produce. This will be easy to accomplish if you follow these simple tips:
- Be consistent in uploading videos
- The quality of the video is better than the length
- Encourage your audience to share your videos
- More content is still better than more channels
- Market yourselves wisely
- Apply an “always on” strategy
- Tumblr
Tumblr is one of those sites that cater to the blogger’s lifestyle. Although this microblogging platform is often overlooked, because of the characteristics of its community, it is still a great place to attain a high traffic of users nonetheless. Tumblr allows other users to discover other blogs by following their profile, and is a space that has perfected the visual aspect of networking sites. Bloggers can post stories, videos, images, and .gifs – making it one of the most interactive sites on the Internet.
If you decide to market your brand in Tumblr, you need to remember that you have to be part of the current generation’s niche. So before you post something in this space, you need to make your blogs original and creative as much as possible. You may also:
- Provide contest for every kind of art form
- Create witty promotional posts
- Use popular elements in your content (e.g. memes)
- Innovate the paid posts to give your specified audience what they want and need in a manner they find enticing.
Reddit works like a newspaper, but showcases popular links and information which have been created by the Reddit users. This enables an individual to create pages that can be voted up or down and can be engaged by other users such as themselves. This site often features content that is currently trending, making it a great place to interact with the people of today. A great thing about this site is that users can personalize their searches by creating a Subreddit, giving them the opportunity to search what they want, when they want it.
Although the homepage of Reddit is not as easy on the eyes as the other sites, it is still a good place to market your company. But unlike the other sites, posting content is not as easy and one small mishap can cause you to find yourself banned or blacklisted. To get yourself into this space, you need to follow its rules and systematic method of sharing content. What you can do is to:
- Join relative Subreddits that compliments your brand
- Create a Multireddit to easily monitor your conversations in your Subreddits
- Boil down your engagement opportunities to help limit your searches
- Create Reddit sponsored headlines to generate leads
LinkedIn is a social networking site that is designed for the business community. It allows its members to establish and document networks of people, whom they know and trust, professionally. Because of this site’s tone, you need to treat your prospective customers a little bit differently than those who are in Tumblr and YouTube; and unlike Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn requires connection to have a pre-existing relationship in order to operate.
Deciding to market your company in this space demands it to be precise and of course, professional. You need to follow the site’s rules and updates in order to keep track of your network. To keep your content circulating in this space you may want to follow and remember these following strategies:
- Take advantage of LinkedIn sponsored updates
- Visually impress them with your profile
- Create an influential network
- Provide value in every discussion group
- Optimize your personal profile with related keywords, rich content, and the like
- Always tag your connection in your posts
- Focus on smaller and locally published discussion groups
- It is better to strengthen your relationship with your group rather than having a multitude of connections
- Never treat LinkedIn as a site for your online resume
Finding your perfect audience may sound easy, but, in the vastness of the World Wide Web, you might want to think otherwise. Having your own website is also a part of inbound marketing, there are guides that can help you with this and with a collection numerous social media platforms that connects the world, you need to be able to adapt into every one of these spaces in order to obtain the number of traffic you want. By becoming like one of their users, you will not only be able to strengthen your relationship with your current audience, but also, attract others into clicking on your company.
