When you think of creating a social media marketing strategy for your business, what platforms come to mind? The answer to this question can vary depending on the industry in which you operate. But there are certainly the names of many popular and famous social networks in the world such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. But, there are many other types of social media channels, which play an important role in achieving marketing goals.
In recent years, due to the increasing popularity and power of social media channels, businesses and marketers are looking for different types of social networks that they can use to target audiences and convert them into customers. According to statistics, more than 88% of companies and businesses operate on social media.
In this article, we’ve grouped the wide variety of platforms into 6 broad categories that focus on specific use cases and what businesses can do using them.
Table of Contents
Social networks and brand awareness
Social media platforms help you build brand awareness, connect with customers, find niche audiences, and increase sales without spending too much of your marketing budget. Useful content can attract more potential customers and help them remember your brand. Creating a consistent brand across multiple social media platforms allows you to have a successful presence on these networks while interacting with customers. You can use social media to answer customer questions, find out about problems and inform about your special events or sales.
Choosing the most appropriate social media
With the increasing number of social media platforms, many marketers think that by being present on all these networks, they are helping to improve their marketing. Do you think this is the right way?
In fact, in order to choose social networks that are suitable for a particular business and help them achieve their marketing goals, there is no need to spend time and energy to learn and be present in all these networks. To choose the most suitable social networks for your business, we suggest you pay attention to these three points.
- Know your audience.
The first question you should ask before joining a new social media platform is whether or not your audience is on the social network. Definitely, working in a network that includes a large percentage of the audience is more logical than being in a new network and trying to attract the audience in it.
The next thing to consider is how your audience is using a particular social network. What kind of content are they looking for?
- Check the statistics of different social media.
When a new social networking platform emerges, it is important to compare it to other existing social networks. Although it is impossible to predict the future, one way to know if a new platform has the power to compete with existing media is to look at its statistics.
- Move in line with the key goals of your business.
Ask yourself: Which platforms match your business goals?
For example, if one of your goals is to increase awareness of a new product or service, using video can be appropriate. So it is better to focus on social media that is based on video content.
Introduction of various social media platforms
Knowing the differences, similarities and strengths and weaknesses between different social media and how users interact with them can help you interact more effectively with potential customers. Here are some of the most popular types of social media.
1. Social Networks
Social networks help people to communicate with each other. These networks offer many ways for different brands to attract audiences. You can reach a wide and diverse audience by advertising in these networks. You can also connect with your audience, research user interests, and monitor online conversations about your business.
Among the very famous examples of this category of social networks, we can mention Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Also, networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter offer many potential applications, including attracting and hiring specialists, building B2B relationships, communicating with potential customers, and communicating with experts and professionals.
2. Audio social networks
New audio platforms such as Clubhouse, Twitter spaces, Spotify grew a lot during the Corona pandemic. The main use of audio social networks is to listen to live conversations about specific and trending topics. Engaging conversations on these platforms can help you establish yourself as a leader in your niche or introduce your business or products to an audience interested in topics related to your niche.
3. Video social networks
Video social media platforms like YouTube, Viemo, TikTok are great for gaining attention, increasing brand awareness, and bringing products to life. Any video content you publish should be designed to entertain, educate, or inspire your audience. Videos made solely to sell will not attract viewers.
4. Video social networks
Visual content on social media receives a higher engagement rate than written content. Because of this, new types of social media have emerged that are mainly based on images. Image sharing platforms like Instagram have become very popular in recent years. These social media sites allow people to share photos and related content. Image sharing social networks provide a very suitable platform for interacting with the audience, developing creativity, introducing products and services in an attractive way and encouraging customers to talk about your brand. For example, a clothing store can assign a discount code to anyone who shares a photo of their outfit on these networks.
5. Discussion forums
Discussion forums encourage people to answer each other’s questions and share new ideas and news. Many of these sites, such as Quora and Reddit, focus on asking questions to get the best answers. A correct and honest answer can increase your credibility in these forums, and this credibility and respect can lead to increased visits to your business or product website. You can also use forums to conduct market research and ask users what they think about your products and brand. This can help you create more focused marketing campaigns.
6. Blogging networks
These networks, like blogs and Medium, allow you to share your thoughts, ideas, and opinions about work, current events, hobbies, and more. You can enjoy many benefits of blogging. You can also attract new readers from the pool of people who are looking for interesting content. You can drive more traffic to your main website by writing blog posts about how to use a product or news about your industry.