When you start using social media to market your business, it’s important to focus on the big hitters – social media giants like Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn are all obvious target platforms (depending on your business). But it’s worth considering other platforms that may well suit the needs of your brand and your end customers.
Exploring the younger entrants to the social media market, can help you to get a foothold with a new group of followers – and that’s excellent news when you want to broaden the reach of your marketing activity.
Key social media platforms to explore
The social media platforms that will work best for your brand will be determined by a variety of different factors. Your industry type, your business size and your chosen target customer will all impact on the kind of platform that delivers the best return.
Corporate business-to-business (B2B) companies may get more out of LinkedIn, while a retail business-to-consumer (B2C) company may find it has a better impact on Facebook or Instagram. By diving into some of the lesser-used or emerging new social platforms, you can help your brand to stand out and attract a new audience.
Here are some alternative social media platforms to explore:
TikTok
TikTok began life as an app dedicated to recording and sharing 15-second video clips (similar to the now defunct Vine app, or the Reels feature in Instagram). The platform now offers both 15 and 60-second video options, and the ability to upload and edit external videos, greatly increasing the possibilities for marketing.
The TikTok platform has 689 million users in 2021, with the vast majority in the 18 to 24 age bracket (although people can join the app when they are 12). If you’re aiming your products/services at a teenage and young adult market, TikTok is an important platform to have a presence, and investing in TikTok advertising can be one way to expand your reach.
Snapchat
Snapchat started out in 2011 with the unique proposition of being a ‘disappearing picture app’, allowing users to share images that then disappeared once viewed. Over time, the app has gained real popularity with the younger generation, and has become more of a messaging and sharing platform for the 18-24 age group.
If you’re looking to target a younger demographic, Snapchat is a good platform to experiment with, allowing you to create a brand account, interact with your core audience and run live events, share stories and add ‘moments’. As with many of the bigger platforms, Snapchat offers paid advertising, giving you a new ad channel to explore and test out.
Pinterest launched in 2010 as a way for users to ‘pin’ images that they liked to a virtual mood board. This simple concept of creating a scrapbook of online images and content has expanded into a full-blown social media and shopping platform, with 478 million users worldwide.
Pinterest users often to pin and save items they intend to buy in the future, creating a virtual shopping list or ‘wish list’. You can capitalise on this by creating a presence on the platform and making it easy for potential customers to pin and purchase your goods. Pinterest Ads are a useful way to increase this presence and generate revenues from the platform
Clubhouse
Clubhouse is described as ‘an audio drop-in app’, and is unusual in that it focuses purely on delivering a social media experience based primarily in the audio realm.
At present, Clubhouse is invite-only, so you’ll need a friendly associate to invite you onto the app. But with 10 million+ users, Clubhouse’s audio-based rooms and live podcast-style approach could be a useful tool for a brand that’s looking to run advice sessions, boost its thought leadership and connect with a B2B or B2C audience.
Start exploring the benefits of social media
Social media channels have become a core part of any digital marketing strategy, so it’s important to explore, experiment and try out a range of different platforms
Ultimately, the key is that your brand should have a social media presence wherever your audience tends to congregate. If Snapchat and TikTok are the apps your customers use, this is where you should focus your efforts. And if LinkedIn and ClubHouse is where your top-level business audience hangs out, this is where you need to raise your presence.
