Marketing isn’t what it was ten years ago, or even five. With new social media platforms regularly popping up and becoming popular with younger generations, it’s important for your marketing department to stay on top of the latest trends and social media user groups. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been top of the league in social media platforms for many years, but it’s important not to neglect some of the lesser-known corners of social media, where potential clients with niche interests could be targeted. Let’s take a look at some of these platforms and how they can be useful in marketing your business.
TikTok
TikTok is very much a Gen Z app, and with over a billion monthly users, it’s one that you should be paying attention to. The video-sharing app provides a creative way of combining short video footage and music, resulting in a package-sized snippet of entertainment that is ideal for those looking for a way to consume content fast. TikTok sees its users spending almost an hour a day browsing videos, often returning several times throughout the day. These short videos are creative, funny, and very on-trend. Using TikTok for business marketing is a lucrative way to tap into a huge market. You can narrow down the audience you want and market directly to them — millions of them. What you need for TikTok is creative, original, useful, informative content. Like the rule goes, content is king, so you take away what you put in.
If your business can market itself visually, Pinterest could be infinitely useful to you. It’s ultimately a giant, digital pinboard, where you can find craft ideas, hairstyles, design inspiration, recipes, yoga poses, and more, which you like and ‘pin’ to your boards. While it started out as a platform geared towards women in the age range 30-50, it has grown to a monthly user base of almost half a million. It’s a great platform to sell products, especially if your brand and services are visually appealing. For those whose target audience is women, moms, or anyone with an interest in recipe, craft, or design ideas, this platform could be very lucrative for your business.
Quora
Started by two ex-Facebook employees, Quora is often the go-to answer solving platform. The whole community is based on a question-and-answer format, so if your business is an expert in its field, use it to promote your company as one that knows what they’re talking about. Provide good quality answers and you’ll get upvoted by community members, promoting and ranking your position within Quora. The great thing about Quora is that its questions and answers also rank highly on Google, so you can really establish yourself as a trusted expert in your field.
These are just some of the ways you can use lesser-known social media platforms to promote your business. The next step is proper planning and implementation to efficiently use them.
Online brand presence
Before you start using these platforms, you should have a strong idea of your brand and how you want to present it online. Customize it toward the platform and its users so that you come across as aesthetic and inspirational on Pinterest, informative and knowledgeable on Quora, or creative and funny on TikTok. Keep it consistent and accessible, which is what social media is all about. You want your customers to know who you are and trust you as an expert in your niche.
Use analytics
The great thing about business accounts on social media platforms is their analytics abilities. It’s no use putting out content without analyzing how, when, where, and who is accessing it. Keep track of your best and worst performing content to enhance your future posts, or tweak your content to engage with the right audience. Make sure you are posting regularly enough to keep up with the app’s algorithm, and post quality stuff that people want to see.
Customer engagement
One of the biggest tips for utilizing these platforms efficiently is engaging with customers on the sites. Whether it’s YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or Quora, dedicate a team that keeps on top of replying to comments and direct messages. Many younger generations use these platforms as ways to reach out to a company, forgoing the usual email or online chat correspondence, so sometimes these apps act as a branch of customer service. Not only that, engaging with customer comments in a timely and friendly fashion can improve the likeability of a brand, making your company seem more accessible and down to earth. There are many things you can learn about customer engagement that can significantly improve your business rating score, whether it’s through an online course or lots of research and practice online, so it’s a worthwhile avenue to explore.
