Social media is today an effective digital marketing tool. As a result, any company can use the different types of social media platforms to grow. That means you can promote there anything related to your products or services. Just do the best choice for your business needs.
Employing popular social media in your social media marketing strategy means your products and services will be seen by a larger audience, and rank higher on search engine searches. This also will help generate more leads thus boosting conversion rates.
Which types of social media platforms do I need for my marketing strategy?
The thing is, digital marketing can help your business generate more leads which translate to higher profit generation. And with popular social media and visual content curation networks, achieving that can be pretty easy. So, it may be time you incorporated any type of social media pricing in your social media marketing strategy and build brand awareness.
With the many types of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you’ll need to start by identifying the perfect one for your company. That said, here’s a deep dive into the different types of social media platform and their examples. Let’s get started.
What Are The Different Types Of Social Networking Sites?
Keep reading for a deep look at the different types of social media you can use to grow your venture.
Social networks
Among the types of social media, many business marketers are using social publishing networks to share solutions to their audience. As they do this, they ensure to tap into the audience’s emotions to keep them engaged and convince them to purchase their products.
Even then we understand that digital marketing can be a challenging undertaking let alone getting your clients to become return customers. Consistent efforts are crucial and effective provided you share compelling content on your products and pricing.
Ways you can present your content on social media networks
The content can be in the form of texts, photos, audio, or video content. For your content shared on social media networks to yield optimal results, you should ensure that it uses top-quality content.
Also, 1 social network can be the key to a successful investment when used effectively. Marketers use social networks to promote brands, lead generation, and provide top-notch customer service to improve the client-business relationship.
Now, let’s explore the different types of social platforms that fall under this category.
1. Facebook
Of all the types of social media sites, Facebook is the most popular social site across the globe. Therefore, it receives thousands of users every day. And to help you leverage on its fame, start by looking at ways you can improve your venture and achieve top-gear performance using Facebook or Twitter;
As such marketers should share great content on social networks (like Facebook). Also, avoid sharing random content that is tailored for your audience. Doing so, will ensure you reach your social media marketing goals via Facebook.
Why you should consider using Facebook
Therefore, marketers should share (photos, posts in the form of texts, or videos) top-quality content at all times. Overall marketers should share information with the audience in mind.
What’s more, Facebook offers paid advertisement services, making the spread of your content fast and easy.
On top of that, if your company has a website, Facebook may come in handy. You can share your links on Facebook to help drive more traffic, generate leads, and increase pricing conversion rates.
2. Twitter
Twitter is similar to Facebook in some aspects like you can share photos, videos, links, and posts in the form of text. Such Facebook twitter features allow marketers to reach out to your target audience to convince them to buy anything from you.
When done right on Twitter, you can expect to win your audiences’ loyalty. And this will keep your business running for a long time. Additionally, the distinctive feature between Twitter and Facebook is the number of users. Also note the size of the text you’re allowed to share with your audience.
So, with Twitter, you can use at most 280 characters for each post (in the form of text). That means that every word you are planning to share on Twitter must count – due to the character limit.
Ads on Twitter
Moreover, Twitter offers users paid ad services that are crucial in gaining more followers and generating leads for your business. Therefore, advertisements on Twitter play a significant role in exploring new opportunities to attract new clients.
3. LinkedIn
Suppose you are looking for a social network to connect with professionals who you want to employ. In that case, LinkedIn is the best option for you when looking at all types of social media platforms for brand awareness selection.
This platform stands out in professional matters due to its special features like people using their CVs as part of their profiles. You also get to share information concerning your business to attract new prospects.
Why choose this platform
Furthermore, like other social networks, LinkedIn provides advertisement services to ensure the content you share reaches as many users as possible.
Generally, social media networks come with a bag full of benefits for your company. However, they don’t work for everyone. Here’s an overview of their pros and cons;
Pros:
- Provide social platforms for businesses to connect with people and new prospects;
- Ad services boost your marketing efforts and brand awareness;
- Connecting with customers improves business-customer relationships
Cons:
- A loss for a business when the heavily paid-for ads do not generate leads;
- Posts inform of texts may be challenging in audience engagement.
Media Sharing Networks
This social media category is right for people who are looking for types of social media that ultimately utilize the power of sight to draw them to your products or services.
Media sharing networks solely focus on conveying information using videos and photos renowned for super effectiveness in engaging clients or prospects.
Visual over text
Visuals are great for social media advertising as they attract potential clients by spiking their interest and curiosity in what you offer. Hence, this digital marketing strategy will ensure that you remain competitive in your industry.
To entirely understand the ins and outs of media sharing networks, here are some examples of media sharing networks platforms that people use today.
1. Instagram
When it comes to videos on a social media channel, Instagram is a great video and photo-sharing platform. Thus marketers should create content that leaves a great impression on the minds of prospects. Such content should show what you offer and how your products can solve their pain points.
You can use Instagram to represent the true you as well as the value you have to offer your prospects. Better yet, if you feel that your visuals alone are not enough to create the impact you desire, Instagram has got your back.
They offer advertising services that can multiply the rate at which your visual content spreads. Consequently, your marketing social media strategy will yield desirable results for improved business performance.
2. Pinterest
Unlike Instagram, which allows the use of both videos and photos, Pinterest is strictly an image-sharing site that allows users to spread information. When using Pinterest as your image-sharing platform to show the world what you’ve got, you are allowed to pin photos to your board – maybe pictures that link to your website or any other promotional product.
On top of that, your marketers can share your business’s photos and videos showing potential customers what happens behind the scenes during the production process. You’ll be surprised that such pictures tend to impress a good number of prospects who end up becoming your loyal clients.
Just like Instagram, Pinterest offers ad services. Managing a marketing campaign can be overwhelming, especially when there’s a need to focus mainly on production. But, with Pinterest, you can use their advertisement services to promote your marketing pictures to generate valuable leads.
3. YouTube
If you are looking for the most popular video-sharing site worldwide, then YouTube is a great place for this. This video-sharing platform only focuses on video.
As a Google site, YouTube is popular among a large number of users and it’s known and used worldwide. Realize that by using it to promote your products, you’ll quickly connect with your target audience and deliver whatever message you have for them.
When it comes to video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo, marketers can create efficient and effective videos that engage the audience which makes them best for promoting your business.
What’s more, since video sharing networks offer different types of social media advertising, YouTube provides the best video ad services considering the enormous number of users – this translates to your content reaching many people within a short period. Thus, it’ll increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Pros:
- Convey information by the use of visuals that are effective in engaging the audience;
- Visuals have a first-time impression in which, when used effectively, they can generate more leads;
- Many people prefer visuals to text. Hence, these video hosting sites may be the best way to reach your audience.
Cons:
- Many viewers skip commercial ads; hence video ad services in media sharing networks may be ineffective;
- Almost all businesses use video & photo ad services thus, creating stiff competition in the struggle to reach your targeted audience.
Blogging Types of Social Media
Looking for a way to reach your audience and fully showcase your business? Social blogging networks beat all the other types of social media when emptying the bag (giving out all information you consider essential for your audience to know)
These content publishing networks grant the opportunity to publish your content and present it to prospects. Through consistent publishing, you can easily reach out to clients and share the details they need for them to become your return customers. Nonetheless, it takes a great deal of time to publish frequently.
Next, let’s look at two types of social blogging platforms that you could use for your content marketing needs.
1. Tumblr
Tumblr is among the popular social blogging networks. The leading information carrier in a blog is text. On the other hand, Tumblr authorizes heavy sharing of photos and videos – many people are using it for this purpose.
Consequently, it will take a blending effort to ensure a sense of balance to improve engagement. That means you must skillfully combine texts and visuals to convey your message effectively. If you are looking for a blogging site, which majorly focuses on posts in the form of texts, Tumblr may not be your typical site.
2. Medium
This social media site is a perfect example of a social blogging platform for sharing your content. Medium is an excellent blogging site that does not discriminate. Whether you are a pro or a beginner in blogging, this platform is at your disposal.
It allows you to craft content and share it with the world. This way, as a business, you get the chance to talk to your potential clients, show them your products, thus you can get them to buy your products and services.
What’s more, you can generate URLs for every piece of content you publish in Medium, which can help in the sharing process.
Pros:
- Frequent publishing is essential in sharing all-inclusive or detailed information. Thus, your audience can deeply comprehend whatever you share;
- Consistent publishing in social blogging networks may impact audience decision-making and make them buy from your business and earn their loyalty.
Cons:
- Constant or steady publishing in social blogging networks require a lot of attention thus may be time-consuming.
Discussion Networks
Discussion networks are digital marketing tools that are based on talks, dialogs, and opinions. These types of social media networks involve conversations where people discuss matters like news or information on issues or businesses.
During these conversations, people talk out their minds and give their stands on specific topics. Which other types of social media are most appropriate to conduct market research when it comes to sharing economy networks?
Do you need discussion networks for your business?
Using the comments from the discussions will give you user-generated content to help you know what people think about your products and brand as a business. And as a result, you gain a golden opportunity to tailor your products and services to suit your audience flawlessly.
Most importantly, even if people are not discussing your brand or organization directly, the chances of discussing other businesses in your niche are high. Thus, you get to know what consumers are looking for – this may be the information you need to take your business to the next level.
Here are the main discussion networks;
1. Reddit
Reddit is among the popular discussion networks that could fit well in your other digital marketing strategies. A range of topics gets posted on this platform. You’ll surely spot one ideal for your business. More so, Reddit comes with a feature that enables you to identify the topics you are looking for quickly.
The topics get grouped into small communities called subreddits. Information under the same topics is compiled in specific subreddits, making it easier to spot the desired subjects.
Also, grouping information on the same topics transforms the communities into a pool of details. For instance, if you are looking for tips on your business’s financial management, you can join the finance subreddit.
2. Quora
Quora is a question-answer forum. In this discussion network, when an individual asks a question, other Quora community members provide the answers. As a business aspiring to satisfy its customers, your marketers can use this platform to answer your products or industry questions to provide clarity and eliminate doubts.
You can use Quora to equip your audience with the information to help them decide whether your business can solve their problems. And this can help turn them into your loyal clients.
Pros:
- Question and answer sessions are the best for businesses to clear doubts about their products;
- Access to frequently asked questions and consumer perception may help businesses tailor their needs to satisfy clients.
Cons:
- May limit you as a business to showcase other features apart from the ones in discussion.
Review Networks
Review networks are types of social media that allow users to post their experiences with certain products. These networks are like a community of consumers where users get to share information on products’ quality from different brands.
These sharing economy networks give reviews on the products and the businesses to help new product users find the appropriate commodities or services.
Perks of Review networks
If your business has positive reviews on these networks, you will earn social proof, which reflects attracting new clients. Also, you can look at reviews involving your industry or other businesses related to yours. This way, you’ll get a hint on how to tailor your products to meet clients’ needs.
Continue reading the following examples of consumer review networks to find out what review services they have for you;
1. Yelp
With sites like Yelp, consumers share their experiences with businesses and their products. And since organizations cannot change customers’ reviews, they remain intact in this review network.
Therefore, you can dig deeper into this site and find out what clients have to say concerning your offer. The information you extract can help deliver customer-based products and services.
2. Glassdoor
This type of review network focuses on the quality of customer-business interaction. In Glassdoor, customers share how businesses serve them. In short, customer experience is upheld on this site.
Furthermore, with Glassdoor, you gain access to what consumers say, and it grants you the opportunity to comment on the reviews. Consequently, you get the chance to perfect the customer experience with your business.
Pros:
- Customer reviews are permanent on these sites. Hence, positive reviews on your business can be your lifetime social proof
- Access to consumers’ reviews helps businesses tailor their products and services for ultimate customer satisfaction
Cons:
- Negative reviews on these sites may negatively impact your business since they’ll also be permanent.
Social Shopping Networks
Social shopping networks are types of social media where consumer-consumer interaction determines your business’s sales.
As such a shopper’s decision to purchase depends on the recommendations (in blogging platforms, and different social media channels) from other buyers (with prior experience in buying the same product). Check out the following examples of these networks;
1. Tribesmart.com
In the Tribesmart social shopping network, users add commodities from businesses to the site and share their experiences with the product and, if they wish, recommend it to their friends. Similarly, the site allows businesses to upload and share their products – for free.
Provided you offer solid products or services, with this social shopping network, many users can recommend your products to their friends – this translates to getting more clients.
2. Storenvy
This type of social shopping network allows sellers to create a free online store with a steady consumer-consumer and consumer-seller communication flow. As a result, shoppers on Storenvy can check out for recommendations before purchasing a product from the store.
Pros:
- Recommendations can boost sales for a business
- Consumers develop confidence in a business’s product before purchasing it – may yield loyalty
Cons:
- Social shopping networks deny business owners control of their consumers.
What Are Social Media Networking Sites Used For?
People use social media sites to discuss their interests, express themselves, connect with people, friends, as well as grow their careers. As such, different social networking sites are used differently and for specific purposes. For example, Instagram or TikTok are commonly used for expressing creativity, while LinkedIn is perfect for promoting one’s career.
Even then, the list of social networking platforms is ever-growing, and popular platforms such as Facebook are ever-evolving and developing new features. Today, there’s a greater need for social presence and with a vast amount of channel choices, it’s challenging to choose the right social media platforms to use.
Also, note that you should avoid spreading yourself too thin and managing channels on each imaginable platform. However, you also don’t want to overlook the great opportunities for better brand-awareness that these social media channels offer.
Thus far, we have looked at different types of social networking sites with examples within each category along with what the pros and cons of each type can present to you. This will help give you a clearer idea of the kind of social platform strategy that works best for your business.
Choosing The Best Social Media Platforms For Your Business
Each social networking site reaches a different group of people. Therefore, each social media platform you pick for your company will play a huge role in the effectiveness of your social networking marketing strategies.
Even then, keep in mind that each social network comes with pros and cons. Therefore, opt for a platform that offers strengths that are advantageous for your business for a long time.
Ultimately setting up your social media marketing strategies and goals and following your plan can help you choose the right platforms that are worth your time and effort.
