4 Social Networks You’re Probably Not Using (And Why You Should)

You would have started with Facebook, progressed quickly to Twitter, reluctantly found your way around Google+ (sorry, Google), suddenly realized that you need to have a LinkedInpresence, and then jumped aboard the Pinterest bandwagon as it started speeding away. You may well have even graduated to the various video-sharing social platforms – YouTube, Vimeo, and Vine – shortly after you learned that social media marketing was quickly becoming ever-more visual after the rise of Instagram. You might have even decided to cut your own blogging work out for yourself and started a Tumblr. to bolster your daily written output.

And now, alas, you think you’ve got the whole social networking game sewn up. You’ve got your strategies in place for following, sharing, and link building, you know what times of day are best to post your content, what sort of content works best on each of your sites, you’ve identified your key influencers and brand ambassadors, and are utilizing the very best scheduling toolsthe web has to offer.

Phew. It’s a hard day’s work at your office, that’s for sure. But you’re coping. The only thing that could come along now and ruin your routine is yet another social network to keep on top of. Well, guess what – I’m here to tell you that, aside from the big 9 that I have already listed so far, there are 4 more rising stars out there that you will do well to find your way around if you are to really stamp your brand’s presence on social media.

Some of these that I’m about to list are brand spanking new. Others have been around for a little longer, but have yet to gain full momentum. In both cases, however, the likelihood is that a lot of your competitors might not have an authoritative presence on these networks as yet – and so the time is now to strike before they catch up.

I know, I know – more work, right? Yes. But more work in this instance means more leads, new audiences and bigger markets. And that all equates to more conversions and more business. So, it’s time for us all to roll our figurative sleeves up once again and get stuck in with our marketing patterns on 4 more social networks. Here they are…

Social Networks You’re Probably Not Using (And Why You Should)

1. Periscope

Fresh out of the app store comes Periscope, the new Twitter-owned video sharing network. However, this one moves away from what we’ve seen before in the fact that with Periscope you record your videos and broadcast them live to your followers.

I covered the release of this new network a few weeks ago in a blog post, at which time the platform was so new that I felt the need to write that the “true use and value of Periscope probably hasn’t even been discovered/invented yet.”

While this is still true to an extent, one of the most popular early uses of the platform is for performing live interviews, where followers can ask their favourite celebs etc. live questions, from which the interviewees choose which ones they would like to answer.

A rather humble beginning, perhaps, but it will be great to see where it goes from here – and perhaps it will be you who manages to be the biggest influencer in the live video streaming marketing game. Good luck!!

2. Snapchat

This is not a particularly new platform, of course, but nonetheless Snapchat has yet to be integrated into the marketing routines in any mainstream way amongst SMEs (for plenty of large corporations have certainly started to take advantage of it). It’s a popular photo and video messaging service with over 100 million active monthly users, though has seemed to have found its calling amongst the younger generation.

So, if you’ve got a service or a product that in any way appeals to this particular demographic, then you’ve got a huge captive audience there ready and waiting to turn your snaps into a viral sensation. What are you waiting for?!?!

3. DeviantArt

You don’t have to be Picasso to start posting on DeviantArt, though this is certainly an original image oriented social network. Indeed, this is supposed to be a platform solely dedicated to the sharing of original artworks by amateurs. But there’s no reason why, with a little bit of creativity, your brand can’t create it’s own page and start posting up doodles for the world to see. Though you will of course have to play the game with this type of network – users won’t appreciate ads, so you will have to get a little more inventive with your posts. If you can do this then you’ve got a fresh platform right there to further help you to raise brand awareness.

4. NextDoor

This is a great network for trying to improve your local SEO. Whilst the world seems to have shrunk since the advent of social media, a lot of the time we seem to forget that although we can now connect instantly with people half way around the world, rarely do we get to know our own next door neighbours. But NextDoor is the social network that aims to solve that problem.

This network connects people who are residing within geographical neighborhoods, with the aim being to encourage people to start talking more about what’s happening in the places that they live. So, you’re an exciting business aren’t you? Yes you are, and your neighbours want to know about that on an exclusive level – so sign up and start talking to them, you’ve got a whole host of customers waiting for you right there on your doorstep.

Number Five?

And number 5, Ello… Only joking, I might eat my words but I really don’t see that network ever getting off the ground, so you have my permission to leave that one off your ‘to do list’ for the time being.

But if there are any more networks that you’re using to promote your business that you think our readers would like to know about, then please share in the comments below. 

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