More and more brands and businesses are taking the leap and jumping on the social media bandwagon. 77% of social media marketers say social media marketing is somewhat to very effective for their company. Furthermore, the majority of marketers post on social media platforms four to six times a week.
These businesses that are finding success reaching new and current customers on social media understand the different types of social media networks and how to reach their target audiences on each. If you’re unsure what the types of social media networks are or are unaware there are different types, we’ll be going over them in this blog. We’ll explain each type and the benefits of using each to help you decide what platforms you need to use for your business.
5 Types of Social Media Networks
1. Traditional Social Networks
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
This type of social media network is used to associate with individuals and brands. They can help your business grow via branding, relationship building, loyalty, lead generation, and much more.
Traditional social networks allow brands and customers to connect easily and interact, strengthening mutually productive relationships. Facebook, for instance, has Facebook Marketplace for shopping. This means Facebook serves almost as a directory for businesses to create virtual storefronts on a Facebook Page that allows customers to view their information, products, services, posts, and reviews.
Lastly, using these social media platforms allow businesses to optimize their marketing campaigns by using organic and paid ways to reach their customers. Furthermore, they can conduct market research through analytic tools to gain insight into what customers are looking for.
2. Media Sharing Networks
Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest
Users share infographics, images, videos, and live videos on media-sharing networks. These sites are used for entertainment, finding information, and sometimes shopping. Like traditional social networks, these platforms will help you build your brand, find lead generation, and target your audience. These platforms give individuals and brands a platform to share and discover content to target audiences with results in mind.
If you’re considering using any of these platforms for your business, you need to consider your brand, resources, and target audience. There are not many types of businesses that don’t benefit from multimedia platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat that rely on audio, video, and pictures. However, your campaigns will define how well you do on these platforms.
3. Discussion Forums
Discord, Reddit, Quora
Just like there are platforms geared specifically towards multimedia, there are also platforms dedicated to discussions, questions, information, and news. These are platforms like Discord, Reddit, and Quora. The amount of information you as a business can gather from these platforms is innumerable. Communities are created on these types of social media networks through shared interests.
As a brand, you can connect with users of these platforms to answer questions or view what common beliefs, wants, and desires are from those who also align with your brand and overall message. These forums have a significant number of users, meaning there is a lot for you to learn and deep-dive into for customer research. Furthermore, these platforms are impactful as a place for you to advertise.
Think of discussion forums as your local coffee house. Here, people gather in a local atmosphere under a common interest. As a business owner, you can communicate freely with the audience that gathers here. Furthermore, brands showing an effort to communicate with their audience will go a long way in keeping customers around and attracting new ones.
4. Social Blogging Networks
Medium, Tumblr, WordPress, Blog Meets Brand
Content marketing is one of the most powerful tools marketers have in their arsenal. It attracts, targets, engages, and converts target audiences. The success of many marketing campaigns owes their success to content marketing. The usage of content marketing through blogs is especially beneficial when a video or image won’t cut it to get your brand’s message across.
Blogs are excellent for sharing information and educating customers. They expand upon simple concepts and news. What you put on your website, such as general information about products and services, can be expanded upon through social blogging on these platforms. Furthermore, the values and beliefs of your brand (i.e., your brand’s message) can be shared here in fun, innovative, and creative ways.
5. Consumer Review Networks
Yelp, Glassdoor, Google Business Profile, Trip Advisor
Apart from communicating and researching your customer base through social blogging networks and discussion forums, you can also do so on consumer review networks. Managing your online reputation is a big deal, and this can be done with constant engagement on consumer review networks.
Acquiring positive reviews is a must for businesses, but a business that responds in a polite way to negative reviews is just as important. Other customers will see that the business is willing to help in less than ideal circumstances, and customers that had a negative experience may reconsider their stance on your business through the aid you offer to rectify the situation. As far as local SEO goes, reviews are critical. Customers are more likely to shop at a local business that they can see has reviews online. Optimizing your Google My Business Profile can help you achieve this.
Choosing the Best Marketing Agency
If you are still having trouble picking and choosing what social media platforms you need to be on, you can check out our blog post here. Better yet, you can give ASAP Marketing Solutions a call. For forward-thinking and innovative marketing strategies, choose ASAP Marketing Solutions to put your business on the map–-and keep it there! Contact us or request a quote today.