5 Questions to Ask, Before Jumping Into a New Social Media Other than Facebook

New social networks are always popping up on a regular basis, and one of the true facts is that these specialized communities don’t have Facebook’s 800 million users. That doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t great places for brands to be. In many cases, brands are adopting niche social networks based on the quality of interactions as opposed to broad-based reach and are reaping the benefits.

Some of the rising social networks include Pinterest, Houzz, Tumblr, Instagram, GetGlue, IntoNow, PlayUp etc… Each of these networks courts a different demographic and audience, and each offers unique ways to share content like photos, links, and comments.

But remember, brands shouldn’t rush to create pages or advertise on these social networks, even if the audience seems like a perfect fit. To take full advantage of focused social networks, it pays to create specific engagement programs for each community.

Before taking the plunge on smaller social networks, marketers have to take a chance to ask these below five questions:

1. Is there at least one Target Audience?

When you have a goal to engage with potential clients and customers, then the quality and focus of the social network members are critical. So you have to do a bit research and make sure your target audiences are represented on the social network.

2. How much Time will you need?

When you begin connecting with a new community; remember that you are building out your brand page/presence as well as daily community management task for your new community, so think about how much time you’ll need to get connected.

Approximately you will need 10-12 hours to create new assets, crafts messaging specific to the channel and deploy the new presence. Where else ongoing community management will vary depending on how active you want to be on the new network.

3. How will use the New Channel?

Think about the following questions before using the new channel:

1. Will you have presence on a new social network to promote one aspect of your business?

2. Will the network be a place for you to ask for product feedback?

3. Will there be place for consumers to take part in the development cycle? etc…

Instead you can use the new social channel to build your brand reach in a global way. With board-based communities like Pinterest, brands which are simply showcasing their brand voice through images and ideas bring users closer to the brand.

4. How to work on the progress for Success?

Setting specific engagement goals for each social network is critical. But by setting short-term, growth related goals at the onset; you can more easily manage for success.

Remember these are new communities for you, so you can’t see huge brand sales or sales impact right away. So the community has to grow and get matured as well as your metrics and goals. Map out specific goal for engagement user action, sharing metrics, etc…

5. Where will this channel be after Two Years?

There are plenty and plenty of social media futurists out there; but no one can assure whether a social network will stick around in consumer’s heart and mind for the long haul.

First take some time to map out which feature you hope the channel will add in the next two years such as new functionalities, enhancement to usability, and new marketing and advertising methods, and whether this meets your brand requirements accordingly. Maybe the communities might never deliver these but create a “wish list” instead.

It will help you to assess whether your network is delivering the feature that matters to your brand now and down the line.

Summary:

The newest social networks always look shiny and new, but the real goal for brands is to participate in niche communities to reach specific, engaged audiences. By asking these above few questions you can engage with a new network, and you can bring a little strategy and structure to your social marketing strategy. Good Luck!

Social Media Marketing and Marketing through Mobile Web Design – New Age Modes

Social media marketing and marketing through mobile web design have now become the “in” thing as far as online marketing is concerned. More and more companies are no waking up to the great possibilities of these forms of marketing because they are seeing results like they have never seen through many online marketing strategies.

Social media marketing is marketing through the social media websites. You may know that Facebook is the second most and YouTube is the third most popular website after Google. And some of the other websites like Twitter and the recently launched Google Plus are also among the top visited websites in the world. Now when a company does its marketing through these websites wouldn’t they get unprecedented visibility?

For social media marketing through these websites one just has to use their features. To promote your organization you just need to spread the word among your friends and acquaintances and encourage them to spread the word among their friends and acquaintances too. This way you will be able to create a wave of people that are aware of your product or service. And when so many people know about your website and the products and services they offer it is bound to boost sales for you.

Marketing through mobile web design is another fantastic concept. From the time smartphones came into being, this form of marketing has reached enormous proportions. Mobile web design is different from traditional web design because you need to decide on the most important content that can fit into the screen of a mobile phone. This gives your audience a personalized and improved user experience and they are bound to buy and spread the word around.

When you do social media marketing and marketing through mobile web design you actually reach into the personal space of your audience. Someone’s Facebook account and their mobile phone are two of the most personal objects they possess. And when they see your message in these personal spaces they are bound to take note. This has to happen. This is completely different from even the most attractive ad on TV because you cannot enter the personal space of your audience. The reach of social media marketing and marketing through mobile web design is also worldwide and is accessible to many times the number of people that you can reach out through other modes of advertising.

The attractive cost of social media marketing and marketing through mobile web design is also luring in organizations to use these modes of advertisement. There are some very professional organizations that design the most attractive ad campaigns for social media and mobile phones so that you are able to reach targeted audiences and attract them to your website. And the cost of creating these ads is nothing compared to the cost of creating a traditional TV ad or online ad.

Get informed about social media marketing and marketing through mobile web design and you will immediately realize their impact. Get started today and the benefits will flow in immediately.

Do you know the great impact of social media marketing and marketing through mobile web design? If you don’t then find out and get started immediately.