fbpx

Beyond the Usuals: Using Vine, Snapchat, Reddit & Quora for Social Media Marketing

We all know, love, and use the social giants for our various marketing needs. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been in play for a few years now. Recently, applications such as Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube have become increasingly important in any business’ marketing profile. “Increasingly important,” however, is threatening the delicate relationships users have with those services.

A fine line has developed between the social media both companies and people use, and those used mostly for personal use. Despite how much marketing and advertising companies try, most people just don’t like seeing ads that much. The average ad-blocking rate (even back in 2012) was 9.26% according to Clarity Ray. Those numbers are clearly on the rise, according to Google Trends.

This chart goes to show how people don’t really want businesses in their personal internet lives. But as an internet advertising agency, we have to ask: how do you do it?

Marketing has blended in well with the giants (those listed above,) so for the sake of this blog post, let’s focus on a few where the masses are still struggling for a viable social media marketing strategy: Vine, Snapchat, Reddit, and Quora.

Vine

Vine is Twitter’s foray into the video market. It’s a mobile app that allows users to post looping six second videos which are then shown in a Twitter-esque feed with the ability to follow, like, revine, and use hashtags. In layman’s terms, it’s visual Twitter. The service has dawned some great viral trends in 2014, such as Crack Kid, Do It For The Vine, among others. Over the past few months, the most popular users have boiled down to a group of around 30 “Viners” ranging in age and demographic. Companies such as Ford and Tide paid popular users to Vine on their behalf, as if acting in a 6 second ad. The cheap way to do it would require you to be funny and original on your own, but not many people have the time or resources for that. Try Vining about funny things that happen around the office, daily life, etc. Vines shouldn’t be commercials, they should be personal.

Vine also has the distinction of being incredible young (even more so than Tumblr). Whereas many social networks have middle ages in the thirties, or in some cases (i.e. LinkedIn) forties, Vine’s average user is between 18 – 20 years old! If that’s your target demographic, then you need to be investing in this network.

Snapchat

An app that allows users to send picture and video messages that self destruct after viewing. Certainly there’s no way business can use this, right? Wrong. Get your mind out of the gutter because Snapchat has a ton of more uses than what the first users thought (and probably did use it) for. Companies like Taco Bell use it to, in my mind, get the thought of Taco Bell in my head. That’s all it takes, usually. Sending a Snap of a taco is sure to get at least some people to by one. The New Orleans Saints use Snapchat just to keep fans up to date, which as a fan, I really appreciate. Here’s a novel idea though: Use Snapchat to send out coupons ranging from 10-50% off your goods or services. The catch is, users don’t know how much % of they’ll get until they actually use the coupon at the cash register. It’s all about engaging with the customers without seeming too pushy, and Snapchat is a great way to keep things personal.

Reddit

Reddit is arguably the social media platform with users the most hostile to advertisers. This is due to the fact that Reddit itself is very democratic, allowing users to “upvote” and “downvote” content as they see fit, meaning only the best content reaches the top. Any attempts to sway that vote, unscrupulously, will be met with aggression (rightfully so).

Aside from paid ads, the best way to make an impact with Reddit is to find the right Subreddit (a whole Reddit page devoted to one of thousands of subjects and topics) related to your organization and start participating. Creating an AMA (Ask Me Anything) for your boss in the appropriate Subreddit is a great way to both get your name out there and interact with potential customers. Be informational rather than promotional, and you’ll find over time people will naturally trust you as a source.

Quora

Quora is a question and answer website where users submit questions, and professionals answer them. Much like Reddit, the best answers are voted upon and the good ones rise to the top. To make an impact on Quora, don’t masquerade yourself – be your company, and be honest. These are real people looking for real answers. Give them the answer they want, and they’ll put their trust in you, and in turn, your company. As stated before, with social media marketing, being personable and trustworthy are key.

This is a list of the top non-major Social Media sites you should be looking into during 2014, but we’re sure it’ll change by next year (if not by next month.) Keep checking Online Optimism’s blog to stay up to date on the latest social network news, and give us a call at 504-521-6222 if you have any questions about what strategy your company should take!