Social Media Platforms You Should Think Twice About

By now everyone knows that when it comes to taking your business onto social media you should be at least using Facebook, with most businesses now using a mixture of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as part of their social media strategy. With so many social media platforms now available for a number of unique purposes it’s important your business spends time on the the important websites, instead of focusing on unpopular, outdated or irrelevant platforms. 

There are plenty of social media platforms out there that are lesser known or less commonly used by both businesses and the general public, not because they’re bad but because they attract specific users and aren’t developed for marketing purposes, here’s a run down of some of the social media platforms your business should be avoiding, in order to focus on the best.  

Reddit 

Reddit defines itself as ‘the front page of the internet’ and is essentially just that, it’s a huge website which features a mix of news, images, social commentary, general conversation and everything you can think of in between, meaning it can be a great way to promote your business, right? For the minority Reddit can work as a marketing tool, however for most businesses marketing on Reddit doesn’t really work.

With a huge focus on upvoting and downvoting system, unless your business gets seriously creative, keep up to date with current trends and thinks outside the box, Reddit can be a pointless marketing platform, resulting downvotes, a loss of credibility and a waste of time and money.  

Tumblr 

Tumblr is a great microblogging and social media platform used mostly by younger audiences and is a way in which users can share images, gifs, text posts and videos to your Tumblr feed and your own personal tumblr blog. Whilst you could use Tumblr for your blog in reality you should aim to have an inbuilt blogging feature in your website, rather than using outside platforms.  

If you can reach out to your target audience in the right way and your business has the right tone of voice then Tumblr can work well for businesses, however for the most part, it’s best for many to keep away from marketing on Tumblr. Not only is it a minefield of fandoms, social commentary and inside jokes, Tumblr user don’t want to be marketed to, if you can’t do it properly, it’s probably best to avoid Tumblr, focusing on something more general instead. 

Google+ 

Google+ was launched to rival Facebook but with limited options, a confusing layout and a clunky interface has slowly burned out in recent years, now being used mostly by businesses and those interested in Google+’s ‘communities’ feature to join groups and share interests. Google+ can be an effective way to connect with others, specifically those interested in certain hobbies and topics, however it can be a struggle for some businesses to really connect through Google+. 

Whilst some have cracked Google+ due to their industry being specific or through producing specialist content, for many marketing through Google+ can be a struggle and gaining followers and connections can be hard. With time and effort and using Googles other features, gaining traction is possible however requires a lot of time and persistence in order to get ahead.  

Flickr 

Flickr was once one of the best photo sharing platforms online with businesses across the globe to show off what images they have on offer. Unfortunately with the rise in popularity of Facebook and particularly Instagram, image sharing has changed significantly online. Even with a nice new app and an update to their branding, Flickr just doesn’t seem to compete with the world of Instagram and even Snapchat. 

Whilst Flickr still works well for photographers and those looking to share their images more like a portfolio, for businesses in food, hospitality and retail it makes more sense to use more popular platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and even Pinterest to show off what you have on offer.  

Myspace

Really? Well unless it makes a miraculous comeback in the next year, I’d avoid spending your time trying to crack Myspace.  

Just because a social media platform exists doesn’t mean your business needs to be on it, in reality you need to focus a social media platforms that are relevant to your business. The most important focus being on using the social media platforms your target audiences are also using, be where your audience are, instead of trying to be everywhere.