Instagram, owned by Facebook, is one of the top new platforms
Social media is dominated by four platforms. Facebook is top dog, followed by Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ but these big players now have some stiff competition.
For ecommerce merchants, there are a number of other social media platforms which you need to know about and should think about creating a presence on. Some you will definitely have heard of, other which might be completely new.
In this article we will:
- Introduce you to the other important social media platforms
- Discuss why you should think about using them
- Give you some tips on using them
Who are the other players?
Some would argue that Pinterest belongs on the list with Facebook and Twitter such has been its meteoric growth since launch in 2011. According to ComScore Pinterest passed the 10 million user mark faster than any other social media platform. Ecommerce giant Rakuten invested $100m in the site in 2012.
Pinterest acts as a personal pin board for users to collect and curate images on their profile from around the internet.
It is an interesting prospect for retailers because users gather images of products they want as well as images of art, architecture, photography etc. For ecommerce merchants with products to push, this is a fantastic medium to gain popularity.
Pinterest has shown its desire to appeal to the ecommerce market with its inclusion of ‘rich pins’. These are posts which merchants can add product information such as price and availability.
YouTube
This won’t be a new name to most of you – YouTube has been around for years – but it is something often overlooked by ecommerce merchants despite the benefits of having a profile.
Not only does the video sharing platform have 800 million unique visitors each month, having a profile on it will give your SEO a boost thanks to its ownership by Google.
If you create branded video content and put it on your own YouTube channel it has a better chance of being found through search than written content as videos often appear on the first page of search.
Videos are a great way for retailers to differentiate themselves from their competitors. It’s a competitive landscape out there and any added value you can offer your customers is appreciated. Why not create How To videos or just make short films showcasing your products?
Once the reserve of hipsters taking vintage looking photos, Instagram has become a popular vehicle for brands to showcase their products and get their message across.
It is owned by Facebook now so integration with your Facebook page will make your Instagram images more accessible and you can encourage more followers.
Instagram was only available as a smartphone app for its first few years but the addition of a desktop site has made the app an even better proposition for ecommerce merchants. Over half of the world’s top 100 brands now use the photo sharing app.
Vine
Probably the newest kid on the social block, Vine is like Twitter but for video. It was launched b y Twitter in January and has already garnered quite a following. The app allows you to take 6 second video clips and post them to your profile where they will play of the loop – like a gif.
Much like Twitter, Vine works with Hashtags so you can create little product videos and make them searchable by adding the #.
You can use Vine to create your own videos but you could also ask your customers to create Vine clips of your products themselves. It’s quite a new concept so would definitely appeal to the hipper members of your target audience.
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