In the bustling domain of social media, giants like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter undoubtedly reign supreme. Yet, nestled amidst the digital chatter lie some lesser-known platforms brimming with unique marketing potential. These platforms offer marketers fresh, innovative avenues for brand promotion, as well as catering to niche audiences and the ability to foster genuine, meaningful interactions.
The key to harnessing platforms such as these is marketing expertise. A trusted social media agency offers exactly that, bringing years of experience and strategies to extract the most benefits from each social media platform.
Now, without further ado, take a look at the five platforms often overlooked in marketing and explore how brands can use these to diversify their social media strategy beyond the mainstream.
Discord: Crafting Communities and Loyalty
Discord, once only known by gamers, has morphed into a bustling ecosystem for diverse communities. Now, 80% of its user base engages in both gaming and non-gaming content. From a modest 45 million users in 2017, Discord’s community swelled to an impressive 150 million monthly users in 2023, with a significant portion aged between 18 and 24, indicating a young, dynamic user base.
Brands have certainly taken notice of Discord’s potential. It’s often dubbed “the Slack for Gen Z,” allowing brands to foster tight-knit communities, offer exclusive content, and engage in real-time interactions with their audience. Discord’s unique feature set, resembling platforms like Slack and Facebook Group, provides a tailored environment for community building. Its personalisation options allow brands to control membership, ensuring a curated community aligned with the brand’s ethos.
The UK Treasury has even ventured onto Discord, showcasing its appeal to institutional entities, despite facing a backlash due to perhaps a misaligned audience or execution. Brendan Gahan from Sprout Social highlighted Discord’s mainstream adoption, terming it the “future of online communities” with over 300 million registered users as of 2022, underscoring a broader trend towards community-centric platforms.
The trajectory of Discord demonstrates its evolving relevance in modern marketing, offering a fertile ground for brands aiming to build a loyal community and engage in meaningful interactions with their audience.
Quora: Seeding Authority and Directing Traffic
Quora, the question-and-answer platform, is indeed a fertile field for sowing the seeds of authority and directing organic traffic towards your brand. With over 300 million monthly active users, Quora provides a massive audience to engage with, and the demographic largely falls within the 25 to 34 age bracket, making it a hub for young, curious minds. The platform witnesses a daily influx of 3,000 to 5,000 questions, and users spend an average of 8 to 10 minutes per session, meaning there is plenty of potential for engagement, and users will give you the time necessary to ensure conversions.
By providing insightful, high-quality answers to relevant questions, a brand can position itself as an authority in its respective field. Well-crafted responses easily have the potential to amass over 1 million views and numerous interactions, such as shares and upvotes, thus broadening the brand’s visibility and credibility on the platform. Moreover, Quora isn’t just about self-promotion; it’s about providing value. As Kostas Alekoglu, an expert social media marketer and managing director of the celebrated digital marketing agency Digital Aesthetics, puts it, “The way you build your business with Quora is by helping the Quora community. Its members will eventually notice you and, hopefully, start using your services”.
The platform also serves as a reflective mirror for brands, showcasing the prevailing questions and concerns within their market. This, in turn, offers rich insights for market research and strategy refinement. Additionally, Quora has a substantial B2B presence, with 60% of the businesses on the platform falling into this category, hinting at its effectiveness for professional engagement and thought leadership. Furthermore, Quora’s advertising platform is reported to yield 4x more conversions than other ad platforms, which demonstrates its efficacy in not only organic but also paid marketing initiatives.
The key to successfully marketing on Quora lies in a balanced approach. As Kostas cautions, over-self-promotion can be counterproductive, emphasising the importance of adding value to the community over blatant advertising: “My only caution to marketers is that Gary Vaynerchuk quote that ‘marketers ruin everything,’… If you jump in and are overly self-promotional, it won’t work out for your company”.
Mastodon: A Decentralised Haven for Engagement
Mastodon has emerged as a compelling platform for those looking to explore social media beyond the centralisation of traditional platforms like Twitter. Launched in March 2016, Mastodon boasts about 2.5 million monthly users who enjoy a Twitter-like experience but with a significant twist. The platform is decentralised, meaning it runs on various independent servers rather than a single corporate-owned platform. This structure allows users to join different “instances” or communities that best fit their interests or industry niche.
From a marketing perspective, Mastodon presents an opportunity to engage with a highly segmented audience in a more intimate and direct manner. Brands can identify and participate in instances that align with their industry, ethos, or target demographics, enabling more precise and meaningful interactions.
The decentralised nature of Mastodon also means that marketing strategies need to be more organic and community-focused. It’s less about broadcasting a message and more about joining conversations, contributing valuable insights, and building relationships with potential customers and brand advocates. The platform’s culture tends to frown upon overt advertising, so marketers must be skillful in offering genuine value to the conversations they engage in.
For example, a tech brand might find a home in a Mastodon instance dedicated to technology enthusiasts and experts. Here, they could share insights about industry trends, offer tech support, or provide exclusive previews of upcoming products to foster community engagement.
Patreon: Nurturing Communities and Monetising Creativity
Patreon stands out as a fantastic platform for creators, artists, and other innovative minds keen on monetising their work while nurturing supportive communities at the same time. Boasting over 8 million+ monthly active users and over 28.6 million individual pledges for 2023 as of October, the platform stands as a sturdy pillar for creators, offering a steady income stream and enabling a keen focus on their craft without the hassles of one-time sales or advertising revenue.
Creators on Patreon can offer exclusive content, rewards, or behind-the-scenes access to their patrons, thereby fostering an intimate, close-knit community. Brands, too, can harness Patreon’s unique model to roll out membership programs, offer exclusive content, and build a loyal community. As the platform’s model is designed to facilitate deeper engagement and monetisation opportunities, it makes it a viable marketing avenue for brands striving to build lasting relationships with their audience.
Kostas Alekoglu again weighs in on this, saying, “Patreon offers a place where brands can cultivate a thriving ecosystem of engaged patrons. It’s not only about the transactions but about creating meaningful relationships. With the ability to offer tiered memberships and plenty of exclusive content, brands can essentially convert their customers into brand ambassadors, each with a vested interest in the brand’s success. It’s a great way not just to keep your customers but to have them become part of your brand’s story.”
For instance, a brand could launch a Patreon page offering exclusive tutorials, webinars, or early access to new products to its patrons. Besides the monetary support to be gained, this strategy can foster a community of loyal customers who are more likely to promote the brand within their networks and on various social media platforms. By creating a tiered membership system, brands can provide a sense of exclusivity and recognition to patrons, enhancing brand loyalty and creating a community of dedicated advocates. Through Patreon, brands can transform traditional customers into genuinely engaged members of their online community, thus enriching the overall brand experience.
BeReal: Embracing Authenticity and User Creativity
BeReal’s unique approach champions authenticity, making it the perfect platform for users seeking realness over curated content on platforms like Instagram. In 2022, BeReal experienced a notable user influx in the UK, although retaining users posed a challenge. Brands can harness BeReal’s ethos, promoting user-generated content or aligning with influencers who resonate with authenticity. However, this requires the utmost expertise in social media marketing, though it is ripe for the professional touch of an expert agency.
The concept behind BeReal is simple. Users are notified at some point during the day to take a snapshot of what they’re currently doing. This would be remarkable in offering behind-the-scenes views into various industries. This also aligns well with today’s digital landscape, where consumers are increasingly drawn towards genuine, unfiltered brand interactions, building trust and fostering a genuine brand-audience rapport.
A brand can further utilise BeReal by launching a campaign encouraging users to share authentic moments using their products. For example, a fitness brand can ask users to share unfiltered post-workout selfies or real-time exercise videos using their fitness gear. By re-sharing these posts on its official BeReal account, the brand can showcase the real-life use of its products. Additionally, collaborating with influencers who embody realness can further amplify the campaign, enabling a genuine connection with the audience, who may appreciate the unpolished, real-world showcase of the brand’s offerings.
In Closing
Each of these platforms, with their unique features and audience demographics, presents a bouquet of marketing opportunities. Diversifying your social media marketing strategy beyond the mainstream platforms can not only reach new audience segments but also create a more authentic, engaging brand experience. So, venture beyond the beaten path and explore the rich marketing landscapes these platforms offer.
