5 Social Media Types and Examples
Did you know that the average person spends 28% of their time online on social media platforms? Given the amount of time users will spend online, this is actually a very significant percentage of social media time. We say significant because it is, especially when you are trying to bring awareness to your business or your business’ website.
Social media platforms have created an opportunity that can allow you to do three major things that impact your business exponentially:
- Generate Sales
- Gather Information About Your Audience
- Connect With Leads
Throughout this article, you will learn about the 5 major types of social media, with examples of their platforms. Here is what we will discuss:
- Social Networks
- Media Networks
- Blogging Networks
- Discussion Networks
- Review Networks
The Different Social Media Types
Social Network
Social media comes in many forms, and the most basic and well-known form is Social Networks. These are networks where people connect with each other as well as brands online. What can social networks help accomplish for you? Simple:
- Generate Leads
- Brand Awareness
- Customer Relationship Building
- Customer Service
- So much more
There are those who refer to these networks as “relationship” platforms. The reason being, they allow people to build relationships with each other as they connect with each other. These platforms allow you to share photos, videos, information, and more. Now, we will discuss 3 popular Social Networks:
Facebook is a huge social media platform, with a staggering number of users (2.3 Billion Active Members A Month), there are people connecting with different friends, family, and brands. However, you get to reap great rewards through Facebook, primarily the reward of brand awareness. The things you can share with social media to bring awareness are:
- Photos
- Links
- Videos
- Status Updates
- Polls
You can even get paid advertisements through Facebook that help you bring in new followers and leads.
Serving over 300 million active users a month, this is a platform with similarities to Facebook. However, there are some distinctions. The most significant one being the message size. You can only have a maximum character count of 280 per each message. This forces you to get to the point quickly, saying only the important information.
You can get paid advertisements with Twitter as well, giving you the ability to run a number of ads that will help you gain a greater audience.
LinkedIn is a social network that is great for professionals to connect. With over 610 million users across the world, this platform is excellent for:
- Professional Relationships
- Information Sharing
- Recruiting New Candidates
- Finding Job Opportunities
This platform is ideal for targeting professionals that may have an interest in your business, especially since you can advertise to users of LinkedIn.
Media Networks
If you would rather have a more visual social media experience, then media networks are the way to go. You are able to spruce up your social media campaign with several media-based websites. There are many ways you can use these sites to your advantage, and they are usually really simple to operate.
You will use these platforms to share videos and photos with users who may be interested in your services/product. These videos raise brand awareness and generate new leads/conversions. Also, with the right content, you can make your competitors sweat.
One of the main reasons media networks are so effective is because many users learn visually. They take in and retain the information they learn about through photos and videos. Your visual content can be used to engage an interested audience while attracting people who weren’t aware of your brand.
Even though Twitter and Facebook allow for photos and videos to be posted, they aren’t considered to be media sharing networks. So now, we will look at the top 3 media sharing options:
Instagram has blown up since its development. It has accumulated over 1 billion users that are active each month. On this platform, you will share photos primarily, but videos are also common. From a business perspective, you are able to get a visual insight into your audience. Your videos and images can be inspiring, creative, or straight forward.
There are several advertising options for businesses also. You can use the straight forward approach with your content, generating leads in the process. It is truly one of the best ways to meet new followers and make new sales.
Boasting more than 250 million active monthly users, this site is very visually-focused. Primarily focusing on pinning and sharing photos, this platform allows you to pin up photos to a board that is easy to refer back to in the future.
More so than just pinned up photos, this media platform is a great place to share creative ideas. You can also use this platform to promote your products. You can have photos with backlinks to your recipes, blog, DIY ideas, and so much more. However, since it is a creative platform, you need to fit the theme to be effective on Pinterest.
As an example, imagine that you run a catering service. The pictures you’d share would be of your savory dishes and exquisite spread. You could also use Pinterest to share recipes and DIY tips for making a wonderful dinner. For connecting to leads, this is an amazing media platform.
YouTube
The second largest search engine and the most well-known media sharing platform is YouTube. It has over 1.8 billion users logged in each month. It is a platform that is designed to share and view videos online. If your goal is to reach out to your audience with videos, YouTube is your go-to platform. You can create, share, and promote videos with this media platform. YouTube even allows you to share your videos on other social media platforms to help spread your brand even further.
Blogging Networks
Content is important when you are running a social media campaign. If you are blogging, you need to know where to put that content to bring in more traffic and brand awareness. With blogging networks, you get just what you need. They will let you publish your content so the public can read it and learn more about you, your services, or your product. This is an excellent way to build increased engagement.
These networks are unique in the sense of requiring constant content needing to be created for you to publish. You will be putting in more work with a blogging network than other social media platforms because of the constant work that is needed to be done. However, you will have many benefits, including:
- Visibility
- Lead Generation
- Brand Awareness
We have two prime examples of Social Blogging networks:
Tumblr
As far as blogging platforms go, with more than 420 million accounts, Tumblr is by far one of the biggest blogging platforms. Tumblr is used to share videos, photos, and information. It isn’t your run of the mill blogging site. Long-form content can be posted; however, having a balance of content, videos, photos, and exciting blog posts will increase your brand awareness. Engagement with your brand will be increased as well.
Medium
If you are new to blogging, or even if you have been doing it for years, you are probably looking for a great platform that will help your blog efficiently. Medium is a blogging platform that offers users to blog on any number of topics from across the worldwide web.
The reason why this is a great platform is that it will help you reach out to new readers, informing them more about your brand. This is a great place to kick off if you are just looking to improve your blogging content.
Discussion Networks
With discussion networks, you are getting a specific social media platform that focuses heavily on discussing news, opinions, and information. People generally join in threads that share with their interests to read what others have to say in the comment section.
These networks make for great marketing research. You are able to study and learn a good amount about your target audience, seeing what they say about your brands and competitor brands. Even if your brand isn’t as well known, you can see the feedback on the industry that you are in. This gives you valuable insight into how you should be approaching people with your marketing campaign.
With discussion networks, you are able to learn the hot topics people involve themselves in within your industry or business. It is a way to gain a better understanding of how your business and products are perceived by customers of all demographics. You will find that these forums are the go-to for answers, questions, and to see if others share the same issues. We are going to discuss two of these networks:
This very popular discussion network offers people a place to post about topics of all variations. With communities that are known as “Subreddits,” you will find many discussions on all kinds of the subject matter. Browsing subreddits gives you the opportunity to see what others are posting, giving you an idea of what would interest them.
With Reddit, monitoring other subreddits is easy, giving you the chance to keep tabs on the popular discussions inside your industry. This will allow you to adjust your approach to how the audience will perceive your brand/industry. The best part is, it offers you a chance to learn about common concerns and questions so you can better address your followers.
Quora
You are able to involve yourself in the questions that matter, asked by people from all over. This discussion forum allows people in the community to ask questions that they believe other members can answer. This gives you the chance to increase your brand awareness, and popularity, by helping people with inquiries about your industry or product.
You are providing your audience with answers to vital questions, helping them get all the information they could ever want about your industry.
Review Networks
Social media campaigns are reliant on knowing which sites are user-influenced. One example of these kinds of sites is review networks. These networks will have an impact on your audience. However, it is 100% dependent on the user.
With these networks, you can find, share, and review information about brands and products. With positive marks on one of these sites, it can result in some great outcomes for your brand, offering validity to your product/service success claims. These reviews are an excellent method of understanding how your brand is perceived by people. You get the chance to understand opinions and improve experiences.
We will look at the 2 main review networks on the internet that you will want to keep tabs on:
Yelp
Individuals use Yelp as a way to share their experiences and opinions of a business or industry with fellow readers. You can search for any known company, find out what the community thinks, and do reviews of your own. These reviews are not able to be altered or removed, so every post remains, negative or positive.
You can utilize this company by looking up the reviews for your business. Take that feedback, and apply it appropriately to your campaign. You will get vital insight into how you are doing, what people think of your business, where you should improve, and where you are excelling. Take this opportunity to improve the experience of your traffic and leads.
Glassdoor
Similar to Yelp, Glassdoor offers information straight from the employees. They are able to place reviews in reference to their experiences working with your business. While you can’t improve your product/service with this feedback, you can improve the experience of your employees. This results in more sales and lower turnovers.
As a social media network, Glassdoor will allow you to get an understanding of how your employees view your business. You get cons, pros, and advice that can change management procedures and operations. As an employer, you are able to comment on these reviews to show your concern/involvement with your employee base.
