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The rise of the niche social media network

Bdaily is looking at Online Marketing in this, our latest focus week. Here, Marco Nardone, CEO of Unii.com, looks at the rise of such niche social networks.

When the social media revolution took its first steps, many businesses were slow to adopt the idea of engaging with their audience in such a direct and personal way.

Now, in 2013, there are over 33 million accounts registered on Facebook alone and having a ‘social media strategy’ shows brands are authentic and transparent to their audience.

However, times are changing. Sites such as Facebook are great at targeting a mass audience – anyone who’s anyone can make a page for their business – and therein lies the problem. The now crowded market place means brands have to be even more ‘creative’ in order to cut through the noise and reach a mass audience; you simply can’t please everybody.

Many CEO’s would rejoice at seeing their Twitter followers breaking through the thousand mark or their Facebook ‘likes’ pushing six digits – but who are these users? Are these your business’s core customers and people you genuinely wanted to promote your services to? As with any mass approach, it’s easy to run the risk of heavily investing time and effort on social media tactics that just don’t have the capability to achieve the results required – one size just does not fit all.

A further pitfall, is diluting a message across numerous networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Each require their own tactic to reach the desired goal and by using this scattergun method businesses lose focus on what they are trying to say. Instead, tailoring messages for each audience group could prove far more profitable in the long run.

It’s with this in mind that it is crucial for businesses to understand the current shifts that social media has witnessed over the past years, as larger, amorphous, social networks such as Facebook begin reaching a plateau, with users looking for services that offer defined services.

Dedicated niche networks (such as Unii.com) are hitting the market, catering for both users and businesses alike who require a much more tailored approach. These niche networks offer a bespoke experience, not only keeping the ‘social network’ at their core but adding value by offering further content specific to their users – such as dedicated jobs boards for students in the case of Unii.

This personalisation/tailoring allows businesses the chance to avoid wasting time attempting to find a needle in a haystack and instead talk directly to a select audience.

Of course, this isn’t to say larger social networks haven’t already done a fantastic job in connecting people; it’s simply that user behaviour is shifting, and for businesses, now is the time to get to grips with this transformation and make a careful consideration as to where they should be marketing their brand online.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Unii .

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