The two giant social media sites Twitter and Facebook are overcrowded and hard to get traction if you don’t have a following. There is a massive information overload; you have to compete ever so hard to get attention and then pray for clicks.
What if you are a small business or a start up with very less resources and budget? What if all you want to do is get the word out and get some much needed visitors to your website? What if you knew how to create good content but your social media following numbers are dwindling in two digits?
Don’t think there is a lot you can do. Here are 3 ways you can stand out:
- Create visually compelling content and use sites like Pinterest
- Use non-conventional social media sites like StumbleUpon
- Use content marketing platforms like Medium
Pinterest is a social media site that is completely dedicated to visual content. Pinterest has over 100 million monthly users and is the 2nd highest social media traffic driver behind Facebook.
Social Media Traffic Statistics Courtesy of Shareaholic
Here are some compelling statistics to show why you should use Pinterest:
- 47 percent of US online consumers have made a purchase decision based on recommendation from Pinterest.
- Pinterest generates 27 percent higher revenue than Facebook.
- Pinterest trumps Twitter by generating 4 times more revenue per click.
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is the fourth-highest social media traffic driver. StumbleUpon does not have the same user numbers like the big giants but can certainly crash your site with viral traffic. The best part of using StumbleUpon is it sends users direct to your site where you can show case your content.
StumbleUpon users love to keep “STUMBLING” new sites and keeping them on your site might be a challenge. Visual content, engaging heading, attention grabbing starting sentences can all help. Good web content that is broken up and well formatted can also go a long way in keeping website visitors engaged on your site. Here is a screenshot of an infographic that shows how to get the best out of StumbleUpon an underutilized social media site.
Medium
Medium is not a social media site rather it is a content marketing platform. It is free to use. The best part is, creating content is very simple and easy. You don’t have to worry about search engine optimization or content promotion; as Medium comes with a built in audience. Content creation and marketing all in one place.
Medium users go to Medium to read and write content. There are no distracting advertisements or sales pages. It’s the quality of the piece of content that matters in Medium more than the authors name tag and profile.
Stories in Medium can be submitted to Publications by anyone. Publications are merely a collection of posts on a particular topic like “Business”. If you want a lot of people to see your content then finding a Publication is an absolute must. Here is a screenshot of the infographic that has more tips to get the best out of Medium.
