3 Popular Social Media Sites You've Maybe Never Heard Of

Hidden Marketing Treasure: Three Social Media Sites You’re Probably Not Using

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, YouTube. You have heard of all of those social media sites, and they are the top 5 in popularity. But, what about the next ones down the list?
• Quora
• Tumblr
• MeetUp
Tumblr, a micro-blogging site that has become popular with many corporate-types for its ease of use, has more than 22 million users. MeetUp gets 6 million visitors every month. And Quora reports having about 1.5 million registered users.

What can these social media sites do for your business? Each of them presents unique opportunities for connecting with customers and potential customers. Let me explain:

Quora is a site you should be using if your business is based around your expertise in a particular subject. On Quora, questions can be asked, and subject matter experts that are registered on the site can answer those questions.

What makes Quora unique is that, unlike WikiPedia, people use their real names and pictures on Quora and have a short bio describing who they are. As a result, anyone reading the answer to a question can evaluate the writer’s level of expertise and take into account the author’s perspective.

The other unique feature of Quora is that your account can be set up to allow you to follow the questions/answers of those you follow on Twitter and Facebook, including the Companies/Organizations that you “like” on Facebook. So, for example, I like the Broncos. So, when I logged into my Quora account this morning, my account page displayed a question and several answers about the likely success of Tim Tebow as an NFL Quarterback.

That example may not inspire many business opportunities, but on Twitter I follow a lot of small business experts. Quora is one place that all of their questions and answers can appear in one place, and I can add my comments when the question is in my area of expertise. Like Facebook, you can also use a tool on the site to find all of your friends and colleagues who have Quora accounts.

Tumblr is a popular micro-blogging site. What makes it different than WordPress, Blogger, or even Twitter? If these blogging sites are like journals, tumblelogs are more like scrapbooks. Tumblr makes it easy to post images, text, videos and conversations with more versatility than you will see in other blogging tools. It also includes a friend list so that you are more involved in a social (or business) community.

For business bloggers, Tumblr can be a big time saver. You can post to Tumblr and automatically also post to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Tumblr is free, and it is SEO-friendly, allowing you to link to your website and other Internet “real estate.” For a company, Tumblr allows you to authorize an unlimited number of employees to contribute to your Tumblr blog.

Meet-Up is entirely different. MeetUp is designed for the business who doesn’t just want to interact with people digitally, but rather in person, too.

Let me give you an example: A bicycle shop wants to find all of the real cycling enthusiasts in its area, knowing that these people can be the shop’s core customer base. They want to sponsor a once a week group ride, offering free shirts with the store logo to new riders, and energy drinks and healthy snacks at the end of each ride. They can introduce this on-going event via email and store signage to existing customers, but what about people that do not have a relationship with the store? That’s where Meet-Up comes in.

Starting a group on MeetUp costs about $20 per month for the organizer, but it allows you to find other enthusiasts in your area, who can join your group at no charge.

When someone visits MeetUp, they are shown groups in their geographic area. They can browse all groups, or search for those with a particular interest or topic. My husband, for example, found a hiking group on Meet-Up that he has joined.

When someone joins a group, they receive emailed announcements of all of that group’s activities. The group also has a page on MeetUp where all activities in the future and recent past are displayed, as well as links to profiles of members of the group.

Members of the group can RSVP via the MeetUp site, and others can see who is planning to participate in each event.

For more ideas on how you can use these social media sites to enhance your company’s marketing efforts, call me at my Denver office, 720-341-6336, to set up a consultation.