social media Archives social media

Jan 1 2025

Open a Facebook Shop in 2025

Social commerce is poised to take off in 2025, reaching 60% or more of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers worldwide, depending on the source.

TikTok is the trending social platform, with roughly 36 million shoppers, while Facebook is massive and established, with 68 million. Both are compelling options.

In this article, I will focus on Facebook Shop and its two key promotional opportunities.

Create a Facebook Page

Create a Facebook page by filling in a few fields and uploading images.

A Facebook Shop requires a Facebook page.

Log in to your personal Facebook account.
Go to the Pages section and create a new page.
Select the “Public Page” option.

Work through the six setup screens using Facebook’s interface as a guide. By the end, you will have a minimal Facebook page, ready to do business.

Set Up a Business Suite Account

Meta Business Suite is the single location for managing your pages, including the one you just created for your store. The setup process is straightforward.

Go to Business Suite.
Click “Create Account” and follow the prompts.
Add your Facebook page to Business Suite under “Business Settings” > “Accounts” > “Pages.”

Business Suite is a hub for Meta assets — Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp.

Meta’s Business Suite is the dashboard for managing stores on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Set Up a Commerce Account

Next, prepare your Facebook Shop.

Go to the Facebook Commerce “Get started” page.
Select “Add Products.”
Toggle the “Connect to a partner platform” switch.
Complete the form.

Facebook Shop integrates directly with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and other stores. I will use Shopify for this example.

To start, enter your store’s Myshopify.com subdomain, located on the “Domains” tab in your Shopify account settings. Facebook will direct you to Shopify and add the Facebook and Instagram app.

Screenshot of Facebook integration screen

Facebook integrates with many ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

Connect Your Store

Facebook profiles associated with multiple pages may need to specify the one to integrate with Shopify. Then set your desired level of data sharing between Facebook and Shopify. Meta will use the data to improve advertising results but may require updates to your Shopify privacy policy and settings.

You’ll likely see approved products on your Facebook page in just a few minutes, although it sometimes takes up to two days.

Customize Your Facebook Shop

Once the Shopify store and Facebook Shop are synchronized, customize the latter via the Facebook Commerce Manager, adding payment types, layout, and verifications. Facebook permits some shop customization but will also pull from Shopify.

Facebook typically provides a checklist with a handful of tasks to complete before your shop is live.

Screenshot of Commerce Manager with customization options

Facebook permits some shop customization but will pull a lot from Shopify.

Promote the Facebook Shop

Most sellers promote Facebook Shops in two ways: Meta advertising and organic social media content.

Meta advertising. By accessing the shared Shopify data, Meta can confirm purchases, track website activity via its pixel, and view online chats.

All that information will guide Meta in identifying and targeting likely customers in a privacy-compliant manner. The optimized advertising should perform well. A few published reports, including one from Omnichat, describe a tenfold improvement in return on advertising spend for online merchants using Shopify and Facebook Shops.

Organic social media content. The second promotional opportunity comes from content marketing and email address capture.

Think of Facebook as a content distribution channel for your store. Share blog posts, product videos, and the like on that platform. Its algorithms (and your followers) will help expose the shop.

Always include email capture on your Facebook page and store. On the page, add a “newsletter” or “subscribe” custom action button linked to an email subscription form. Then include those subscribers in your store’s regular promotional email messages.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 30 2024

TikTok Shop’s Coming Seller Boom

TikTok faces an unprecedented U.S. ban, caught between its massive consumer popularity and lawmakers’ distrust. The crisis started in 2020 when some citizens and legislators grew concerned about the China-based social media company’s privacy practices and its relationship with that country’s communist government.

In April 2024, President Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requiring TikTok’s parent company to sell the platform by January 19, 2025.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal on January 10, 2025, and many commentators expect TikTok to survive in the United States, with or without new owners.

TikTok Shop

Meanwhile, TikTok Shop has been a boon for some sellers. The social commerce platform will reportedly reach $50 billion in worldwide gross merchandise volume in 2024. More than $10 billion of that total is likely to come from the U.S. market.

TikTok Shop is among the top social commerce platforms but has not likely reached its full potential.

Collectively, the nascent social commerce platform recorded $137 million in 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday U.S. sales.

Yet TikTok Shop may be far from its potential as online sellers, great and small, are waiting to learn how the ban plays out before adding another platform.

Ecommerce platforms now include at least four types of selling environments.

Ecommerce shops are storefronts from software suppliers such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Wix, to name a few. Most ecommerce merchants use these storefronts as a home base or flagship store online.

Ecommerce marketplaces — Amazon, Walmart, eBay, many more — are also common, if not essential, for online sellers. The number of marketplaces continues to grow, perhaps most notably with Temu’s U.S. seller program.

Ecommerce mobile apps for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are common for enterprise retailers as a primary storefront or separate.

Social commerce storefronts include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and others. Published estimates put the total global social commerce market at $2.9 trillion. Consumers increasingly expect sellers to have a presence on multiple social commerce platforms.

These various and sometimes repetitive ecommerce selling platforms are necessary because American shoppers tend to use several of them.

Mixed Signals

One could argue that U.S. consumers send a lot of mixed signals. Consider a few examples of contradictory survey results.

“49% of customers start and end their shopping journeys on retailer websites or apps,” according to a Hostinger article — points for ecommerce shops and mobile apps.

“Amazon accounted for 37.6% of the U.S. ecommerce market in 2023, followed by Walmart (6.4%), Apple (3.6%), eBay (3%), [and] Target (1.9%),” according to Jungle Scout — chalk up one for marketplace platforms.

“56% of consumers start their product searches on Amazon,” according to Jungle Scout again — continuing the argument for marketplaces.

“People aged 18 to 34 were the most into buying through social media, with about 73% of them saying they’ve bought something via social media channels,” according to an article from SellersCommerce — validating the need to use social commerce too.

Those statistics confirm why online merchants use many platforms in combination — including post-ban-paranoia TikTok Shop.

TikTok Redeemed

So if, as some predict, TikTok remains in the U.S. market and its future is no longer in doubt, expect a boom in sellers. Many ecommerce businesses, from small merchants to massive enterprises, will likely begin offering their products on the social platform.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 26 2024

Why Making A Good YouTube Video Is Hard (For Businesses) via @sejournal, @BennyJamminS

There are tons of reasons you want to be on YouTube, building an audience, and getting discovered in the YouTube algorithm.

YouTube is the second most popular website in the world, and YouTube videos can appear in Google Search results. This makes a YouTube presence a combined social media and SEO strategy. Entire businesses can be built on YouTube.

But, most YouTube videos suck.

Maybe “suck” is an unkind or imprecise word. It might be more accurate to say that the majority of YouTube videos don’t find an audience. That’s probably because they’re not good videos.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what makes YouTube videos good, how to identify if you have the potential to create them, what to do if you don’t, and why a poorly executed YouTube strategy can hurt your business.

Why It’s Difficult To Succeed On YouTube

There are 14 billion videos on YouTube and 65.4 million YouTube creators. Only 21% of all YouTube channels have more than 1,000 subscribers. 1,000 subscribers is the threshold to apply for advertising revenue.

YouTube represents a huge opportunity, but capitalizing on it isn’t easy. You need to be in the top 21% of the platform just to start earning advertising revenue.

To put it another way, you need to be better than 79% of all other creators as a baseline – better than all the hobbyists, enthusiasts, amateur and professional filmmakers, businesses, essayists, and commentators in that broad segment.

Creative Talent Is Difficult To Develop Or Find

Making good YouTube videos is hard because not everyone has the stuff. If you want to succeed on YouTube, your first question needs to be: do you have the stuff?

“The stuff” can be lots of things. Drive and passion, experience and knowledge, charisma, technical skills, artistic vision…it’s a long list, and anything could be on it as long as it gives you an edge.

There needs to be something unique about you or your business that will translate well into a creative, entertainment-focused medium.

What this means for businesses is that producing good YouTube videos is expensive. The kind of people who can make good YouTube videos, and their time, cost a lot of money.

YouTube’s Algorithm Pulls Videos For Users

Many people mistakenly assume that YouTube’s algorithm “pushes” videos out to audiences. As I explain in my article about YouTube SEO, YouTube’s algorithm finds videos for users, not users for videos.

It’s more than a semantic difference in word order. The algorithm pulls videos for users, finding what they might like. It doesn’t take your video and try to find an audience to push it to. It’s user-first, not video-first.

If your video isn’t genuinely interesting and engaging, if it doesn’t catch interest quickly and hold it, then the algorithm will notice that people aren’t very engaged, or the video doesn’t appeal to the audiences you’re trying to push it to, and won’t recommend it to similar users.

Users Have High Expectations

YouTube is an enthusiast platform. People create because they want to. As they learn and get better, their content improves, and audiences come to expect certain standards.

The standards might not be what you think.

While many successful channels have high production values and tight editing, there are still many successful “vlog” channels and low-budget, low-tech creators.

What I mean by high expectations is that users expect high effort. Whatever that effort looks like for your skill level and maturity with video production. Users are surprisingly willing to forgive junk if they can see the passion, authenticity, and value in a video.

This is one of the reasons that brands can struggle to find audiences on YouTube. It’s primarily an entertainment platform – brand-focused content without human connection and authenticity isn’t set up to perform well.

Users Don’t Want To Be Sold To On YouTube

Take a look at the top 100 biggest YouTube channels and you will see creators, music brands, musicians, movies, kids shows, etc. What you won’t see is a single product-focused brand.

SEJ keeps a list of the most subscribed-to individuals on YouTube, cutting out production companies. It’s mostly musicians, entertainers like MrBeast, and children’s creators such as Like Nastya.

People are on YouTube to be entertained or informed, not sold to. There are plenty of ads and in-video sponsorships already trying to sell things.

Is your content entertaining? Do you provide information that people actually care about?

Time Is Precious And There’s Always Something Else To Watch

Users are spoiled for choice. If they don’t find a video immediately compelling, YouTube has other recommendations they can click on right on the page.

They don’t even need to click the “back” button. There’s something new right there, with a colorful thumbnail ready to catch their eye.

This not only makes it difficult to distribute videos, it also makes it hard to make good videos.

Sometimes A Video’s Performance Is Just Luck

Videos you’re sure are good won’t take off. Videos you’re sure are bad will get traction. People are baffling, especially when it comes to what they watch and why. They’ll watch something they hate to have the experience of hating it. They’ll stop watching something they like when they’ve gotten what they need from it.

More than many other search platforms, sometimes you just have to be lucky to succeed on YouTube.

What Makes A YouTube Video “Good”?

Good videos on YouTube must begin with knowledge of your audience, passion for and knowledge of your subject matter, and love of the craft of video production.

That might sound a little wishy-washy but it’s what built the YouTube platform and it’s what users continue to look for.

Videos Must Be Engaging AND Satisfying

Videos are more difficult to skim than text. You can improve it by using chapters and timestamps, but a reader can’t just scroll past what they aren’t interested in. A viewer has to wait for it to pass or actively skip it.

It doesn’t really benefit you to have people skipping around, because it means they’re not engaged, and being engaging is the first rule of a good video.

Engagement means watch time, interaction signals, and even what users do after watching your video.

This makes introductions and hooks critical to a video’s success. Right away, you need to convince someone that it’s worth it to keep watching.

However, it’s easy to go too far and create “clickbait” that over-promises and under-delivers. Even if this gets you watch time, YouTube’s algorithm filters for satisfaction as well as raw engagement.

It can tell the difference between good engagement and not-so-good engagement. If someone watches a whole video expecting something specific and they don’t get it, that’s high engagement but a bad experience.

User signals on YouTube are much more complicated than raw CTR and watch time numbers. Watch time, however, is still one of the major markers of success.

Self-Assessment Is Difficult: So Do It More

Self-assessing creative content is difficult. It’s not easy to look at something you made and ask yourself: is this actually any good? Would anyone watch it? Is it worth someone else’s time?

But you need to practice self-critique and seek critique from others. You need to approach videos from the point of view of the person watching and find the point between what you need to communicate and what they’re willing to watch.

Selling Must Be Incidental To The Content

Unless you’re a BIG brand with an exciting release that people are genuinely anticipating, users are unlikely to care about your business or what you’re trying to sell while they’re on YouTube.

YouTube isn’t really the platform for promotional videos, about us videos, product videos, etc., at least not if you expect algorithmic success.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be successful with mid to low funnel type videos, but they need to be part of a broader strategy — not be your whole approach to the platform.

Your first duty with a YouTube video is to provide genuine value to the viewer. “Value” could be learning, news, or laughing at memes. If you focus on your business conversion goals first, you’ll lose audiences early and harm your metrics, burying your videos.

If you know SEO, you know this already. YouTube videos are most successful when they’re a “top funnel” strategy. Give something of value, and expect only time in return.

As a user gets to know and like you through your videos, they’ll become more interested in your value proposition as a business or service provider.

Good YouTube Videos Are Made For The Love Of It

Doing things because you love them isn’t reserved only for individual creators. As a team, as a professional, as a business, you can do this too. It just means caring about what you’re publishing and who you’re publishing it for.

If you have a brilliant creative team, set them to work on a YouTube channel! If you’re passionate about helping people, solving problems, providing good information, or just letting your team be goobers for the camera, it’s a great idea to start some kind of production.

This could look like a podcast, a tutorial, or a demonstration series. Or even something unrelated to your businesses but that is a special interest to someone on your team, that you can use for testing.

This might feel like nothing advice but believe me, users can tell when videos are made with love and when they aren’t. There’s no way to replicate or fake it. You’ve just got to do it. Or fund people who do it with advertising.

More resources:

Featured Image: metamorworks/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 11 2024

TikTok Expands Shop Tools as Ban Looms

TikTok continues to face legal challenges. A U.S. federal appeals court upheld a law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok in the U.S. by January 19 or face a ban. The deadline may receive a 90-day extension from President Biden, and TikTok plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, the social media app remains central to trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

In response to the appeals court decision, TikTok released the following statement:

The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue. Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people. The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the U.S. and around the world on January 19, 2025.

Despite the political difficulties, TikTok’s ecommerce efforts in the last year have been impressive. Since the launch of its Shop platform in 2023, TikTok has released a series of tools and partnerships, and the results appear to be gaining momentum.

What follows is a rundown of TikTok’s new and updated commerce tools for merchants, creators, and brands.

TikTok Commerce Tools, Resources

TikTok Shop, launched in the U.S. in September 2023, is an integrated ecommerce platform within the TikTok app, allowing merchants, brands, and creators to sell products via shoppable videos, livestreams, profile pages with product collections, shop tabs with searchable product listings and shoppable content, and affiliate program features.

Sellers can leverage TikTok Shop Ads and, for logistics, Fulfilled by TikTok. TikTok Shop integrates with platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, as well as multichannel partners such as ChannelAdvisor, Feedonomics, and ChannelEngine.

In 2024, TikTok Shop launched an initiative to support small businesses called SOAR (Supporting Our Artisans and Retailers).

TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop Live enables sellers and creators to run livestreams where shoppers can purchase merchandise directly. The number of U.S. TikTok Shop Live sessions hosted each month nearly tripled in 2024, per TikTok, which stated beauty brand founder Stormi Steele (@iamstormisteele) surpassed $2 million in Black Friday 2024 sales, setting a new record for a single live session.

Subscription is a recently expanded feature for live and non-live creators that offers access to exclusive perks, unique experiences, and a members-only community for a monthly fee. Creators can customize their subscription packages in tiers, including private community channels, exclusive content, and custom perks.

Creator Affiliate Program lets creators earn commissions from merchants by sharing preferred products in short videos and livestreams. In addition, TikTok is reportedly letting some creators add product links from third-party affiliate networks (including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Rakuten, and Temu) directly to their posts through a new integration.

Creator Rewards Program lets creators monetize original videos over one minute with an optimized rewards formula focused on four areas: originality, play duration, search value, and audience engagement. Creators must be 18 years old, have at least 10,000 followers, and a minimum of 100,000 views in the last 30 days.

TikTok Studio is a platform to create, edit, upload, manage, and analyze videos. Creators can post to TikTok directly from Studio and use tools such as auto caption, photo editor, and autocut. The monetization module in Studio contains an overview of all platform offerings, personalized recommendations, and growth opportunities.

TikTok Studio

Smart+ automates advertising across targeting, bidding, and creative to optimize cost and performance. Advertisers input their assets, budget, and targeting goals, and Smart+ automatically creates or selects the best creative asset and, utilizing AI-powered TikTok Symphony, chooses the right audience and optimal time. Smart+ includes campaigns for web traffic, catalog ads, app installs, and lead generation.

GMV Max is a new service enabling TikTok Shop merchants to automate advertising campaigns. GMV Max leverages all available creatives automatically (organic videos, affiliate videos, and ads) and deploys them in a single automated campaign, whether it’s promoting an entire shop or select products. Advertisers select the products to promote, define a return-on-investment target, and set the budget.

TikTok One is a new centralized hub for marketers to access creative tools. Brands can access 2 million TikTok creators, production partners, and insights, as well as the Creator Marketplace and Creative Challenge.

TikTok Symphony is a new AI suite to help marketers scale content development, creativity, and productivity on TikTok. Symphony supports scriptwriting, video production, and asset optimization. Symphony Assistant can summarize trends, create TikTok-native scripts, brainstorm creative concepts, identify creative ideas, and more.

TikTok Symphony

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 4 2024

Gravatar Offers Free Domains To Use As Bluesky Handles via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Gravatar announced a free domain name offer and Bluesky integration that makes it relatively easy to use a custom domain name as a Bluesky handle. A custom handle provides a more professional Bluesky presence compared to the standard generic versions like username.bsky.social. Integrating a domain name through Gravatar involves several steps on both platforms but is relatively easy compared to processes at a domain registrar.

Using a custom domain name through a domain name registrar requires a TXT record verification and adding a DNS record to the domain at the registrar. Claiming a domain name through Gravatar doesn’t require those extra steps, which significantly simplifies the process of using a custom domain at Bluesky.

Gravatar Domain Name Offer

The offer from Gravatar makes it simple to grab a domain name free for the first year directly from the Gravatar profile, which requires registering a free Gravatar profile (if one isn’t already registered). The option for selecting a domain name will be in the Gravatar dashboard.

Gravatar currently offers the following domains free for the first year with renewals at the standard rate the following year.

Free for the first year, renews at the following rates:

.link $9.00/year
.life $31.00/year
.live $28.00/year
.social $32.00/year
.bio $62.00/year
.fyi $18.00/year
.pro $21.00/year
.guru $35.00/year
.world $35.00/year
.ninja $19.00/year

Gravatar lists steps for completing the process:

1. Get Your Free Gravatar Domain

2. Verify Your Bluesky

3. Change Your Bluesky Handle

4. Reconnect Bluesky in Gravatar

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Koshiro K

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 4 2024

The Rise Of Micro-Communities: What This Means For Social Media Marketers via @sejournal, @rio_seo

Human nature craves connection, so much so that we seek it almost everywhere we can find it – at social events, in our jobs, and now online in micro-communities.

The desire to feel camaraderie and a sense of belonging is innate.

In recent years, social media platforms have shifted from shouting into a void to engaging in a much more meaningful way, sharing our innermost thoughts within a deeply connected community of like-minded individuals.

Micro-communities are on the rise, enabling users to find groups that share the same values, ideas, and interests. In turn, micro-community engagement is rife with feedback as users feel comfortable freely expressing their thoughts and opinions.

For social media marketers, this emerging trend presents myriad opportunities, but it also comes with its own set of unique challenges.

Understanding how to effectively engage with micro-communities is essential in order to leverage this medium in an authentic manner that yields returns.

What Are Micro-Communities?

To reach a micro-community successfully requires a thorough understanding of what it is exactly.

A micro-community is a small, highly engaged, and motivated group of individuals who share a common goal, interest, or passion.

These groups are typically built around certain niches, such as fearful flyers, celebrities, veganism, a specific movie genre, and more.

Unlike larger communities that may attract hundreds of thousands of comments, micro-communities tend to be much smaller, which allows for a deeper sense of belonging and connection among community members.

It also allows for more nuanced discussion, where members can keep up with the conversation and engage at their leisure.

Micro-communities are often associated with popular social media platforms like Reddit, Discord, and Facebook groups.

On these platforms, users are able to search for the micro-community of their interest, join, and then actively participate in discussions with other group members.

Why Do People Join Micro-Communities?

More users are flocking to micro-communities than ever before to voice their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

Discord, for example, saw a staggering 87% jump in registered users in January 2023 compared to its number of users in June 2020.

In an era where it can be hard to differentiate oneself and stand out from the crowd, micro-communities are becoming the go-to for those who crave deeper relationships and are able to connect with others on a more personal level.

They allow community members to be the true versions of themselves, eliminating the need to put on a facade to merge with the masses.

Micro-communities also enable members to remain virtually anonymous as social media platforms like Discord and Reddit allow its members to essentially hide behind a user name.

Unlike social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, micro-community members can remain essentially anonymous should they choose to.

Given the close-knit small community, it can be easier to garner trust among members.

For businesses, this presents a unique opportunity as a growing portion of consumers (41%) trust online recommendations as much as they do personal ones.

The Explosive Growth Of Micro-Communities And Why It Matters For Businesses

Micro-community-focused platforms, like Reddit, are rapidly scaling.

In fact, Reddit is responsible for over 1.6% of total social media website traffic in the United States alone.

Additionally, it’s the fifth most visited site in the United States and the ninth most visited site in the world.

Users on Reddit are highly motivated and spend ample time browsing the platform, with a user spending an average of 20 minutes per day on the platform.

As more users turn to micro-communities for entertainment, recommendations, and relationship building, now is the prime time for businesses to capitalize on this growing social media opportunity.

Micro-communities offer a unique, largely untapped way for businesses to engage with a highly targeted group of individuals who may be receptive to messaging when done the right way.

Blanketed messages are unlikely to land with micro-communities.

Keep in mind this audience has a low tolerance for spammy or sales-driven strategies. They’re intelligent and can tell the difference between a well-intended conversation, and one meant to spur sales.

Instead of crafting sales pitches, businesses will be more likely to succeed by sharing content that’s relevant to the community and offers some form of value.

How can social media marketers tap into their desired micro-community effectively? We’ve outlined a few strategies to give you some food for thought.

Actionable Micro-Community Engagement Strategies For Social Media Marketers

For social media marketers who want to tap into or create their own micro-communities, it’s important to start on the right foot.

Having a solid strategy in place can help establish a framework for how to best approach tapping into a micro-community audience, steps to gain traction, guidelines for messaging, and how to measure the program’s success.

Here are a few strategies to help you get started with your micro-community marketing endeavors.

Identify Your Audience

It’s important to get your audience right. As a marketer, you’ve likely already defined your target audience.

However, it’s important to truly understand what makes this audience tick by identifying their interests and hobbies.

Social media listening tools are a great way to track conversations your customers are actively discussing, which can give you insight into what niche micro-communities they may be interested in joining.

Join Existing Communities

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Once you’ve identified your niche, your business can join existing communities that align with your brand.

Build credibility and authority by actively participating in conversations, sharing valuable content (it doesn’t have to be your own content), and building relationships with community members.

This approach allows you to dip your toe in before fully submerging and introducing your brand right away to the community.

Create Your Own Community

If the niche you’re searching for doesn’t exist, be the first to create a community for it. Once you’ve created your own micro-community, ask your brand advocates to be the first to join for exclusive promotions and product sneak peeks.

Platforms like Reddit, Facebook Groups, and Discord make it easy to create private communities where you can connect with your target audience.

Value will be your key driver in your community. Be sure to create meaningful connections that resonate with your target audience rather than hard-selling your products.

Offer a reward in return for joining your community, such as 10% off their next purchase with your business.

Value Over Sales

As a marketer, it can be difficult to invest time in efforts that don’t necessarily return immediate sales.

After all, most businesses value what is added to the bottom line. For tangible results, it’s imperative to prioritize value over direct sales.

Micro-community engagement requires social media marketers to test their patience – relying on sharing helpful resources, answering questions, and delving into meaningful conversations first.

When members see your brand is an asset to the community, they’ll be more likely to trust you and engage with your products and services.

Let Your Community Do The Work For You

Once you’ve gained the trust of your micro-community, they’re likely to be open to doing some of the hard work on your behalf.

Encourage members of your micro-community to transparently share their experiences with your business, both good and bad.

Keep in mind that perfect reviews across the board are more likely to seem disingenuous to consumers, which is why some negative reviews can actually benefit a business.

User-generated content holds the potential to build credibility and trust among other community members, as well as anyone searching for your product or service that happens to check out your community during the marketing journey.

Measure Your Results

As with any marketing activity, it’s important to determine if your time investment is worthwhile. Regularly measure your performance on a monthly basis at minimum to measure the effectiveness of your efforts and make adjustments if necessary.

Track engagement metrics, monitor feedback, and assess the impact of your micro-community efforts in terms of sales and brand awareness.

Engagement metrics may include likes, comments, awards, and conversations.

How Brands Are Engaging With Micro-Communities

As evidenced, the value micro-communities can provide for businesses is measurable and massive. These communities can help build brand trust, authority, and credibility.

They can also help boost brand awareness, effectively introducing a business to a new, highly motivated, and engaged audience who has the same ideals.

As a result, micro-communities can be an invaluable tool for generating qualified leads and sales.

Many businesses have caught onto the micro-community hype and are already reaping the rewards of more targeted, personalized social media marketing efforts.

Here are a few examples of how brands are successfully reaching and conversing with these focused groups:

Product Launches

By leveraging social listening tools, brands can gain a deeper understanding of what customers crave and need.

Brands are increasingly listening to what customers are asking for in micro-communities.

For example, a beauty brand might see chatter around a desire for vegan formulas in micro-communities or non-toxic cookware from a retailer. These valuable insights can better inform future product strategy and help businesses refine their product portfolios.

User-Generated Content

Many brands are encouraging members of micro-communities to create and share content related to their products or services. This approach not only helps brands build authenticity but also offers free promotion from a third party that other members will more likely trust for recommendations.

User-generated content also empowers users to become brand advocates. For example, a sports retailer might ask buyers to share a picture of their product out in the wild, and reward the best submission as an added layer of encouragement.

Collaborations And Partnerships

Brands may also want to collaborate with influencers who have already built a strong following within micro-communities.

These partnerships allow brands to effectively tap into a pre-existing audience who already trusts the influencer’s audience, making it easier to build credibility among that audience.

Look for influencers who align closely with your brand’s values and goals within your niche.

Offers And Promotions

It’s no secret that special offers and promotions entice consumers to act.

Providing micro-community members exclusive access or promotions designated only for the community can help foster a greater sense of inclusivity.

Members can receive early access to new products, limited edition items, or coupon codes that are only valid to the members.

It’s key to making your community members feel valued and special to encourage brand advocacy and loyalty and to forge stronger relationships.

Relevant Content

Helpful content is key to ensuring a positive customer experience at all stages of the marketing journey.

Often, consumers will be first introduced to your business when they come across it in a micro-community, making it beneficial to share top-of-funnel awareness stage content in this forum.

Whether through thought leadership-type blog posts, how-to short-form videos, or influencer product reels, creating content that speaks to the passions of the community will help establish a stronger emotional connection.

Next Steps For Social Media Marketers

Now is the time for social media marketers to act and devise a strategy to penetrate the micro-community market.

Nearly two-thirds (66%) of businesses cite communities having a positive impact on customer retention. Additionally, the same percentage of brand community members say they’re loyal to the brand.

It’s still a relatively new forum that many brands currently aren’t tapping into, which leaves ample opportunity at hand for savvy social media marketers.

Honing in on niche communities and fostering genuine connections can help businesses build strong relationships with community members while also driving qualified traffic to their sites.

By embracing this rapidly rising trend, social media marketers will uncover a new, powerful way to connect with their audience while driving brand growth and revenue.

As always, it’s crucial to measure and revise your micro-community strategy, ensuring it remains a worthwhile marketing endeavor to pursue.

More resources:

Featured Image: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 3 2024

X Alternatives Compared, for Marketing

There has been much speculation following the U.S. elections about Elon Musk’s X. According to social analytics firm Similarweb, more than 115,000 U.S. users deactivated their X accounts on Election Day.

Prominent celebrities and brands have left X, and alternative microblogging social media apps such as Bluesky and Threads have seen spikes in signups. However, X is no longer publicly listed and thus is not obligated to disclose its performance.

Nonetheless, it’s a good time for marketers and brands to explore alternatives to publish real-time news and engage with followers.

Threads

Threads

Threads is a real-time microblogging network from Meta that requires an Instagram account to use. Threads reserves your existing Instagram user name and verification badge and, via a few taps, automatically follows the same accounts you follow on Instagram. Threads is text-based, with a 500-word maximum for each post, and allows for replies, creating conversation threads. Users on Threads can customize their settings and control who can see their content, reply to your threads, or mention you. Threads does not contain ads, although it plans to.

Initially referred to as Project 92, Threads launched in 2023 as an alternative to Twitter, according to Meta’s chief product officer, Chris Cox. The platform gained over 100 million users in its first five days. Early in November 2024, Threads surpassed 275 million monthly active users.

–

Bluesky

Bluesky

Bluesky, started by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, began as a research project within Twitter to explore the possibility of decentralizing and developing an open standard for social media, giving users more control over their data. Bluesky launched as an independent company in 2021 and was invitation-only until it opened to the public in February 2024. Several celebrities and brands have announced they’re joining Bluesky and leaving X, including pop singer Lizzo and the Guardian newspaper. According to Bluesky, the platform has over 23 million users.

Bluesky resides on the AT Protocol, an open-source toolbox for building social apps that can communicate with each other. The AT Protocol offers account portability, algorithmic choice, and composable moderation with features including automated filtering, manual admin actions, and community labeling. Bluesky does not offer advertising, but it’s exploring other ways to generate revenue

–

Substack

Substack

Substack is a platform for subscription newsletters, with support for podcasts and subscriber-based discussion threads. Authors can offer free or paid subscriptions and make posts publicly available to non-subscribers. In 2023, Substack added a microblogging component, Notes, where writers can publish short-form posts, share ideas, and join conversations. Through Notes, writers can share posts, links, images, quotes, and comments with their subscribers and the greater Substack network.

Substack states the essence of its community and 35 million registered users is a shared appreciation for quality independent writing. The platform facilitates sponsored content but not other forms of advertising. Brands and marketers can find followers by sponsoring compelling niche content.

–

Mastodon

Mastodon

Mastodon is a free and open-source social media network built on a decentralized protocol. Each Mastodon server is an independent entity with its own rules and able to sync with others to form one global social network. Users can go to a different Mastodon server and take their followers.

Mastodon supports audio, video and picture posts, accessibility descriptions, polls, content warnings, animated avatars, custom emojis, thumbnail crop control, and more. Mastodon will not serve ads or use algorithms to promote content. However, marketers can utilize collaborations, sponsorships, and user-generated content campaigns to engage followers.

–

Spill

Spill

Spill, created by former Twitter employees, is a social platform that establishes a fun, safe, and culturally relevant conversation space for marginalized communities, especially people of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

Users can create, comment, amplify, or share a random thought, called a “Spill,” with the public. Users can (i) create a virtual space via Tea Parties for conversations with live audio, video, and chat, (ii) launch groups and discover members with shared interests, (iii) discover popular Spills, and (iv) automatically get paid if a Spill goes viral and the platform monetizes against it.

Spill is in an open beta release.

–

Reddit is a network for social news aggregation. The platform has over 100,000 communities, called “subreddits,” dedicated to specific topics. Users submit content such as links, text posts, images, and videos, which other users then vote up or down. Voting on posts and comments increases or decreases the creator’s “karma” and helps popular and relevant posts rise to the top while filtering out inferior or irrelevant posts. Some communities require karma to post or comment, which helps maintain content quality and community standards.

Experts, brands, and marketers can leverage Reddit by hosting “Ask Me Anything” discussions, which are unfiltered Q&A sessions to update followers and answer questions honestly.

–

Tumblr

Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging and social networking site founded in 2007 and then acquired by Yahoo. Automattic, the WordPress company, now owns it. Tumblr states its platform hosts over 600 million blogs and most new users are Generation Z.

Tumblr utilizes a dashboard as the primary management tool for users, with a live feed of recent posts from followed blogs. Users can like and repost blogs, publish comments, and schedule posts. Users can also upload text posts, images, videos, and links and publish to other networks. Tags help users find content for a topic.

–

Hive Social

Hive Social

Hive Social is a social media platform aiming to improve user experiences through a chronological timeline with no personalization algorithms. It offers self-expression features such as profile music, profile banners, image and text posts, Zodiac signs, pronouns, and full app color themes. Hive Social doesn’t have a character limit, but it does have a verify feature.

The app reached number one on Apple’s App Store in November 2022, during the controversy from Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. Launched in 2019 by two college students and bringing on just one full-stack developer in 2021, Hive suffered some initial crashing due to the massive influx of users.

Hive Social reportedly has over 2 million users as of late 2023.

–

Discord

Discord

Discord is an instant messaging and social platform with audio and video calls, text messaging, and media. Conversations can take place in virtual servers accessed through invite links. Gamers primarily use Discord, though the share of users interested in other niche topics is growing. As of 2024, the service has about 150 million monthly active users, with approximately one-fourth of its traffic coming from the U.S.

–

TikTok

TikTok

TikTok, from China-based ByteDance, is a social network for creating and sharing short-form videos ranging from three seconds to one hour. The TikTok app has been downloaded more than 130 million times in the U.S. and over 2 billion times worldwide. TikTok also has an ecommerce platform, TikTok Shop, launched in September 2023.

While it’s not exactly a microblogging platform for real-time news, TikTok might be what your followers want right now, especially millennials and Gen Z users, to discover and share new ideas and trends. TikTok’s Ads Manager can help brands create, manage, and optimize campaigns.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Dec 2 2024

Bluesky Emerges As Traffic Source: Publishers Report 3x Engagement via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Bluesky, a decentralized social network, recently shared that it’s become a growing traffic source for online publishers.

The blog post included quotes and data from several well-known news outlets, showing more engagement and conversions on Bluesky than on other social media platforms.

Publisher Testimonials Highlight Bluesky’s Impact

Matt Karolian from The Boston Globe reported, “Traffic from Bluesky to @bostonglobe.com is already 3x that of Threads, and we are seeing 4.5x the conversions to paying digital subscribers.”

Dave Earley from The Guardian also chimed in, suggesting that traffic from Bluesky to The Guardian is “significantly higher than the very obvious 2x that of Threads.”

According to Kevin Rothrock from The New York Times, “It’s hard to exaggerate how nuts the engagement is on Bluesky compared to 𝕏. A vastly smaller user base (at this point) but so much more active and attentive.”

Marc Elias from Democracy Docket noted, “Traffic from Bluesky to @democracydocket.com is surging while X is falling and Threads remains largely dormant.”

Open Source Web Development Community Thriving on Bluesky

Bluesky has a highly engaged user base that benefits more than just news publishers.

Patak, an open-source web developer, noted that even though they have only 6% of the followers on Bluesky compared to 100,000 on X (formerly Twitter), their announcement post for Vite 6.0 received half the reposts and a third of the likes.

“Most of the comments and quotes from OSS maintainers happened here,” Patak noted. “I don’t know about other communities, but OSS web dev is a Bluesky game now.”

SEO Community Finding a Home on Bluesky

Many SEO professionals, publishers, and developers are now using Bluesky. They like the platform’s features and high engagement, which support discussions and knowledge sharing.

Bluesky is more accommodating towards links compared to X. A company representative stated:

“We want Bluesky to be a great home for journalists, publishers, and creators. Unlike other platforms, we don’t de-promote your links. Post all the links you want — Bluesky is a lobby to the open web.”

This contrasts with a recent statement from Elon Musk, who didn’t deny claims that X demotes posts with links in them.

Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2024

Bluesky’s algorithm could help SEO-related content get more visibility. Unlike X, where posts can disappear quickly, Bluesky’s decentralized system and focus on user control allow SEO content to stay visible longer and reach a bigger audience.

Bluesky also offers “starter packs” and curated feeds, making it easy to join industry conversations in real-time.

Looking Ahead

Bluesky could become a preferred social network for SEO professionals, offering space to share website content without losing engagement.

It’s important to watch how Bluesky develops and grows to see if it can replace X as the main platform for the SEO community.

You can take advantage of this platform’s opportunities by staying updated and adapting to changes.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/NasShots

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Nov 11 2024

140 Social Sharing Sites That Boost SEO & Drive Traffic via @sejournal, @jonleeclark

Thankfully, every so often, a tool comes along that makes the complex world of search engine optimization a bit more manageable.

Social bookmarking sites are one of these tools that can be your new best friend in the SEO landscape.

Why are they so crucial? Simple: They’re powerhouses for building links, which are vital for SEO success.

Think of social bookmarking sites as your personal digital librarian. They let users discover, categorize, and store webpages all in one place using virtual “bookmarks.”

Social media platforms like Pinterest have revolutionized how we think about social bookmarking, proving themselves as essential tools in any marketer’s toolkit.

And it’s not just about generating any links; it’s about crafting quality connections that boost your visibility on search engines.

Sure, most of these links are nofollowed. However, the traffic and visibility they bring can catapult your site to the front page of search results.

But remember, there’s more to it than just links. Search engines use these sites to gauge the relevance and value of content. So, while you’re getting your name out there, you’re also building credibility and authority.

If you’re curious about which sites to start with, this guide has you covered.

Take a look at my list of the top 140 social bookmarking sites that are perfect for getting your content noticed and shared.

My Top 24 Social Sites (In No Particular Order)

1. X

X (formerly Twitter), despite what you may have heard, is still huge. In fact, the platform has over 500 million monthly active users.

While it might not be the first site that pops into your mind for submitting content, it has a large audience and is an efficient platform for posting.

Many people use it to post links, content, and images that they find interesting and worthy of a revisit in the future.

2. Pinterest

As the quintessential social bookmarking site, Pinterest has an average monthly user base of 498 million, roughly 72.6 percent of whom are female.

Furthermore, users are pinning over 1.5 billion Pins per week to more than 10 billion Pinterest boards.

3. Mix

In June 2018, the popular discovery platform StumbleUpon became Mix.

Mix lets you experience the internet as curated by machine learning, editors, or publishers.

You can also tag content that you liked, in particular, to share with others.

4. Slack

Slack is a group messaging program that provides users with customizable channels in which chats can occur.

You can also create private groups, and have direct messaging. I, personally, have found tremendous value in groups like The SEO Community and The SEO for Journalism groups.

In 2022, Slack had an estimated 35 million users.

5. Notion Community

Notion Community is a platform for users of Notion, the all-in-one workspace for note-taking, project management, and data organization.

The community allows users to share templates, setup tips, and best practices on using Notion effectively.

It’s perfect for productivity enthusiasts, project managers, and anyone interested in personal or professional organization.

This community helps individuals improve their workflow while connecting with others who use and customize Notion in innovative ways.

6. Pocket

Appropriately named, when you put something in your Pocket, it’s there to be found later.

Users of Pocket can hold onto anything they find on the internet or through various apps.

Bonus points for the fact that once something’s in your Pocket, you don’t need an internet connection to access it.

7. Digg

Got great content?

Then it belongs to Digg.

Digg is an addictive social bookmarking site that’s perfect for sharing your captivating content with a highly engaged audience.

8. Folkd

The Folkd bookmarking site contains a unique social search feature that works much like a typical search engine, except the results don’t come from a complex, machine-driven system of analytics.

Instead, top results display quality content that Folkd users have bookmarked.

The more saves a piece gets, the higher its rank in their social search, which helps connect their visitors with even more quality content.

9. Reddit

What can’t be found on Reddit?

Users generate threads that can then be commented on, upvoted, or downvoted, and it is a great tool when you’re looking to quickly promote content, generate content ideas, or get answers to a question.

It’s also now one of Google’s key AI training data sets.

10. Fark

One of Fark’s best attributes is their commitment to quality.

As a social networking news site, Fark receives mountains of submissions on a daily basis but presents only the best to their audience.

This site isn’t for wimpy, weak content.

But, if you’re ready to showcase your talent and drive traffic to your own site, Fark is the way to go.

11. BizSugar

If you’ve got content about startups, marketing, and the world of small business, then BizSugar is the social bookmarking site that will help build your reputation and brand authority in a growing community of like-minded small business professionals.

12. Slashdot

Slashdot is the ultimate bookmarking site for tech geeks and the techie at heart.

Users of Slashdot submit and share content on gaming, cloud computing, computer hardware, security management, and more.

13. We Heart It

While users can submit and bookmark different types of content, We Heart It is heavily visual.

The app is nice to look at, easy to use, and inspirational – especially for anyone who loves great imagery.

14. Scoop.It

This site, aimed toward professionals, offers solutions for content creation, content curation, predictive analysis, and content intelligence.

Scoop.It offers four different platforms – a free version for individuals, as well as three paid options: Pro, Plus, and Enterprise.

15. Elpha

Elpha is a social network tailored specifically for women in the tech industry, providing a space for networking, job opportunities, and sharing insights.

It’s designed to empower women by connecting them with peers and mentors, facilitating professional growth in a supportive community.

16. Diigo

Diigo is the ultimate social bookmarking site for academic types.

Educators, students, researchers, and anyone with an inquisitive mind love the features that make keeping track of their resources and sharing them easy.

Diigo is perfect for content that’s focused on statistics, analytics, or research of any industry.

17. BibSonomy

Granted, not many businesses publish scientific material as part of their marketing strategy.

But, for those who do, BibSonomy is a premier social bookmarking site for businesses and academic types to collect, share, and collaborate with the most recent, highly relevant research-based material.

18. Instagram

Instagram is one of the world’s most popular apps for photo, video, and live video sharing.

It’s the world’s fourth most-used social media platform, with over 2 billion monthly users.

The largest demographic on Instagram is 18 to 24-year-olds, representing 30.8% of users.

Furthermore, the average time spent on Instagram is 33 minutes per day.

19. Pearltrees

There’s a simplicity to Pearltrees that makes it a favorite among users who love to create collections of their favorite things.

Pearltrees offers functionality and a platform that makes it easy to share and gather new content.

20. DZone

DZone is one of the preferred social bookmarking sites for software developers around the world.

Each day, thousands of developers come to the site to learn, share, and read about the latest technologies and trends in the world of software development.

21. Medium

Typically used to share personal, original stories, Larry Kim has shown just how successful Medium can be for repurposing content.

22. SlideShare

While some claim SlideShare is on its way out, if you’ve created an amazing keynote or PowerPoint presentation, you’re going to want to repurpose that on SlideShare.

23. Quora

Not only a great research tool for Q&A content brainstorming, but Quora is a question-and-answer based site filled with a wide range of topics to discuss and follow.

24. Facebook Groups

A Facebook Group is a closed or open community within Facebook where users can post content ranging from links to events and questions.

As of August 2022, 1.8 billion people used Facebook Groups, and there were over 10 million groups on Facebook.

69 More For Good Measure

Here are 69 more social bookmarking sites for you to leverage in your SEO strategy.

A few of these you’ll be familiar with because they’re already insanely popular, but there are also plenty of lesser-known sites on the list.

25. Facebook

Facebook is arguably the most popular social network in the world.

Despite changes to how Facebook’s algorithm diminishes organic reach, it can still be a major source of traffic for posted content.

26. Flipboard

Flipboard curates the world’s stories you can focus on investing in yourself, stay informed, and get involved.

27. Feedly

Feedly is the most popular RSS blog reader, with more than 15 million users, and acts as a news aggregator for various web browsers and mobile devices.

28. Pinboard

Pinboard is a plainly designed social bookmarking website “for people who value privacy and speed.”

It focuses on the personal management of bookmarks using tags to organize them.

29. Instapaper

Instapaper is touted as the simplest way to save and store articles for reading offline, on-the-go, anytime, anywhere.

30. Untappd

Untappd caters to beer enthusiasts, providing a platform to rate beers, check into locations, and see where friends are drinking.

It combines social networking with user reviews, making it valuable for discovering new beers and venues.

31. LinkaGoGo

LinkaGoGo has been around since 2001.

It allows you to view bookmarks using dynamic bookmark toolbars.

32. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a 500 million+ member social network designed to build and engage with your professional network.

33. Disqus

Disqus is a global comment system that improves discussion on websites and connects conversations across the web.

34. Listly

Listly helps bloggers and publishers engage readers by viral top 10 lists created by the community.

35. Tumblr

Tumblr, the popular “microblogging” network, allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog.

36. ArtStation

ArtStation is the hotspot for digital artists and illustrators to showcase their portfolios.

If you’re into game design, concept art, or just love browsing incredible creations, this is your scene.

37. Dotnetkicks

Dotnetkicks is a community-based news site edited by the community that specializes in .NET development techniques, technologies, and tools.

38. Pixiv

Pixiv is a Japanese online community where artists showcase their illustrations, manga, and novels.

It’s big on creativity and perfect for anyone looking to dive into anime-style art.

39. TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing service that allows users to share videos that are 3 to 60 seconds long.

The app is credited largely with the success of many celebrities whose reach extends beyond the app and into the mainstream.

As of publishing, TikTok boasts 800 million users.

40. Ko-fi

Think of Ko-fi as a friendly tip jar for creators.

Whether you’re an artist, writer, or podcaster, you can receive support directly from your fans with a simple “Buy me a coffee” button.

41. FilmFreeway

FilmFreeway makes it easy for filmmakers to submit their films to hundreds of festivals all over the world.

It’s the go-to platform for indie creators looking to promote their work and for film buffs seeking the next big thing.

42. EyeEm

EyeEm is a global photography community and marketplace.

It’s perfect for budding photographers looking to showcase their work, connect with peers, and even sell their images to brands and publishers.

43. SocialBookmarkNow

SocialBookmarkNow is a social bookmarking site that boasts “instant approval” for submitted content.

44. Academia.edu

Academia.edu is a platform specifically tailored for academics and researchers to share research papers across a multitude of disciplines.

Users can follow each other’s work, update their profiles with new findings, and even track the impact of their publications.

It’s a valuable resource for enhancing visibility in the academic community and improving citations, which is beneficial for SEO in academic and educational content.

45. TechDirt

TechDirt is an online news blog that allows users to post their own stories.

46. AllTrails

AllTrails is a niche social network for outdoor enthusiasts, offering detailed information on trails around the world, including user reviews, photos, and trail maps.

Users can record their hikes, share their favorite trails, and provide updates about trail conditions.

It’s ideal for brands in the outdoor, travel, and fitness industries to connect with a highly engaged audience.

47. Houzz

Houzz is a platform for home remodeling and design, bringing homeowners and home professionals together in a uniquely visual community.

Here, professionals can showcase their portfolios, share design ideas, and connect with potential clients.

It’s a great tool for architects, interior designers, and contractors to enhance their SEO through project photos and customer reviews.

48. MetaFilter

MetaFilter is a community weblog that anyone can contribute a link or comment on.

49. Care.com

Care.com connects people with caregivers for children, seniors, and pets.

It allows caregivers to create profiles, post services, and gather reviews, which helps build their online presence and trustworthiness.

It’s also beneficial for service providers in the care sector to increase visibility and SEO through client interactions and endorsements.

50. Steemit

This is a blogging and social media website that gifts users with its cryptocurrency, STEEM, for publishing and curating content.

51. Bookmarkfeeds

Bookmarkfeeds allows users to submit article bookmarks from anywhere in the world.

52. BookmarkMaps

BookmarkMaps is a bookmarking service that allows members to submit articles and share the most-voted content to social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

53. Leavemark

Leavemark, launched in 2020, is an ad-free data storage and social media app that lets you save videos and photos and share them later.

The app features a time and space capsule option that allows information to be released in increments of 2 weeks, 2 months, 10 years, or when the recipient is within proximity of a given place.

There is also direct messaging, a newsfeed, and a family tree feature that allows you to preserve information for future family members.

54. Fabric

Fabric is like VH1’s Pop-Up Video but in real life (IRL).

It’s an augmented reality (AR) app that allows you to see people’s commentary on things within your immediate proximity.

You can comment on that commentary and start a virtual, and potentially in real life (IRL), conversation.

55. Vero

Vero is a social media app designed to compete with the one-two punch of Facebook and Instagram.

Vero boasts that it doesn’t sell data, features no ads, and uses no algorithms.

Instead, users select who gets to see their posts, and posts appear chronologically.

You can share suggestions for music, books, films, and more.

You can also shop within the app for any recommendations that you find particularly striking.

56. Caffeine

Caffeine is a platform that streams live content that you can interact with, including gaming, sports, and music.

57. Twitch

Twitch is a video streaming service owned by Amazon.

The platform focuses primarily on live video game streaming, but also includes e-sport competitions, music broadcasts, and other forms of creative content.

As of January 2024, Twitch had approximately 8.36 million active streamers.

58. Bluesky

Previously invite-only, Bluesky was started by Jack Dorsey as a project within X (Twitter) to explore decentralized social media.

It was eventually spun off into its own entity, built on an open protocol called the AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol), which allows for interoperability between different services and platforms.

The network has seen explosive growth recently, given its similarities to X (Twitter). As of September 2024, Bluesky has over 7.6 million users.

59. Threads

Threads is a social media platform developed by Meta (formerly Facebook) and launched in July 2023.

It is closely integrated with Instagram, allowing users to sign in using their Instagram credentials and follow the same accounts.

Threads was created as a microblogging platform similar to X, allowing users to post short text updates, share photos and videos, and engage in threaded conversations.

Threads was positioned as an alternative to X, particularly after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. This led to some changes in the platform that left certain users dissatisfied.

However, Threads has gained traction with a focus on simplicity and familiar functionality for those used to Instagram.

60. BuzzCast

BuzzCast is a newer global social community for young and active people to meet new friends, find dates, and form meaningful connections quickly.

61. Masterminds

Mastermind is a social media platform for coordinating goal-oriented video chats with like-minded individuals.

The aim is to benefit from each other’s shared experience, encouragement, comradery, and accountability.

62. Triller

Triller is a social media video app where you film yourself lip-syncing, dancing, or both.

Triller’s editing algorithm then goes to work to edit your video for you based on audio and facial analyses.

63. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is an encrypted messaging service that allows you to send text and audio messages, make video and phone calls, share media, and send each other locations.

WhatsApp currently has 2 billion monthly users worldwide.

64. Tagged

Tagged is a social discovery platform that lets you browse the profiles of any members and share tags and virtual gifts.

65. Wattpad

Wattpad is a platform that services user-generated stories.

As of 2018, Watpad has 400 million stories and over 65 million users who spend over 15 billion minutes on the app each month.

66. Badoo

Badoo is a social networking website meant to facilitate friendship, romantic relationships, or just brief conversations.

You can search based on who’s nearby, use a more specific geographic search, use a Tinder-type feature where you swipe left or right, and have the option of video chatting as well.

Users are verified by uploading a photo of themselves in a specific pose that’s then verified by a moderator. People can also request selfies to confirm an identity.

Since launching in 2006, Badoo has had 425 million members.

67. Bubbly

Bubbly is an app that allows users to record voice blogs for upwards of 90 seconds to subscribe to the voice blogs of others.

Currently, you can apply voice filters, effects, and background music to the posts.

68. Cellufun

Cellufun is a social program that lets users play games together and comment anonymously using avatars.

69. Classmates

Classmates.com is a social media platform that allows users to make and search profiles, post and view notes, view other profiles and their photos, browse digital yearbook collections, and gain access to reunion planning tools.

70. Dropout

Dropout is an internet comedy company that, in addition to creating original content, allows for user-submitted videos, pictures, articles, and links.

71. Discord

Discord is an instant messaging software that allows you to communicate via text, image, video, and voice.

As of January 2024, Discord has 196.2 million active users.

72. GIPHY

Giphy is an online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound, which resemble animated GIF files.

It is believed to have 1.7 billion daily users on both its app and website.

73. Imgur

Imgur is an image-sharing community and image host.

Many popular viral images and memes are hosted by Imgur and are used by Reddit to share images across the platform.

74. LINE

Line is a messaging service that lets users communicate using smartphones, tablet devices, and PCs.

Text, images, video, audio, and free VoIP calls and video conferences are all available.

Line also has a digital wallet called Line Pay, a news stream called Line Today, a video-on-demand service known as Line TV, and two digital comic services known as Line Manga and Line Webtoon.

Line is one of the most used apps in Japan, with over 88% of the population using it.

75. Mastodon

Mastodon is a decentralized social network offering an ad-free, open-source environment similar to Twitter.

Users can join servers that best fit their interests and engage in discussions or share media.

It’s an excellent alternative for creating content streams that can improve SEO by fostering community interactions and content sharing.

76. LiveJournal

LiveJournal is a social networking platform where people keep diaries. LiveJournal’s highest recorded number of users is 2.5 million.

77. MeetMe

MeetMe is a mix between a social media platform and a dating app.

Meetme works by verifying and populating your profile with data from Facebook.

You’re then shown users nearby who you have the opportunity to chat with and even arrange an in-person meeting.

MeetMe claims to have over 100 million users.

78. MocoSpace

Inspired by Myspace, MocoSpace is a mobile social network that includes games, chat, instant messaging, eCars, and photos.

MocoSpace has over 100 million registered users.

79. Myspace

Between 2005 and 2008, Myspace was the biggest social networking platform in the world, catering to over 100 million users per month.

The most recent statistics available for 2019 show that MySpace had 7 million monthly visitors.

80. Open Diary

Open Diary is an online diary community similar to LiveJournal and Xanga.

81. Skype

Skype is a popular video chat software that lets users communicate via audio, video, or text.

You can also send images, videos, files, and more.

More than 40 million people use Skype every day, with over 300 million active monthly users on the platform.

82. Telegram

Telegram is a chat app available for both desktop and mobile users.

The mobile version features encryption.

You can also send photos, videos, stickers, audio, and files.

As of 2024, Telegram has reached over 800 million monthly active users.

83. Tribe

Tribe is a social messaging app.

You can record and send messages to your friends just by holding your finger on their photo and then releasing it.

You can also create groups to send videos to several recipients at once.

Once the video is tapped and viewed, it disappears.

84. Viber

Viber is a software that allows for VoIP and instant messaging-based communications.

Users are verified by their cell phone. The app can also be used on desktops.

Viber gives users the opportunity to trade images and videos, as well as access to a paid international dedicated video and phone service called Viber Out.

Viber records having over a billion users.

85. Vimeo

Vimeo is a video hosting platform.

Vimeo is ad-free and instead derives its income by providing hosting plans to content producers and tools for video creation, editing, etc.

Vimeo also helps professionals connect with one another, with over 287 million creatives using the platform.

86. WatZatSong

WatZatSong is a community for music lovers where users can help each other identify songs.

Participants post a clip of a song they are trying to identify, and the community pitches in to help figure it out.

It’s an excellent platform for engaging with a music-focused audience and can be a fun way to drive traffic to sites related to music and entertainment.

87. Dropmark

Dropmark is a collaborative sharing tool.

You collect files, drag them into your browser to upload, and then share that collection with a group or individual of your choosing.

88. Droplr

Droplr allows you to take your screenshots or screen recordings, upload them to the cloud, and then share them with anyone.

89. Zight

Zight allows you to share screenshots or screen recordings.

Using its Instant Video feature, users can broadcast screen recordings instantaneously.

90. ePHOTOzine

ePHOTOzine is an online photography magazine offering a social networking platform for photographers to upload photos, participate in contests, and write reviews.

It’s a great space for photographers to improve their SEO by showcasing their work and engaging with a community of like-minded individuals.

91. Patreon

Patreon is an American membership-based platform that provides creators with the means to maintain subscription-based content.

Creators include video makers, podcasters, artists, writers, adult content creators, and more.

There are over 228,000 creators with at least one Patreon. Over the past two years, the number of creators has grown by 20%.

92. OnlyFans

OnlyFan is a content subscription service akin to Pateron that is particularly popular among the adult entertainment industry and fitness experts.

Creators receive funding based on subscriptions, tips, and pay-per-view events.

As of 2022, OnlyFan had over 3,100,000 content creators!

93. Substack

Substack is a platform that allows creators to have paid email newsletters.

Substack provides a content management system to create email newsletters, a way of collecting payments using Stripe, and a website that can provide free or paid-for content.

Don’t Forget The Music/Audio Social Sites

94. Datpiff

DatPiff is an online distribution platform focusing on hip-hop, rap, and R&B.

Basically, DatPiff is the modern-day equivalent of the sort of mixtapes or mix CDs fledgling artists would distribute with the hopes of having their music exposed to a larger audience.

95. Last.FM

Last.FM is a social media platform that follows users’ listening habits to create custom playlists.

Last.FM can gather data from popular music streaming apps, internet radio stations, or the user’s own desktop or mobile devices.

96. SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an audio distribution and music-sharing platform.

The platform would go on to have over 140 million registered users worldwide.

It has launched the careers of many professional and wildly successful musicians.

97. ReverbNation

ReverbNation is a website where musicians, producers, and venues collaborate and communicate.

98. Bandcamp

Bandcamp is an audio distribution platform.

Artists and labels upload their content to Bandcamp and then set how it’s sold, for how much, in what format, and can sell merch or physical media as well.

Plus, 20 Even More Niche Social Sharing Sites

99. Dribble

The go-to bookmarking site for creative types, especially designers.

If you like to explore graphic and visual design, or you have someone on your team who does, Dribble is a great spot to get some SEO backlink action.

100. Meetup

Meetup uses online groups to coordinate in-person meetings based on people’s shared interests.

Meetup has more than 60 million registered users.

101. Weed Life

Weed Life is a social network built for cannabis enthusiasts.

102. Nextdoor

Nextdoor is a social media platform that allows you to connect with people in your neighborhood.

You have to submit your real name and address (your street name without your unit number).

It’s currently available in 11 countries.

Only other members of your neighborhood can see your posts.

Nextdoor has 285,000 active neighborhoods and serves over 10 million users.

103. DeviantArt

DeviantArt is an online community where people share artwork, videos, and photography.

Most recent stats show that the site has over 26 million members and 251 million submissions.

Art can be browsed by categories such as type, operating system customization utilities, skins for applications, and more.

104. Goodreads

Goodreads is a social network where people post about and review books.

Users also have the option of creating groups based on suggestions, surveys, polls, blogs, and discussions.

On a yearly basis, users vote in the Goodreads Choice Awards based on books nominated by Goodreads as well as user suggestions.

As of 2022, Goodreads has more than 140 million members around the world.

105. CouchSurfing

CouchSurfing is a social networking platform that allows users to coordinate lodging and meetings or join and create events.

106. RunKeeper

Runkeeper is a fitness-tracking app that uses GPS to map your workouts.

Some activities include walking, running, and cycling.

Runkeeper has over 51.2 million users. You can share your workouts with others and the Runkeeper community as well.

107. Care2

Care2 is a social media platform that connects people based on the activist causes that they’re passionate about.

Care2 currently has over 63 million members and 2,750 nonprofit partners, has created nearly 457,000 petitions, and has accrued over 1.2 billion signatures.

108. eToro

eToro is a social trading platform and multi-asset brokerage company that offers financial and copy trading services.

Users are able to follow, view, and even recreate the practices of top traders on the platform.

As of 2024, eToro has over 35 million users.

109. Gaia Online

Gaia Online is an anime-themed social network and forum-based platform.

110. Italki

Italki is a platform that connects language learners to teachers using video chat.

Teachers earn money as freelance tutors.

111. Ravelry

Ravelry is a social networking service for people interested in knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving, and other similar activities.

Users share projects, ideas, and their collections of yarns, fiber, and tools.

Ravelry has over 9 million registered users and roughly 1 million monthly active users.

112. The Dots

The Dots is a social networking program for creative professionals (writers, illustrators, videographers, etc.).

Members get to network, connect, collaborate, and be inspired by the individuals, teams, and brands with profiles.

113. BakeSpace

BakeSpace is a food-focused social networking site for sharing recipes, creating cookbooks, and meeting other food enthusiasts.

Users can exchange recipes, collaborate on cookbooks, and discuss cooking tips.

It’s a delicious way to connect with others who share a passion for cooking and can help food bloggers and brands boost their SEO through content sharing and interaction.

114. Strava

Strava is a social network for athletes, particularly runners and cyclists.

It tracks user activity via GPS, allowing members to share their workouts, compete with each other, and follow friends’ activities.

It’s excellent for motivation and community building among fitness enthusiasts.

115. MyHeritage

MyHeritage is a platform that allows users to create family trees, upload and browse photos, and search through over 9 billion historical records.

116. Viadeo

Viadeo is a professional social networking platform that connects business owners, entrepreneurs, and managers.

117. Yelp

Yelp is a crowdsourced review-based website that provides business ratings.

It also partners with a reservation service called Yelp Reservations.

Yelp has over 265 million reviews.

118. Letterboxd

Letterboxd is a social networking service that focuses on sharing reviews and adoration for film.

Users can keep a diary to track their opinions, films watched, and make lists. Users can also interact with one another.

Last But Not Least, 12 International Social Sharing Sites

119. FilmAffinity

Registered users can rate, find, and create lists of movies.

In the Spanish version of the site, it’s possible to write reviews.

In Spain, which is the platform’s country of origin, there are 3 million unique users.

120. Kuaishou

Kuaishou is a Chinese video-sharing app.

It’s known as “Snack” video in China and “Kwai” in other markets.

Kuaishou is used to create short videos that capture the everyday experiences of its users.

At the end of 2022, Kuaishou’s daily active users sat at 355.7 million.

121. Mixi

Mixi is a Japanese social networking service.

Its focus is on connecting with others based on shared interests.

Users can send messages, keep a blog, read and comment on other people’s blogs, set up and join communities, and invite friends.

Registration is confirmed using a valid Japanese cell phone number.

122. Qzone

Qzone is a social networking platform centered in China.

It lets users keep blogs, send photos, listen to music, and watch videos.

Statistics show that there are over 600 million active users on Qzone.

123. Sina Weibo

Sina Weibo is a Chinese microblogging site akin to Tumblr. Users can upload videos and pictures for instant or extended sharing.

Users can then comment via text, video, or pictures.

There’s also an instant messaging service.

In 2017, the platform reported it had over 290 million registered users.

124. CaringBridge

A health-focused social networking site, CaringBridge helps people stay connected with their family and friends during significant health challenges.

It offers personal, protected sites where users can share updates, receive messages of support, and coordinate help.

125. Tencent QQ

Tencent QQ, known as QQ, is an instant messaging program and web portal in China.

It provides online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and group and voice chat.

126. VK

VK is a Russian social networking platform. VK facilitates both private and public messaging, groups, public pages, and events.

With VK, you can also share and tag images, audio, and video. There are browser-based games as well.

As of May 2021, VK had 656,000,000+ users.

127. WeChat

WeChat is a Chinese-developed platform that allows for messaging, social media, and mobile payment.

In China, the app has been called the “app for everything.” As of 2019, WeChat had roughly 1 billion active users.

128. XING

Xing is a Hamburg-based social networking site for professionals primarily focused on the German-speaking market.

As of the end of December 2023, Xing reported that it reached 1.3 billion monthly active members.

129. YY

YY is a Chinese-based video social network that has its own virtual currency.

The currency is paid to people who create content ranging from karaoke videos to tutorials. The currency can later be exchanged for real money.

The platform also streams concerts, fashion, and sporting events. Users can chat as well. As of November 2019, YY had 157.8 million monthly active users.

130. Douban

Douban is a Chinese social networking platform that allows users to document information and create content about movies, books, TV, activities in China, and more.

Douban has 60 million registered users and 150 million unregistered visitors.

Registered users get recommendations and add them to other social networking options; unregistered users get reviews and ratings of media.

10 Bonus Social Sharing Sites

131. Blender Artists Community

Blender Artists Community is a vibrant network for users of Blender, the open-source 3D content-creation suite.

Members share projects, get feedback, and find tutorials.

It’s perfect for 3D artists looking to improve their skills, showcase their portfolio, and boost their presence in the 3D modeling community.

132. PixelFederation

PixelFederation is a community for gamers and game developers.

It provides a platform to discuss game development, share projects, and connect with other gaming enthusiasts.

This site is excellent for developers looking to increase visibility and engage with a community passionate about gaming.

133. GrowthHackers

GrowthHackers offers a hub where users can share and discuss strategies for growth, marketing, and scaling businesses.

Content ranges from articles to case studies, making it ideal for marketers and entrepreneurs interested in cutting-edge tactics for driving business growth.

134. Travello

Travello is a social network for travelers, providing a platform to share experiences, discover new adventures, and meet fellow travelers.

Its features include arranging meetups and sharing travel tips and photos, making it a valuable tool for travel bloggers and agencies to increase their reach.

135. Plantix

Plantix is a network for gardening and agriculture enthusiasts.

Users can diagnose plant diseases, share gardening tips, and discuss best practices in crop cultivation.

136. Kaggle

Kaggle is a platform for data scientists and analysts to explore and publish data sets, compete in competitions, and collaborate on projects.

This community is crucial for professionals looking to build their reputations and collaborate on data-driven projects, enhancing their visibility in the tech and scientific communities.

137. Threadless

Threadless is a community-driven site featuring user-designed t-shirts, hoodies, and prints.

Artists submit designs, which users vote on; the top-rated designs are then made into apparel.

It’s a fantastic way for graphic designers and artists to gain exposure and have their work featured on merchandise.

138. Dogster (And Catster)

Dogster and Catster are social networks for pet owners, offering a place to share photos, care tips, and pet stories.

139. Archilovers

Archilovers is a social network for architects, designers, and architecture enthusiasts.

It allows users to share projects, find design inspiration, and connect with other professionals.

140. Spiceworks

Spiceworks is a professional network for the IT community.

It combines community discussions, software tools, and a marketplace where IT professionals can exchange knowledge, tools, and services.

Harness The Power Of Social Bookmarking To Amplify Your Online Presence

Exploring the digital landscape like this reveals just how expansive it truly is!

Every business, including yours, competes to stand out and thrive online.

Effective digital marketing isn’t just about using any tools; it’s about using the right tools. Social bookmarking is one of these powerful tools, essential for building and enhancing your brand’s online visibility.

Remember, achieving success online is a collective effort. Social bookmarking connects you to a broader community, helping you engage with your audience and expand your reach.

Start incorporating social bookmarking into your strategy today and watch your digital presence grow.

More resources:

Featured Image: tovovan/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments

Nov 4 2024

Making Social Media & SEO Work Together via @sejournal, @krisjonescom

The synergy between social media and SEO is critical in modern digital marketing.

As a seasoned SEO professional with 26 years of experience, I’ve observed how recent developments – such as the Google algorithm updates and the rise of Artificial Intelligence Optimization (AIO) – have reshaped the interplay between social media and search engine optimization.

Understanding this dynamic is essential for businesses aiming to enhance their online visibility and connect with their target audience effectively.

In this article, we’ll explore how social media can significantly boost your SEO efforts.

We’ll delve into practical examples, consider the impact of recent industry changes, and provide up-to-date references to help you navigate this complex landscape.

The Evolving Relationship Between Social Media And SEO

A Brief History And Recent Developments

Historically, the connection between social media and SEO has been nuanced.

While Google has consistently stated that social signals (likes, shares, comments) are not direct ranking factors, the indirect benefits are undeniable.

The Google leak of 2024, which unveiled insights into the search giant’s algorithmic considerations, highlighted the growing importance of user engagement metrics – many of which are influenced by social media activity.

Moreover, the introduction of AIO has further intertwined social media with SEO.

AIO leverages AI to optimize content and user experiences across platforms, including social media.

With AI algorithms now better at understanding content context and user intent, the lines between social media engagement and SEO performance are blurring.

The Impact of AI And Algorithm Updates On Social Signals

Google’s advancements in AI, particularly with the BERT and MUM algorithms, have enhanced the search engine’s ability to interpret natural language and user intent.

These developments mean that content shared on social media – especially when it generates significant engagement – can influence how search engines perceive and rank your website indirectly.

For instance, a viral social media post can lead to increased brand searches on Google, which is a positive signal to the search engine about your brand’s authority and relevance.

Additionally, AI-powered tools now analyze social media trends to inform SEO strategies, making social media an indispensable component of SEO planning.

How Social Media Helps SEO

1. Amplifying Content Reach And Engagement

Social media platforms serve as powerful amplifiers for your content, extending its reach beyond your website’s regular audience.

By actively sharing and promoting your content on these platforms, you tap into a vast network of potential readers, customers, and influencers who can engage with and spread your message further.

Example: Imagine you’ve published a comprehensive guide on sustainable living on your website. By sharing this guide on your social media platforms, you expose it to a broader audience who may not have found it through search engines alone. If your post gains traction – receiving shares, comments, and likes – it can drive substantial traffic to your site.

Recent Changes: With the rise of short-form video content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, sharing snippets or highlights of your content can entice users to visit your website for the full version. These platforms’ algorithms favor engaging content, increasing the likelihood of your content reaching a wider audience.

2. Enhancing Link Building Opportunities

Backlinks remain a cornerstone of SEO, signaling to search engines that your content is valuable and authoritative.

Social media can be a catalyst for earning these backlinks by exposing your content to individuals and organizations that may link to it from their own websites or blogs.

Example: A tech startup publishes an insightful article about emerging technologies. By promoting this article on LinkedIn, industry professionals may notice and reference it in their own blogs or articles, creating valuable backlinks.

Recent Changes: Google has provided guidance that focusing too much on links can be a distraction from what matters most to your audience. While links are still important, engagement with your content is becoming a key metric of effectiveness. Social media is an excellent way to both encourage and measure engagement with your content. A strong social media strategy encourages the most valuable types of links: earned links based on content that resonates with your audience.

3. Social Profiles In SERPs And Brand Visibility

Your social media profiles are extensions of your brand and can occupy prominent positions in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Optimizing these profiles not only strengthens your online presence but also provides additional pathways for users to discover and engage with your brand.

In recent updates, Google emphasizes results from user-generated content on Reddit so being present in relevant conversations and managing your brand on social platforms is becoming more critical to your SEO strategy.

Example: When users search for your brand, your social media profiles can appear alongside your website in the search results, occupying more real estate on the SERP and increasing your brand’s visibility.

Recent Changes: With Google’s continuous updates, there is a greater emphasis on providing users with comprehensive information. Social media profiles often appear in the knowledge panel or as rich results, offering users direct access to your latest updates and engagement opportunities.

4. Building Brand Trust and Authority

In a crowded digital marketplace, establishing trust and authority is essential.

Social media allows you to showcase your expertise, engage authentically with your audience, and build a community around your brand – all of which contribute to a stronger, more trustworthy online presence.

Example: A financial advisor regularly shares expert insights on X (Twitter), engaging with followers’ questions and discussions. This consistent presence builds credibility, encouraging users to visit their website for more in-depth information.

Recent Changes: The integration of user-generated content and reviews on social media platforms can influence public perception. Google considers brand reputation in its E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness) criteria, and a strong social media presence contributes to this.

Conclusion

Social media and SEO are more interconnected than ever.

The evolution of Google’s algorithms and the advent of AI optimization have amplified the impact social media can have on your SEO efforts.

By strategically leveraging social platforms to share content, engage with your audience, and build brand authority, you indirectly boost your search engine rankings.

Remember, while social media signals may not be direct ranking factors, the ripple effects – such as increased traffic, enhanced backlink opportunities, and improved brand perception – play a significant role in your overall SEO performance.

Embrace the synergy between social media and SEO to stay ahead in this dynamic environment.

By integrating these strategies into your digital marketing plan, you’ll not only enhance your SEO efforts but also build a more robust and engaged online presence.

Stay informed about the latest developments, and don’t hesitate to adapt your approach as the digital landscape continues to evolve.

More resources:

Featured Image: gonin/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments