Endless Social Media Options

"Snapchat Marketing: A Beginner's Guide" by Dominique Jackson points out some great ideas for business to consider when choosing their social media network:

Right now, Snapchat is viewed as the underground social media app for young people. Despite the fact the app has more than 100 million daily active users that send over 400 million snaps every day, Snapchat hasn't reached the mainstream level of networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram just yet. The app is wildly popular among millennials, but older generations haven't caught on quite yet.

Snapchat is Different

It is unlike any social networking app. The main feature is the time constraint put on the content you share. Content should be different than what you use for Facebook or Twitter.

Snapchat is Fun

This platform is great for humanizing your brand. Users want to be entertained by the unique content you share.

Snapchat Marketing Ideas

• Offer Discounts & Coupons
• Build Anticipation
• Giveaways
• Tell Stories
• Combine Video & Images

Snapchat has recently provided a great platform and opportunity for businesses to team up with them by having a constant presence available for consumers. For example, ESPN has connected with Snapchat and constantly has videos and images for individuals to view at their convenience. I know as a consumer myself, this is a great advertising tool and I find myself viewing and anticipating what these businesses are going to post.

Kristin Hodgkinson gives great examples in her article "How Brands Are Winning With Vine Videos: 10 Examples" of businesses that made successful advertisements with Vine. Here are five of them:

#1: Dunkin' Donuts' Super Bowl Vine

#2: M&C Saatchi Sydney's "Quit"

This is an anti-smoking campaign. The six-second Vine simply reads, "Before this video restarts, another smoker will die."

#3: Sony's "Inception" Vine

This Vine from Sony is a play on the popular movie Inception. The ad whisks viewers inside the frame of the phone, into the phone inside that phone and then back again. The infinite loop of this ad is the kind of mind-boggling stuff people love.

#4: Adidas' World Cup Soccer Balls

This Vine shows the evolution of the World Cup soccer balls from the 1970 design that debuted in Mexico, right up to this year's polychrome ball that hurtled around the stadiums in Brazil.

#5: Disney's "Show Your Disney Side" Competition

Disney initiated a Vine-based competition called Show Your Disney Side. They invited Disney fans to get creative with the Vine app and submit a video that reflects their true devotion to the brand.

In watching these videos, I could see how much of an impact businesses can make on their potential customers. Vine is growing and would be a great spot to plant your business for marketing.

Thanks to the article "Getting Started On Periscope For Entrepreneurs", we are educated on what exactly Periscope is and resources for how to get started:

Periscope, the live streaming app, has hit the social media marketing world in a big way recently. Because it is so new, marketers are still experimenting with the app and reporting back what is working and what isn't.

Medium is a simple simple blogging platform with no complicated new publishing tool to learn, and no widgets to master. "3 New Blogging Platforms You Should Consider Using" mentions that this new blogging network pushes to focus on the content, not the call to action or the buttons or video player. This is a great area for business professionals looking to attract a new audience.