How Industry-Specific Social Media Helps Digital Marketers
What is Industry-Specific Social Media?
We all know the big players in social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. They gained their immense popularity because of their ability to connect like-minded people across the world.
With a click of a button, you can find others who also ate avocado toast this morning. Or who gave a review on that movie you watched last week. Or you can follow Pinterest boards that perfectly encapsulate the French rustic aesthetic of your dream house. But why stop there?
In recent years, other types of social media have popped onto the scene, and businesses are using these new social media to reach their goals. These industry-specific social media focus on people’s specific industries in which they work. Whether they’re a lawyer, architect, accountant, or construction worker, there is a social media specifically for them.
On these sites, they can connect with coworkers and others in their industry to discuss news, insights, and opinions about their career fields. This is all without having to scroll through an endless array of pictures from their cousin’s husband’ niece’s third birthday party.
Businesses can use these connections within their own company for communication and shared information channels to collaborate with one another.
How to Utilize for Digital Marketing
So… what does this mean for digital marketers? This is a fairly unconsidered, uncharted portion of the social media world for marketing. It offers companies the ability to reach a very specific segment of the market, connecting their messaging to those of a certain demographic.
Industries and career fields tend to be made up of certain types of people. These industry demographics could lend a hand to digital marketers.
An ad meant to target white males in their 30s may lose messaging value if it goes on a site where your grandmother may also see it. That ad may, for example, be better suited on a site like iShade that connects accountants throughout the world.
On Facebook alone, there are 2.32 billion monthly active users, according to Zephoria Digital Marketing. While advertising on Facebook offers the ability to reach only certain target audiences, it can still be hard to reach the consumer you want to see your ad.
This Statista graph shows the number of Facebook users in millions for each age category. Each section is comprised of an unfathomable number of people. Marketing to a certain age population on Facebook may be harder than you think.
Industry-specific social media allows digital marketers to make the most out of their advertisements and communications. These platforms are still fairly small, and if digital marketers can get to these audiences, their messaging might be more effective.
Examples of Industry-Specific Social Media
Here’s a list of other industry-specific social media like iShade (Social Media Today 2012). Think about what demographics work in these career fields and consider how they could affect your marketing tactics.
Description: A social media built just for architects. Professionals and students alike, they can share their work and thoughts on new projects.
Key Features: Articles, project designs, photos, job connections
Audience Reach Estimate: 261,000 user profiles/5.3 million page views/2 million social media followers
Description: Made for physicians around the world to discuss patient care, new treatment methods, and so on.
Key Features: Discussion boards, messaging between doctors, medical crowdsourcing
Audience Reach Estimate: 800,000 user profiles
Description: Gives lawyers and law students around the world the ability to discuss cases and get the latest law news.
Key Features: Discussion boards, law news, law publications, job listings
Audience Reach Estimate: 14,919 user profiles
Description: Scientists can connect on this social media made for researchers to discuss their projects and research ideas.
Key Features: Publications, platform to post work, statistics, discussion boards
Audience Reach Estimate: 15 million users
There seems to be a social media for everyone. With so much out there, digital markets have a duty to up their game. The world of social media is open game for advertising and communication with potential clients. Take advantage of this playing field and reach your audience.