What are the 'Other Facebooks'? Are there social networks that are different than Facebook? Can you find a Facebook replacement? Should you delete your Facebook page?
"Hi, Haley. We want to delete our Facebook page," says Tina, the owner of a local business that has been using The Social Media Lady services for over five years. "It's not your work. You have been great! I just don't want to mess with it anymore. I don't think it is worth it."
"I advise against that with every fiber of my being! I can understand not wanting to devote any further resources to developing your page, but please do not delete it."
"Why not?" she replies.
I had this conversation with a client on Friday, January 29, 2021. I explained to her that not only is your profile an asset by providing information, promoting products, and showing off the positive points but not having it could be detrimental.
"Sometimes bored and mean people
create fake pages, post links to inappropriate sites, and many other indecent actions
in your business's name."
Anyone can create a Facebook page. Sometimes bored and mean people create fake pages, post links to inappropriate sites, and many other indecent actions in your business's name. When your company owns and controls your verified Facebook page, you can challenge fake pages, delete trolls posting spam comments and links, and respond to reviews (legitimate and malicious).
In our last blog, we did a quick review of 19 potential social networks that could be 'Other Facebooks.' This time, we want to look more closely at the 3 of the 7 social media platforms that could become the Facebook replacement.
With large established social media networks moderating large swathes of users, many are seeking alternatives. Now is the perfect time for people of all backgrounds to develop their presence on the upcoming platforms. Three rapidly growing networks worth checking out are MeWe, Medium, and Marco Polo.
Let's take an in-depth look at each and how establishing a presence can help your business grow.
What Makes MeWe Different From Competition?
There's a significant difference between MeWe and traditional platforms like Facebook. This app emphasizes privacy and doesn't run ads, unlike the most widely used platforms.
It was launched in 2012 by Founder and CEO Mark Weinstein. MeWe was initially known as Sgrouples, and headquarters in Culver City, California. MeWe has no ads or other spyware types, making it ideal for users tired of looking at ads or intrusively collecting personal data. It boasted twelve million users at the end of 2020.
Users can make posts and engage with others, much like other social networks. However, MeWe doesn't use algorithms that throttle your reach. Instead, they'll show your post to anyone. Engaging in groups and making timely posts is an effective way to broaden your audience.
Marco Polo Lets You Leverage Video Conversations
This video message app was initially created in 2014 by Joya Communications, a company founded by Vlada and Michael Bortnik.
How Does Marco Polo Differ From Alternatives?
The primary difference between Marco Polo and other apps is the marketing and purpose. Marco Polo claims to be a video walkie talkie, not a social network. Its purpose is not to connect with strangers but instead to tap into the power of your existing contacts and networks.
There are no likes or social comparisons, unlike Facebook and other mainstream platforms. Users send video messages on their schedule instead of in realtime. It makes messaging more convenient and eliminates the need for long video conferencing sessions. Marco Polo, like MeWe, is committed to not selling customer data, which is a significant difference from the mainstream apps, which make most of their profits from selling customer data and showing ads to visitors.
Who Uses Marco Polo?
Like most short-form video sharing services, Marco Polo users skew towards a younger audience. The site is very popular with tweens and teens, although it's growing in other demographic groups as well.
How Hard Is It To Signup On Marco Polo?
Registration is easy and requires that new users sign up using a phone number, email address, and full name.
The app had a surge of user signups in 2020 as the call for social distancing increased. People flooded in to keep in touch with friends, business acquaintances, and family. The company doesn't release precise numbers of users, but they said that "millions" of users regularly use the service.
About Using Marco Polo For Marketing A Business
Since Marco Polo is about having conversations, it's possible to use it solely for business purposes. The videos are short, usually only a few seconds each, but they are threaded and stored so you can carry on an ongoing conversation on any subject. The key to getting any engagement is using concise messages. If you can convey your ideas effectively, Marco Polo could provide opportunities for business expansion.
The audience is young, so it helps to have a product or service that appeals to that demographic. Over time, if the growth continues, there will be more users from all walks of life, making the venue more suitable for most businesses.
Medium Makes Publishing Content And Growing An Audience Easy
Medium is an online publishing platform that Evan Williams launched in August 2012.
Currently, the platform is managed and owned by A Medium Corporation in the category of social journalism. Williams, who co-founded Blogger and Twitter, was looking for a way to move past the 140-character limit on Twitter so that people could record more meaningful ideas. Longer posts help establish authority while conferring certain SEO benefits not available on other sites.
How Is Medium Different Than Competitors?
Medium is suited ideally for long-form content. Other social media platforms now almost exclusively host short videos, single images, or tiny text messages. Very few of them go in-depth, leaving Medium as a primary place to flesh out ideas.
The blog-style posts on Medium also help drive visitors, making it ideal for brands, companies, and organizations. With over sixty million monthly visitors, starting a profile on Medium gives users leverage to build audiences.
Marketing Your Business Using Medium Is Straightforward
Authors are allowed to link to external websites, which helps pre-sell visitors by mentioning specific business pages. The standard rules of building an audience and engaging with people still apply, but the additional benefits Medium page include rank highly in Google Search. This "pass-through" could help funnel new visitors to your primary website.
Think of a Medium blog as an outpost that leads visitors into your marketing funnel. People who maintain their Medium page regularly and make targeted posts are likely to enjoy an increase in overall traffic, which leads to more inquiries and engagement. With the proper content funnels in place, it's possible to turn those visitors into customers.
Companies that already have deep libraries of content can repurpose and update existing pages for Medium. As you can imagine, this saves time and extracts more value from content that's already developed.
Visitors will find a trove of content covering everything from health and fitness to financial news and technology, and almost everything in between. For B2B marketers, there are ample opportunities to shine a spotlight on your services or products.
People will find that each of these three apps has its distinct benefits. MeWe is growing and has a growing base of conservative users who value privacy and don't want an algorithm to curate their content feed. Medium is a long-form blogging service that appeals to many users who appreciate publishing tools. Marco Polo has a young, engaged audience that values conversation and engagement.
Finding the best mix on each platform can take time and effort, but there's enormous potential. As traditional networks like Twitter, Instagram, What's App, and Facebook age in place, it opens opportunities for new stars to arise.
If you're searching for new outposts to explore, all of these platforms are worth investigating in 2021.
Branded content marketing includes content creation, curation, distribution, monitoring, and analysis. A successful marketer will weave your branded content throughout all of your channels (website, social media, print media), creating a unified message that reaches your desired audience at the right time.
Think like the amazing Marvel character Spider-Man. His unique sense of style and personal brand both spring to mind instantly. He wears a skintight bodysuit, spins webs, and climbs walls effortlessly. When you consider Spidey, his message is quite clear. Spider-Man never leaps into action or spins a web without wearing his patented uniform. He knows that people won't attribute his accomplishments to him without his unique branding.
If you prefer not to do these tasks yourself, our agency would be happy to help! Meme creation is one of our favorite tasks! We do all the other digital marketing agency stuff, too. Check out our packages and extra services here.
The Social Media Lady is a constantly adapting social media agency that gets excited to exceed our clients' expectations. We serve the most value to those businesses without a social media professional on-staff. We enjoy the unusual but can make stodgy look stimulating. We want people to compliment your content. (C) 2020, Shreveport, Louisiana.
Contact Us: in**@th****************.biz, (318) 550-3687
If you want to take a crack at meme creation, we highly recommend Canva (link below.) It is easy to use, free cloud-based software with an app for your phone!
Several of the YouTube channels I watch have recommended this read. I am halfway through and insisting that Husband read it.
I have been stuck at the half-way mark for a few weeks now. It is a true revolution and it has changed the way that I eat. I hope I have the courage to finish the book!
Several of the links provided on this page are Affiliate Links. That means that if you use them to complete a purchase or create a subscription, we receive a commission of some kind. Using this code does not cost you anything extra, and sometimes we can get you a discount or freebie for using our code. If we recommend a product, we use it and genuinely appreciate the product or service. We do not recommend products we do not like. We clearly label all products that we have not used yet and therefore have not yet been reviewed.
The Social Media Lady is a constantly adapting social media agency that gets excited to exceed our clients' expectations. We serve the most value to those businesses without a social media professional on-staff. We enjoy the unusual but can make stodgy look stimulating. We want people to compliment your content. (C) 2020, Shreveport, Louisiana.
Contact Us: in**@th****************.biz, (318) 550-3687
