Since its creation, social media channels have forever transformed the landscape of advertising. In fact, it did more than just altered; it rocked the whole advertising and marketing world.  

These channels are created to connect with people, create and share content, and more. Nowadays, social media channels are even used by brands for their online marketing campaign.

And, in being able to keep up with audiences, traditional media had no choice but to adapt. As it should, because the world of marketing constantly changes. Because of this, brands have changed the way they publish, both in the offline and online world. Brands have also changed the way they sell advertising.

For instance, most newspapers are now publishing their content online and in print. In the online world, social media channels allow these newspaper outlets to get instant commentary. People can get instant access to the news and latest updates. In return, newspapers can use these to make editorial and business decisions.

In addition to that, print stories can be supplemented with unlimited videos and photos online. Something they can’t do on print. 

Social media channels also allow citizen journalists to publish instant updates as the events unfold around them. In this article, we will address the strategic use of social media channels to achieve a variety of outcomes. More specifically, the various social media channels.

Categorizing Social Media

Categorizing social media into channels can be a little bit challenging. There are a lot of gray areas. However, it is still beneficial to compare them.

Not every social media platform falls into one channel. For instance, Twitter is part microblog, part social network, and part aggregator. Sometimes, this social media channel also includes some location-based elements.

We have categorized some of the most famous platforms in accordance to their prevailing properties. But, note that these aren’t exclusive. And because the world of social media is continually improving, these categories may also change. 

Social media channels can be categorized as:

  • Location
  • Creation of content
  • Social networking
  • Bookmarking
  • Aggregating

Social Networks are social channels created around social profiles. On the other hand, content creation is when people use social channels to create and share content. 

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Bookmarking alludes to social curation and sharing content. Location is a subset of social networks that depend on the area.

Social Networking

This refers to assembling and managing online social networks for societies. There are countless social networks, but only some are well-known. 

The communities are people or members who participate in real-world connections. They share interests and activities. Or people who are curious in delving into the passion of others.

It is tied in with utilizing the tools of the worldwide web to connect and establish connections with others. Some great examples are Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and more. 

These social media networks allow users to construct their own profiles. Users can then use these profiles to interact with their connections. They can share media, send messages, watch videos, do business, and more. 

On that note, businesses and companies can also create and maintain profiles on these social media channels. In fact, a lot of businesses find that their revenue comes from these channels online. 

Most of the time, users of social networks share a ridiculous amount of knowledge about their personal lives. These include basic demographics such as age, gender, location, and more. Social networks also read and file a user’s activities, their likes and dislikes, hobbies, and etc.

Because of these, marketers and advertisers can have a more relevant targeting. As we have said, it is a rich vault of data for advertisers. 

There are plenty of social networking platforms that allow anybody to create and build their network. Below, we will examine one of the most famous socmed channels: Facebook.

Facebook: Social Media Channel

Throughout history, Facebook has become one of the most dominant personal social networks. It has a global reach with over 2 billion people registered from all over the world. 

In fact, in the third quarter of last year, the social media platform revealed that there are over 2.45 billion monthly active users. It is the largest of its kind. 

Because there are billions of people spending their time on the social media channel, advertisers and marketers are only bound to be attracted to this type of audience. As we said, there is a massive, global reach.

Throughout recent years, Facebook has advanced a way for marketers and advertisers to use their platform. This way, these brands can connect with more potential customers.

Facebook has launched Facebook Pages, Facebook Business Manager, and more. A page is generally a profile for a brand, organization or a celebrity.

On the surface, it looks very akin to a normal person’s profile. It has the same elements; a cover image, a profile image, some ‘About’ information, and a ‘Wall’ where the brand can post and interact.

Facebook also launched applications developed by other companies. This can come in the form of games, photo uploader, contests, and other interactive tools. They have allowed these third parties to publish on their platforms so users can have a wider experience without leaving the website or the application.

Businesses can now run their own promotions on the said social media channels. They can create interactive content for customers, and more. As long as the contents are within Facebook’s terms and conditions, of course.

Facebook Algorithm

Facebook uses an algorithm to moderate the content. This algorithm shows data on a user’s news feed based on relevance. This algorithm shows timely and relevant content based on the user’s actions.

It is only natural for brands to want their posts to appear in a user’s news feed. After all, the goal’s to get to more people. These are the same users who will turn into customers. Hence, it is crucial for brands to ensure that their content takes the algorithm into consideration.

Because there are billions of content shared on the social media channel daily, Facebook constantly updates their algorithm to keep up. This means that advertisers have to stay up to date with the algorithm constantly as well. In the next article, we will discuss social networking. See you there!

© Image credits to Steve Johnson

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