Four hot (and unexpected) social media marketing plays for 2016

Social media marketing in 2016: What you need to know

If you’re running a business, chances are you’ve learned a thing or two about social media marketing somewhere along your journey. For 2016, there are several social media platforms you’ll want to check out. While these platforms aren’t exactly “new,” they are becoming increasingly popular.

Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, are certainly popular with millennials, but there are four more untapped social media marketing gems you should consider for 2016: Kik, Imgur, YikYak, and Venmo. Let’s take a look at Venmo first, since it’s the odd one in group as it deals with finance, rather than connecting directly.

1. Why you need to know about a finance app

Venmo is a personal finance site that lets users send money over the Internet. It’s a bit like PayPal, but it’s way more popular with the student crowd as it allows you to split bills, chip in on a trip, or divide the payments for concert tickets. You may have seen ads for Venmo on television. Ads for the Mayweather-Pacquiao pay-per-view match let people know they could easily split the cost of the fight with a friend using Venmo. This is a great way to market to an untapped user base, especially if you have a product or service that could be split up and made more cost-effective with Venmo.

2. Our personal favorite site ever

Imgur is the next platform to keep an eye on for social media marketing. Imgur is a meme generator and image hosting site that is particularly popular with the younger crowd. It has more than 150 million users, most of these being millennial men. Imgur has become more popular for hosting than TinyPic, Photobucket, and ImageShack. Brands like eBay and Old Spice have already begun experimenting with advertising here; so it’s only a matter of time before other brands jump on board. If you haven’t established a presence on Imgur, you may want to consider it. Imgur states that most of their users spend three or more hours on the platform/app per week; with 150 million+ users, there’s definitely a large audience established for branding your product or business.

3. & 4. Mobile messaging apps are booming

YikYak and Kik serve the same function: they connect people anonymously. Kik boasts over 240 million users and is a mobile messaging platform. Think of it as a modern day AIM, or instant text message without giving out your phone number kind of deal. The Kik user base is very young, with most users being under 25. Kik is a great way to reach the younger demographic, without the need to target your advertising on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Kik enthusiasts sent content like video and GIFs along with their messages, so there is potential for marketers to make a large impact with minimal effort: Kik is about simplicity.

YikYak is an anonymous posting board, where you can discuss anything without fear of censorship or repercussions. It’s a bit like Reddit, but without the limitations. This is also the caveat of YikYak: it’s a bit unsafe, as people can say anything they like about your brand. Again, however, the user base is younger, especially popular with college students looking to vent their frustrations, so YikYak is a good way to tap into that market, just exercise a bit of caution.

Social media niche sites are a great target

While there are likely other apps on the market that offer similar opportunities, these four have the greatest potential to reach new demographics and widen your fan base than any others in 2016. What do you think? Will you be advertising outside of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest?

#SocialMedia2016