After the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the reactions from media about the dark side and negative impacts of social media platforms on our lives, users have been moving away from Facebook in multitudes. As per Pew Research, about 40% of U.S. users have stopped checking their accounts on weekends.
Today, users are not only concerned about the misuse of their data but are also tired of watching the happy-go-life highlight reels of other people. However, what is shown in highlights is often fictitious which makes us doubt and compare our own life choices, achievements, and happiness with others.
Cyberbullying is quite common with teenage social media users and studies have revealed that excessive use of social media can lead to “Facebook depression”. You may feel that your life is inadequate and remain unhappy seeing the happy life posts of other people.
Amidst these drawbacks, social media app development offers numerous advantages to businesses as well.
The Future of Social Media Platforms
Social media is not going anywhere. According to the latest reports from HootSuite and We Are Social, about 42% of the global population has at least one social media account.
However, the new-gen social is not about targeting everybody anymore. The future of social media platforms is niche as more social networks are aiming at uniting like-minded people with common interests whether they are parents, women, entrepreneurs, customers, neighbors, or members of any other group.
Despite their initiatives to control the reach of businesses and marketers, traditional social media platforms today are gradually shifting away from people. Thus, they have failed their users by selling out their data to marketers and advertisers leading to various adverse and long-term effects.
If you’ve invested in social media app development, then you need to know about and keep pace with these changes and offer content that matches with these trends, especially as new social networks are focusing more on their users than their previous versions.
Adding a Personal Touch
Social media platforms that offer a personal experience to their users are becoming more popular. The new social networks are ready to attract more online users and will provide numerous business opportunities for advertisers and marketers.
FindSisterhood, a new women-only social community, allows its users to discuss personal issues or as queries from their accounts anonymously without any barrier. This feature makes this social online community a treasure of useful insights for marketers.
Anonymity enables users to be truthful and this could benefit the businesses. Let’s say, for example, you want to learn more about the lifestyle of your target audience. You can simply ask questions and you will receive all the information needed to formulate an effective marketing strategy.
The social media platform also makes use of sentiment analysis for content analytics. So, you can track trending topics in a particular region and how users are reacting to those topics.
Promoting Neighborhood
Businesses can find prospects with NextDoor, a reliable and safe platform where users can share information with their neighborhoods easily. It is one of the most convenient ways to know what’s going on in a locality. As the application displays posts from other users in the locality based on the geolocation, this can serve as a great source for finding people in the neighborhood.
Marketers may find this application to monetize initially as the app verifies all addresses before accepting an account using a similar process used by Google My Business. Furthermore, businesses pages are not available in each country as of now.
However, users can recommend businesses based on their positive experiences with them, and any new person coming into the neighborhood can find answers to common questions like where to find the best vegetarian restaurant or pet shop. There are numerous opportunities for businesses to leverage word-of-mouth advertising, which can bring many potential customers to a business.
Once a business gains a good reputation and foothold, it can track information and discussions in the neighborhood and find a topic that creates more engagement in the locality. The platform can further be used to drive quality and targeted traffic to websites or blogs and create awareness on a particular topic associated with the community.
Small Social Communities Are Better
Facebook registers around 300K status updates and 500K comments every minute according to the data roundup published by Zephoria Marketing. Twitter registers 6K new tweets every second.
Many online users are in pursuit of smaller social communities for authentic interactions with their families, friends, and followers. They are looking for social media platforms without any algorithms to filter information and that have a greater value than merely a platform where they can interact and share interesting or viral videos.
Let’s say, for example, Care2 is a community of 30 million users. While smaller in size as compared to the giant social platform Facebook, it is still an effective marketing tool. Care2 members are finding ways to build a better world. It focuses on topics like petitions, healthy living, and causes. This platform promotes companies that want to voluntarily support noble causes and show interest in the lives of their social communities.
The platform offers various business opportunities for brands looking to get in touch with members using those core values of the people. The main aim is to personalize experience which is what online users want when they are shifting from giant social media platforms to smaller communities.
Brands Should Offer a Curated Experience
If you’re migrating from Facebook to niche-based social networks, make sure your brand message meets the new expectations of your target audience. Think of a new, fresh approach that will help you to hit user-centered conversations and discussions without isolating or annoying that audience.
Final Thought
The future of social media platforms relies on one-to-one interactions with your followers, exchanges in which users not only will participate but also take the lead. The less invasive you are as a business owner, the more will be possibilities of building a powerful private online community around your brand, getting quality leads, and boosting conversions.
If you’re looking to create your own social network, you can leverage the Social Engine platform to build a social network in no time. You may consult with professional Social Engine experts today to build a substantial online community.
