Bigger Is Not Always Better:
Why You Should Consider Niche Platforms For Your Next Social Media Campaign.
What do you think of when you hear social media? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and TikTok most likely come to mind. Although these are all great social media platforms for ads and definitely the most well-known and popular, but social media does not end with just these. There are many other apps and social media platforms that focus in on a specific topic or area of interest. These are called niche platforms.
Social media networks make their money from paid advertising. According to Hootsuite, social ad spending is up to $43 billion, up 20% from the previous year (2020). So clearly, social media advertising is a very important way for businesses to gain reach, clicks, conversions, etc. But how does this affect these niche platforms? Well, for one thing “a niche network is an advertiser’s dream because it’s a readymade target audience. For example, a social network for pet lovers would provide a logical ad slot for pet food” (Ronca, 2009). In a niche platform, your audience comes to you. They have an interest in your topic or product and are passionate about it. This saves businesses and advertisers the time and often the money and resources to find their target audience.
Another benefit of including niche platforms in your business’ advertising strategy is the fact that websites like Facebook and Twitter can often be overwhelming to a consumer. To put this into perspective, about 1.79 billion people use Facebook daily and about 500 million tweets are sent out daily, which is equivalent to about 5.787 tweets per second (Oberlo and Statista, 2020). Definitely could see why many people find these platforms to be too much for them, therefore they avoid them as much as they can. Yes, there is strength in numbers and businesses definitely want to be on these larger social platforms, but it is just as or if not more beneficial to advertise on these smaller ones. Roxanne Simonnet writes, “while larger social media platforms have more traffic, niche platforms, when used effectively, can actually achieve a higher return on investment” (2017).
One example of a niche platform that seems to be slaying the game is Twitch. Twitch is currently the world’s largest and most popular live streaming platform. This platform is focused around gamers, allowing them to stream their live gameplay, as well as post it for other gamers to view later. Founded in 2011 by Justin Kar and Emmett Shear, Twitch now has over 15 million users daily and over 355 billion minutes of video content was viewed in 2017 (Maci, 2020). So why is this important for advertisers? Well, if your company is trying to reach gamers or male millennials, then advertising on Twitch is for you. Twitch reaches over 50% of male millennials (Clang, 2018). That’s a pretty amazing statistic and adds to the relevance of these niche platforms.
Not only is Twitch great for advertising a new game or a product with millennials being the core target audience, but the platform has also had huge success with charities. According to Clang, 78% of Twitch users want to see more charity in gaming and as of 2018, over $65 million had been raised for charity on the platform. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, (RED) in the fight to end AIDS, and American Red Cross are among some charities that have been seen on the platform. Clearly, these niche communities are fine with advertising and actually want to see more of it. They want to help and make a change, so it’s worth discussing whether or not niche platforms is good for your business.
Another way to gain reach with your business is to collaborate with an influencer on Twitch. People tend to value the opinions of these well-known influencers and it is definitely something to consider when creating a social marketing campaign. Just how important? Let’s look at a couple of the most popular Twitch influencers. Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, has over 4 million Twitch subscribers and made about $500k monthly by streaming videos playing Fortnite. Another popular Twitch influencer is Imane Anys, or Pokimane. She is the most popular female Twitch user and one of the top streamers of all time. She has over 4 million subscribers and has created quite the empire. She posts ASMR videos on YouTube, has her own makeup line, and will appear in the Ryan Reynolds movie, Free Guy (Reuben, 2020). It’s obvious that these influencers have an incredible fan base, so businesses can turn to them for sponsorships to reach an audience that already trusts and values what they have to say.
Overall, social media is practically a necessity when it comes to advertising for businesses. With more and more niche platforms becoming available, there is probably a place there for your company. Niche platforms are a good way for businesses to reach a target audience that is tailored to their interests, product, or service, but they also attract those individuals who find the larger social networks to be overwhelming. With niche platforms growing in popularity, sponsorship and collaboration with influencers could also help reach a wider audience. Although platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have more traffic daily and are vital for social marketing campaigns; sometimes bigger is not always better.
Image References
References
