As one of the sites to define social networking and then harness that power for business marketing as well, it’s no surprise that Facebook has been the focus for many of these budding programs.  With widespread Twitter use enabling rapid fire shout-outs, tweeting has become a close second method.  While Twitter and Facebook continue to head the pack for certain demographics, other social media platforms are rising in popularity and appeal to a variety of groups.   In order to truly maximize your visibility in social media, explore the following booming stages.

Tumbler - 300 million visitors per month

To surpass the simple sharing aspect it had in common with Twitter and Facebook, Tumblr became a blogging platform that made posting text, video, audio, photos or links instant and easy.

For businesses that want to visually share content that is connected to them without necessarily having their own site, Tumblr is the place.  Users can follow each other for access to interesting content of all kinds.

Pinterest - 70 million users per month

Millions of users flock to Pinterest to “pin” images to their virtual bulletin boards.  Recipes, crafts and blogs on interesting sites are encapsulated in an image that can be organized for further perusal.  The average amount of time spent on this site for every visit is over 14 minutes, and 98 minutes per month, as users look for ideas and inspiration as well as helpful information.

Only about 500,000 businesses have accounts with Pinterest, so now is the time to enter the gap.  Create images that best represent your business and its services, and then tag them with useful headings to drive click-throughs and “pins.”  Pinning on Pinterest is the online equivalent to cutting out pieces of a magazine – only links are less likely to be consumed by the junk drawer.  Look through other business boards for inspiration when creating your own.

 
Instagram - 130 million users per month

Named the app of the year by Apple in 2011, Instagram has mastered the photo-sharing platform.  Users can take photos, modify with filters, tag, geolocate and share them not just through Instagram but through links to other social media sites, and now users can work with video and web embeds as well.

More personal and not linked to content like Pinterest, Instagram is a real time photo album.  Taking pictures of your business, happenings at your office, events you are participating in, or even interactions with customers let users know about what you are up to at that moment.  Before and after photos of projects or product demos can engage interest in you and the services you provide.

We at Advance Funds Network know that there are always places to invest in the growth of your business, through marketing efforts and otherwise.  With our extensive experience finding just the right ways to make those changes financially possible, we have confidence in our ability to provide flexible funding to even those currently dealing with bad credit.  Business lines of credit through AFN could be that extra stretch necessary to bring brand awareness to whole new markets.