Few would argue that getting involved in social media is not important to a successful marketing campaign in today's environment. There are conversations going on about your brand and area of interest across the web, and it's up to you to decide how to get involved.
On a recent survey by Mashable, 87% of companies indicated that social media was "important" or "very important" to achieving their biggest marketing goal this year and 70% of companies plan to increase their social media budget by more than 10% this year (Article). There is no doubt that Facebook and Twitter are at the heart of most of these company's social media campaigns. This is true for good reason: these networks provide access to a combined 800 million+ potential customers. Your business needs a presence on the mainstream social networks, but here are 5 reasons your company is missing an opportunity if you don't get involved in niche social networks as well.
Engage with a highly targeted audience.
There are likely at least a half dozen specialized communities where your target audience is spending time and interacting online. In these communities, you will find a high percentage of users are interested in your product or service. This means there's no need to sift through groups and keywords trying to find your target audience, and you already know the reason the user is involved in the network.
Connect on a deeper level
Specialized networking sites provide features and profiles that are tailored to your customers needs. This is your chance to connect with your customers on a deeper level than is possible on mainstream networks. For example, imagine how much easier it'd be to create engaging conversations about books if your profile was a bookshelf and your information included favorite books, favorite authors, and a reading list. Now, imagine your connections consist of a smaller, more-focused group of readers that you can actually get to know. Who knows, conversations may come so naturally that you won't even have to pay a social media consultant to help 'sound human' to your followers!
Get noticed above the white noise
Your presence in a smaller and more focused community makes it much easier for your voice to be heard. A smaller and more targeted community means your activity is more likely to be noticed and it is much easier to establish your brand as an authoritative voice in the community.
Improve your website's SEO
When you sign up to each network, you get to provide a link back to your site. While links on almost every mainstream social network are 'nofollow', the links on many niche social networks do not have this tag (and thus positively contribute to your search engine ranking.) This means links within many niche networks not only refer new users to your site, but they also provide a SEO boost. This effect will be further compounded in an active niche community because an active and engaged community will often repost your link on social news sites, bookmarking sites, and the mainstream social networks.
Don't let the conversation go on without you
Just like on Facebook and Twitter, your brand will be talked about and your areas of expertise will be discussed... whether you're involved or not. Many niche social networks are not as small as you probably think, and if you aren't involved you're missing an opportunity to promote your brand and engage with interested customers.
Developing a successful campaign on the largest social networks is often challenging, expensive, and quite time consuming. Developing a successful campaign on niche networks just means taking the time to choose the right networks and participate in the conversation. It's not hard, its not expensive, and it will be a great boost to your social media campaign... So make sure your company takes advantage of the marketing opportunities in niche networks!