Alternative Social Media Sites [INFOGRAPHIC]

Everybody online in business or otherwise is aware of social media. But today we are going to look at some alternative social media sites that are not so in the mainstream and people may not be aware of them. Take away the big three (Facebook, Twitter and Google+) and what do you have left?

Well, loads. If you were to look at the close runners behind these three you will see LinkedIn, Pinterest, Stumblupon, Tumblr – the list goes on. But what about beyond that? Well, again there are plenty…

Some are catered directly for specific niches, some are catered for specific industries, some are bookmarking sites, some are designed for photos/pictures like Pinterest. Yet I would say that they all fall into the social media bracket. This is my view.

So why would you even need these alternative social media sites?

Facebook announced in May 2013 that it had 1.1 billion users, this is ridiculous. One point one BILLION. And from this each day around 665 million were active on the site – again, ridiculous. I am saying ridiculous because if you have not setup your Facebook business page – you really should. The numbers speak for themselves. Some companies only have a social media presence on here and if you were only to pick one this would be a good one.

But, this post is about alternative social media sites, many have spun off from these. Some are just simple bookmarking sites, whilst others have gone down a completely different approach like learning how to sell on amazon. It may not be your business that gains value in terms of marketing from some of these but you may still find value. Some of these can be a great resource for content, ideas whilst others can be great tools to have. Others simply serve as great “link building” platforms.

But it is the specialist social media sites that may benefit some business and individuals. Take App.Net – this social media network was designed purely for application developers to showcase their work but then got so popular it became a fully fledged social network. There is a premium to pay ($5 a month) but it has been kept “real” by its users, no ads. Which makes it a virtually private network.

Anyway, below is an infographic that gives details of eight alternative social media sites, and don’t forget to get help from a Social Media Marketing company. You may have heard of them you may not have. Also, you may find them useful or your business may not have a need for them. However – one thing to think about, are you missing anything by not checking out these sites?

So -what do you think? We would love to hear from you if you use any of these sites. Please tell us your experiences with them in the comments section below.