There is an overwhelming number of options for individuals and businesses looking to build an online presence. The focus for many remains on the big three: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. With a combined monthly active user base of 4.29 billion people, an account on each of these platforms puts you in the pocket of half the world’s population (Source: Backlinko 2022).

It is a buyer-seller market that these platforms are geared toward. Each of the big three, and many like them, run paid advertisements and offer additional tools and insights if you switch from a personal account to a business or creator account. Instagram and Facebook also have marketplaces, to facilitate direct sales.

How to Stand Out

First of all, keep your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Nothing can be gained from ignoring these titans of social media! If you want to stand out amongst your competitors, however, it’s time to consider expanding your social presence to other platforms which offer more opportunities to shine.

The obvious secondary choices are the runners-up in the social media rankings – namely TikTok and Snapchat – however, as they surge in popularity they start to mirror their competitors. Both have business account options and deliver advertisement packages. It’s vital to tailor your content to stand out and choose your platforms with care.

To engage your customers and convert new visitors, it is important to identify multiple platforms where they are most active. Find out their location, age range, professions, and any other identifiers you can think of. If you’re operating as a Business to Business (B2B), platforms like LinkedIn and Clubhouse could be ideal. If your market is teachers and educators, use Facebook and Pinterest. 

Go where your customers are. You might end up somewhere unexpected!

What is Spotify?

Spotify is the largest music streaming service with 365 million monthly active users tuning in from around the globe (Source: Backlinko, 2021). As well as big title artists, Spotify also hosts over 2.9 million podcast titles. It is free to sign-up and listen with adverts. Premium membership is also available for a monthly or annual subscription.

For a business looking to build brand awareness, Spotify has two key advantages:

1. Prima Podcast

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat… they’re all focused on the visual, whether it’s an image, video or reel. Spotify allows you to reach out to an audience through a different medium: audio. From your Spotify account, you can launch an informal podcast to deliver insights from your industry, chat with customers or service users, or host different team members to discuss company updates.

In education, students have long been grouped into three learning preferences: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (physical activity). While most people have a preference, the best lessons incorporate all three. So why should your marketing strategy be any different? By incorporating audio into your marketing plan, you can engage a new customer segment.

2. Humanising the Brand

Spotify isn’t only available to businesses as a podcast platform.

Humanising your brand helps your audience build a connection to your business, making them more likely to convert into customers. Form meaningful connections and build a community that wants to work with you, and soon you will stand out amongst your competitors.

Spotify lets you do this by giving you the option to add music to your brand. Curate playlists that align with your services and products, or give team members a chance to create something unique to them. Show your audience that there is a personal element behind the logo. Below is the playlist that Squideo created for Halloween - each team member picked a track and their personalities really shine through with each selection!

How to Utilise Spotify

It’s easy to promote a Spotify account through your existing social media platforms. Spotify allows you to share music directly to Twitter and Facebook, and embed it on a website. With platforms like Linktree, you can share your Spotify account across all of your social media accounts to encourage your combined audience to visit your business page and follow.

Unlike other social media platforms, Spotify does not offer users the choice to switch to a business account which means there are no statistical insights into the reach and engagement of your account. The prime method to track engagement is through channel followers and user likes on playlists and original content.

What Spotify lacks in business functions, however, it makes up for through passive engagement.

Traditional advertising has become less engaging for consumers, and curated content is a great way for brands to make an impact on an oversaturated landscape.

People listen to music all day. Offering a curated playlist enables you to passively engage these potential customers throughout their daily activities.

Design playlists that relate to your brand or team. Read on for inspiration! 

1. Location. What is the team in your office listening to, compared to a different branch based in another city? Bring a company together and bridge staff no matter how far apart they are.
2. Holidays. Squideo kicked off its first Spotify playlist with a compilation for Halloween, with tracks chosen by each member of the team. Make one for every holiday or season, like Valentine’s Day or the Summer Holiday.
3. Business Themes. Ideally connected to your brand in some way, the songs in this playlist will connect to one main theme. For a company like Squideo, this could be ocean-themed, film-themed, or Hull-themed (the city where we’re based).
4. Activities. For people using Spotify, activity playlists might be curated for things like working out, relaxing or cooking. For a business, consider creating playlists for activities connected to your work. If you’re an estate agent, create a playlist that represents the joy of selling a house. If you’re a construction agency, create a playlist for working at a site on a hot day.

Once you’ve made your playlists, add an extra layer of personalisation. Spotify gives its users the option to create a playlist cover. Design this with your branding in mind, so that when people go to play your playlist they think of your business! 

Share your playlist across social media and keep it up-to-date (Spotify does remove and add music depending on its arrangements with music record labels). You’ll find your following soon enough.

For more inspiration, check out other leading businesses on Spotify like McDonald’s, Nike, Zara and Lidl.

Get Started with Video Marketing Today!

Hopefully, you found this first installation of Have You Considered... useful. Stay tuned over the next two months while we explore other underutilised platforms and find ways to make your brand stand out.

Speaking of standing out, check out our portfolio! And, if you want to discuss how animated explainer videos can benefit your business, get in touch with the Squideo team today.