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Wondering to hire a Freelancer vs. Software Development Company to help you with your website? There’s a reason why you’re bouncing between the idea of choosing an entire team to coordinate your new website or app development over a freelancer. Do you need a larger perspective vs. a narrow one? 

A software company can identify exactly the client’s needs, as it has a broader perspective over a project; a team will always come up with more ideas and can deliver a large number of tasks simultaneously.

Now, let’s see the differences between a software development company and a freelancer, besides the most obvious: a team vs one member. 

Helping Businesses to Achieve their Goals

The purpose of either a software development company or a freelancer is to help businesses (or individuals) achieve their goals and get the most out of their websites/web solutions. Now, the difference between a freelancer and an entire software development company is quite straightforward. A team vs. a member. Employees that have expertise in several specializations or someone specialized in a particular field.

Software Development Company

A software development team can build from the ground up an entire website, mobile development, app development, web design solutions, or implement whatever you have in mind in tech terms. There are also many companies around the world, each with its own strengths and pain points. The projects handled by such businesses are service-based or item-based.

When a software development company starts working on a project, there’s an entire process. Here’s a quick overview:

1. The team analyzes your requirements.
2. Technically structure the project and outline the design ideas.
3. Recommends solutions and best courses of action to help you reach your goals.
4. Establish the project path, document, and timeline of the project.
5. Develop the solutions.
6. Test and adjust the solutions (including fixing bugs).
7. Deploy the solution.
8. Project maintenance. The team continues the development of complex solutions.

Departments

Before going in-depth, you should know that in a software company, there is usually more than one department that helps the project transition :

• Web development – a team of backend programmers that connects the coding lines and builds strong algorithms. 
• Web design – a team of experienced frontend web designers entitled to create exquisite user interfaces that combine best user experience practices with amazing visuals.
• Project management – designated team to manage a whole project. Usually, there’s a project manager that is in charge of coordinating the flow. Moreover, there can also be a product owner, team lead, technical lead, release manager, and so on.
• QA/Testing
• Legal – department responsible for creating agreements 
• Marketing and PR
• HR and administrative 

Usually, for a web development project you need a team of developers and a project manager to coordinate the entire process. However, there are times when the web design team needs to step in. Or, perhaps, you need some SEO or marketing valuable advice customized for your site. This means you work closely with highly specialized people with different expertise in the same team. 

Benefits

When you hire an entire software development company, you get more benefits. You do not have to outsource your project to another different company or hire ten freelancers to do different things for you. Instead, you have an entire company divided into professional and skilled teams that can make things happen on your site. Agreements, invoices, everything is handled between the companies. Moreover:

• The time frame is more likely to be respected – the company can always bring more software engineers to work on a project.
• Expertise – high level for providing professional services
• Well-organized and predictable project workflow.
• Documentation, support, and maintenance. 
• You have skilled and well-trained team members for each of the tasks instead of a one-man show.
• Seamless communication and project management.  

You can search for a software development company on Google, and you can also see if it’s listed on the business platforms (Clutch, for example) that inspire trust.

How much does it cost to hire a software development company?

Each software development company has its own pricing, and this depends on how complex the project is and the needed technology. The most often pricing model is per hour. However, some payments can be made per the whole project, trimester, annually, and so on.  

Software development companies are of many types. Work with the one that can provide solutions based on your specific demands. However, if you do not have a WordPress development team in-house, you can always outsource your project. This means there’s a win-win situation for both companies and the client. 

What’s a Freelancer?

A person that works on his own, without being employed at a company. As described by the Cambridge dictionary and highlighted on Investopedia, “a freelancer is an individual who earns money on a per-job or per-task basis, usually for short-term work. A freelancer is not an employee of a firm and may therefore be at liberty to complete different jobs concurrently by various individuals or firms unless contractually committed to work exclusively until a particular project is completed.”

Necessary skills

A freelancer might be a skilled person who has previously worked in a company and decided to go independently. Or, it could be someone who has never previously worked in a multi-level institution. However, being a freelancer means working on several projects at the same time. In this job, time-planning is the key. If time management is lacking and everything is done on the run, the projects might not be professionally performed or delivered in time.

On the other hand, there are expert developers who work as freelancers and know how to handle their time and the project. So, depending on the type of business you have and the job complexity, you should hire a software development company or a freelancer.

How much does it cost to hire a freelance developer?

Sometimes, the fees of a freelancer are much lower than a company. However, you should bear in mind that there are also income taxes that need to be paid as a freelancer, as well. A freelancer is self-employed so he needs to invest in an office, equipment, certifications, and others. Also, if he’s listed on a freelancing platform, for example, Upwork charges 20% off from the first $500 project. On Upwork, you can find Java developers starting from $40 an hour to over $100/hour.   

Benefits

• Work from home or from everywhere
• Flexible work schedule
• Low cost
• Time flexibility – they might work more than 8 hours per day to deliver a project
• Best for small and granular projects (or tasks)

Freelancing Disadvantages 

• Income uncertainty – this can destabilize the collaboration between you two.
• Job stability – sometimes there’s an ongoing project and two in standby, or none. 
• Unreliability – there are freelancers that leave without delivering the final project. Motives are usually circled around the desire to take on too many projects at once. 
• A freelancer is specialized either in development, design, marketing, or other. Development also means JavaScript, Python, and other coding languages. One developer that knows JavaScript might not be an expert in another programming platform. 

Please note that there are also experienced and appreciated freelancers that work hard and deliver amazing projects. However, it might be difficult to find them and build a trusting business relationship. If you still want to hire a freelancer, you should definitely consider checking out the best freelance websites. These can help you make a decision. 

Freelancer vs. Software Development Company: Developers

Software development company PROS:

• Guarantee – you will always receive the work you’ve been paying for 
• Long-term collaboration 
• Continuous maintenance and support
• Real project estimation – for the given requirements, you receive a project estimation
• Confidentiality
• Suited for all types of projects
• Dedicated team

Freelance developers PROS:

• Lower costs – could be more affordable if you have a lower budget
• Small-projects, granular tasks
• Flexible working hours 
• Faster development when projects are clear and there’s no unknown to meet.

Software development company CONS:

1. Higher pricing – this is directly proportional to the quality of work 
2. Flexibility – is less flexible, as usually, developers work on a fixed 8 business hours schedule.
3. Starting the project – could be a bit overwhelming, as there are several things to perfect and assemble before starting the project.

Freelance developers CONS:

• Might not be able to provide continuous maintenance and support
• Could appear expenses that are not predicted.
• Short-term collaboration.
• Lack of project-focus – they could switch between jobs. 
• Suited for a specific type of project.

Hiring someone for short term or long-term?

Depending. What kind of job do you need? It’s a one-time project, or do you need maintenance and support after its completion? Make a list with all the specifications and your budget. Research similar projects and ask both freelancers and software companies for a budget, workflow, and timeframe estimation. So, its between freelancer vs. software development agency.

Finding the right person or team could be challenging, but since you’re investing in getting the most out of your business, you deserve the best solutions and providers. Whether it’s a freelancer, a software development company, or a digital marketing agency, each has its own strengths.  

While easy tasks will take less time, complex projects need longer time. For example, if you have a website and want to redesign 5 pages, this will be completed quickly. Bur, on the other hand, if you need to redesign the whole website (various pages, thousands of posts, images, and so on) – this requires more time, creative effort, and hard work. 

Still in Dilemma? 

If anything sounds risky to you, you shouldn’t proceed with it, even if it’s cheaper. It will definitely get expensive if someone else has to work again on the same project. Choosing a freelancer vs. software company development might be overwhelming.

Understand the benefits, the pain points, the expertise, and finally – work with those that connect with you best. Creating a seamless business relationship built on transparency and trust are the utmost important things. You can have this with both software development companies and freelance developers. It’s basically a triangle of worth: project, time, and money. Start with yourself and the project needs before making a decision.

With more than 150,000 international customers and thousands of completed solutions, tagDiv is one of the worldwide trusted software development companies. Do you have a plan to grow your business by crafting your website or app solutions? Request a quote and let’s talk! It’s time to take your web to the next level!

This whole period has been a tough one for everyone, including online businesses, and personal websites. Yet spring means energy. It is a great opportunity to recharge your batteries. Sun is up, nature is becoming greener, so your creativity should blossom and sparkle too. If your website needs a fresh reshape this year, follow these 10 web design trends and enjoy the spring vibes.  

What are the Current Trends in Web Design?

Web design trends are strongly determined by people’s demands, news, fashion, cultural events, new product releases, social media experiences. Designing or reshaping your site might be challenging. However, it could really worth it. The worldwide web is full of precious design tips that you should test and see if they’re a fit for your needs. As small details make the difference, tiny web design changes are always insightful. All websites must be mobile-friendly, as these mobile devices are mostly used nowadays. According to StatCounter data, mobile usage is almost reaching 55% out of 100%, while desktop devices are being used by 42.9% of people worldwide.

1. Less is More 

In spring 2021, minimalism is still one of the most popular design trends. It can fit any online store, services page, architecture studios, medical site, portfolio, personal blog, and so on. Minimalism is a concept. For some people, it is a way of living. For others, it represents an organized way to present simple things online. When you navigate through a minimalist website, you automatically feel positive emotions, as there’s nothing like too many visuals or Call to Action buttons to overwhelm you. When saying that ‘less is more,’ you should know that a minimalist web design is unifying negative space, basic shapes, essential colors, and clear typography. A minimalist website is simple yet powerful, as it gives the user exactly what he needs, in an instant. For example, if an app uses a minimalist design, the UX will be straightforward and pleasant, as the UI makes it that way. 

2. Neon Designs

By using neon colors to highlight your typography, backgrounds, or images, you’re creating a contrast that stands out from the rest, similar websites. People will notice your site and they’ll keep in mind it’s different from others. Neon colors are used to grab the audience’s attention and lead their eyes to read more and stay longer on the page. For example, if your buyer persona is a millennial, you should definitely consider incorporating neon on your site.  A neon color backed by black or white hues, including geometric shapes and parallax effects, will look sleek and keep your audience engaged.

3. Abstract art

Abstract art is pure creativity. It is strongly influenced by impressionism, post-impressionism, and cubism movements. “Abstract art now lives in the art world in many forms. It is two- and three-dimensional. It can be vast or small. Abstract art can also be made with many materials and on many surfaces. It can be used in concert with representational art or completely abstract. Artists creating it often focus on other visual qualities like color, form, texture, scale and more in their nonobjective work,” outlines the Artists Network.

Whether we refer to a textured background, interesting shape, different color compositions that describe objects, moods, or just serve as visual objects – they all mean abstract art. Squares, circles, and more geometric forms are minimal, and if web designers include these elements in their designs, they create immersive online experiences for any user.

4. Scrolling

Can we say that from March 2020 to April 2021, we used scrolling a lot? It’s the most used form of interaction on social media, online magazines/newspapers, blogs, and any other platform. More and more web designers include interaction in their visual design while users scroll through the site. It could be a change of colors, fonts, images, pages, and what else? The scrolling effect could be horizontal or vertical, depending on how the elements were coded. According to UxPin, there are four types of website scrolling patterns: long, fixed, infinite, and parallax scrolling. Each one of them involves interaction and transition. Sometimes, they are optical illusions, making the objects look like faster-moving performance elements.

5. Micro-Interactions 

What is a micro-interaction? When a user interacts with a certain element from a website, and that element is animated and changes its appearance, it means interaction. Some examples of micro-interactions include color or fonts changing, text highlight, or even shapes’ modifications. Web designers often make buttons or links animated to make the user experience as smooth and engaging as possible. For example, we’ve added .gifs that explain how a certain element works within the tagDiv Composer builder and the Newspaper theme. They are triggered when you hover the mouse over them. Another example of a page entirely built with micro-interactions that initiate while scrolling, is the new iPhone 12 presentation. 

6. Video Header and Background

In this times, with  small to zero social interaction, people tend to create explanatory videos or filmed podcasts. They either talk in front of a camera about a chosen subject or with someone they interview. Moreover, if owning a website, you probably want to include your personal videos and center the information around them. They’re engaging and keep your visitors up to date with your stories. An awesome approach is to add high quality videos in your site’s header area or background. Videos are attention grabbing. Also, they’re the best way and quickest to introduce your website or business. 

7. Negative Space

This one has always been one of the favorites web design trends and it is used to emphasize the most important areas of a website. Negative space is white space. One example that uses negative space beautifully is Apple. The upper area of the homepage represents the latest launched product of the company. Few information, but you still can deduct details such as the eight colors, and the fact that the new iMac is sleek and really thin.

8. Illustrations

In the past year, more and more start-ups were launched into the market. Most of them are centered around the tech industry. To describe software platforms or products, web designers have crafted innovative illustrations that best define their items. Illustrated people, icons – everything is laid out as interactive visuals.

9. Dark Mode

Dark Mode makes any interface look sleek and improves the UX. For example, we have the option to enable dark mode on our smartphones, to reduce the usage of the battery and diminish eye strain. Even browsers have the option to switch between light or dark modes. Choosing between a light or dark mode gives you more control over your website. By opting for switching to a dark mode, you’re reducing the blue light exposure rate. UX Planet has outlined some great tips, such as avoiding pure black, saturated colors, and more.

10. Gradients and Textures

Gradients are created by combined shades of colors. They can be either linear or radial. With gradients, your website becomes a fresh, realism-inspired design. For example, if you do not like empty backgrounds, you can add a gradient background or patterns to make your site a unique one. If you’re a composition enthusiast, you can use wood, ice, bricks, water, and other nature-inspired textures; these will make visitors feel familiar with your site, and they’ll come back for the smooth and cozy experience.

Examples of businesses that went totally digital

The pandemic situation has pushed business owners to find innovative ways to keep in touch with their customers. From art, sports to medicine and school, everything moved online, with us spending a considerable amount of time in video meetings, connecting with people in ways we haven’t thought of. All these businesses created or redesigned their online platforms, so they can schedule events or host live streaming conferences. Let’s take a look at some examples:

• Fashion shows –  Prada Spring Summer 2021 Womenswear Showspace
• Digital marketing conferences – Digital Summit at Home 
• Theatre and movies awards – Oscars, launched live on April 25th 
• Livestream concerts – Billboard publishes a monthly calendar with all concerts
• Sport competitions – Miami Open 

These are just a few of the businesses that have embraced the new tech environment and moved their events online. Moreover, nowadays it is easier to learn a language, to meet with your doctor, or to virtually visit museums around the world. The web designers included micro-interactions, scrolling, dark themes, illustrations, or videos – to outline their businesses and events. 

UI Trends to Follow in 2021

This year, new User Interface web design trends also come along. Glassmorphism, neumorphism, 3D imagery, real-life pictures, blurred lines, brutalism, and others, are highly gaining web designers’ sympathy. 

What is Neumorphism?

Some UX oriented websites advise that it is the new skeuomorphism. According to Wikipedia, a skeuomorph is “a physical ornament or design on an object made to resemble another material or technique,” and they can have a familiar look, resulting from a designer’s cultural influences and knowledge. An example of a skeuomorph element is the “recycle bin”. On the other hand, neumorphism is the neo-skeuomorphism, and represents the combo of a low chroma colours, close shade gradients, accessible shades, and new forms represented. “Neumorphism combines developments of flat design and skeuomorphism. Neumorphism, or soft UI, is a visual style that combines background colors, shapes, gradients, highlights, and shadows to ensure graphic intense buttons and switches. All that allows achieving a soft, extruded plastic look, and almost 3D styling,” notes the author Dmytro Dvurechenskyi in his extensive article on this modern movement. However, there are experts that do not embrace neumorphism, but they’ve found more interesting glassmorphism as web design approaches.

Glassmorphism  

Well-known design platforms, including Behance and Dribble, have already embraced this new UI example among the other web design trends. Glassmorphism as a concept is using pastel color palettes, transparency, as well as light borders. If you’re a front-end designer, you could easily incorporate glassmorphism onto your designs by using the backdrop-filter CSS property and quickly create blurry effects.

Aesthetics, Usability, and Accessibility 

Hope. The pandemic situation has led us to create or redesign websites that inspire you to hope. Calming colors, vivid layouts, animations, bold typography, modern designs combining with retro art – they all make us think outside the box and find new ways to live and see the beauty in everything. According to Fiasco Design, website designs tend to be environment friendly, that incorporate visual elements and colors that connect you with nature, and have an organic inspiration. Combining greens, blues, yellows – the web designers keep it simple in terms of colors. Moreover, the Internet has become home for any business that kept connecting with its customers. Simplicity wins. Negative space. Illustrations and micro-animations. Websites adapted to new technologies. 

With a smartphone in the pocket, social media is one-click away. Moreover, we have at least one account on popular social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, and others. We love to get notified about events, learn about fundraising campaigns, discover the latest news around the world, and shop. All companies and businesses now have a social media presence especially as all platforms have their ad systems so you, as a marketer, can focus on creating customer-driven advertisements on social media. And since the word-of-mouth system has moved online, one of the best inbound marketing approaches is to use content tailored to your social media audiences. This article shows you how to get the most out of each of your social media channels.  

Digital Marketing Strategies 

So, what’s a digital marketing strategy? It’s a set of  actions you plan to implement to reach your  business goals. Newsletter campaigns, podcasts, webinars, giveaways, advertising on social media platforms, and quality content – all these are digital marketing strategies or battle plans in a big strategy. Each of your marketing strategies must have a purpose. Also, the message that reaches out should be addressed to an ideal audience. This means you need to outline the buyer persona profiles and send the right, relevant messages through all channels, so your readers can identify themselves.

Hubspot highlights that your digital marketing strategies need to be genuine, trendy, stable and flexible, in order to grow a company these days. “This dichotomy in business is partially what makes inbound marketing paired with a careful amount of automation so powerful for the growth of companies today.” Social media presence is an important asset for your business’s growth. It represents the way people interact with your brand, and how you communicate with them properly. According to each channel, you can use social media to raise brand awareness, advertise your products, provide quick customer care services, to entertain, inspire, or develop B2B relationships, as they are all part of the inbound marketing.

What is Inbound Marketing

Digital marketing includes different types of instruments you use to reach your business goals such as inbound or outbound marketing. The inbound marketing approach refers to all the actions you make to create meaningful and long-lasting relationships with your audience. Through helpful, valuable content and real solutions to their issues, you’ll reach to your target readers and delight them. When readers are delighted, they tell others about your business/organization/company/brand and the solutions they’ve found & implement with your help. It’s all about delivering an amazing user experience on every social media platform.

Unquestionably, your website is the soul of your business/organization/company/brand. Reaching out to your readers via social media (through essential and well-balanced content) is a great way to connect with them outside of your website, and get them back on it. A returning visitor is a happy visitor! 

So, basically, your inbound marketing efforts help the new potential customers/visitors/prospects to learn more about your business, in a natural way. An inbound strategy wants to earn the reader, while an outbound strategy is focused on selling something to him. Inbound marketing approach uses publishing quality content on a business blog, social profiles, forums, YouTube channels, online reviews, and news websites to gain the lead’s attention. While  the outbound marketing is the traditional sales focused plan like paid advertisements (on any environment, including social media) that strive to increase revenue no matter what, at any cost. 

Relation Between Social Media and Quality Content 

People want to discover stories about your business that solve their problems. Consider social media as a place where people reunite and find out new, valuable information. When people don’t know, they ask. And you have to answer. Nicely, polite, helpful. Even when you receive negative comments and feedback, you need to hold your horses, smile and explain everything in a positive way. The way people see you responding on social media platforms is dictating the way they interact with your business. By creating engaging content, you invite your readers to resonate and/or react to it. 

All your inbound marketing efforts will bring your readers closer to you. They’ll always know where to find you and how to do it, when they’re ready to go further. If your company sells a physical product or software, you can publish relevant content, explaining the benefits,  presenting essential functionalities and answering the questions. Furthermore, you can create meaningful infographics or video tutorials that contain valuable information, so people can identify your product as the solution they were searching for.

Think about each social media profile as separate websites of your organization. With different types of audiences, and distinct landing pages. Every post or tweet you show on your wall is another idea of your brand. If you have 4 social media accounts, then, you have 4 other voices of your company, besides your website. In an article about the new rules in marketing, Hubspot notest that “In today’s business climate, your audience has the convenience of interacting with your company on their terms. […] they’re developing deeper relationships that foster targeted conversations. This ties right back into the principles of inbound marketing.” 

The Most popular Social Media Channels and a Quick Roadmap 

Facebook

According to Brandwatch, Facebook numbers 2.375 billions of monthly users worldwide, with over a billion accessing it from their mobile devices. Launched in February 2004 for students at Harvard University, then expanded to other universities, and in September 2006 Facebook was released to the whole world. During the years, Facebook changed its appearances, functionalities, and  algorithms to deliver people the piece of information that’s the most relevant to them. Facebook’s purpose is to give users control of what they see in their feeds; that’s why people’s choices to react to a post means real engagement. The way they interact with the content published on Facebook is based on multiple ranking signals about the users’ behaviour. 

Facebook has a policy regarding some content categories, including fake videos, misleading health details, misinformation, stolen or offensive content, that will get your page down-ranked. On the other hand, almost every content format is supported by Facebook, so it’s a great place to use all your inbound marketing efforts. If your content incites conversations between users, your job is done. 

Audience: from millennials to gen X and boomers, everyone uses Facebook

Most popular brand account: Samsung

Takeaway: Facebook algorithm continuously changes the way content gets ranked in everyone’s feed.

Twitter

Known as a popular platform, Twitter is best recognized for its short pieces of content (you can write up to 280 characters per tweet) and include an image, as well as hashtags. “Twitter is a relatively informal communications tool so don’t be afraid to embrace a personal, friendly and humorous approach to tweeting” notes the Economic and Social Research Council. Tweet short stories with images, and retweet interesting information. 

Twitter was developed by four former Google Employees and released in 2006. Built upon the Ruby on Rails framework, Twitter was thought to be a SMS based software. Today, there are over 330 million monthly users. You can check out the Twitter statistics on the Business of Apps website. Twitter gives you the opportunity to create polls, ask questions, and make your audience curious to know more. This way you’re encouraging your followers to share their thoughts about a matter. If you wrote a great article on your brand’s blog, share it with your Twitter audience. Use a clear, friendly, and short line to describe it. Don’t forget to use visuals for a quick impact!

Audience: 35-65, mostly men

Most popular Twitter account: Barack Obama 

Most popular brand on Twitter: PlayStation

Takeaway: USA and Japan are the leading countries with the most significant number of users

Instagram

If your business is related to fashion, luxury, beauty, merchandise, arts, photography crafts, gastronomy, then, visuals are everything. Instagram is the best social media to publish images that catch the eye of the visitor. You can post content on your profile, upload IGTV videos, reels, publish stories and apply filters, mention collaborators, use tags and relevant hashtags, and so on. Instagram was launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and two years later the platform was bought by Facebook. So, in our opinion, Instagram easily connects brands, people, and influencers through creative and unique media content. Is about telling stories through strong visuals. Make sure to use attractive photos or videos, and choose the right hashtags (you need to mix and match them from time to time). Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users. 

Audience: Gen Z and millennials  

Most popular Instagram account: Cristiano Ronaldo

Takeaway: According to Hootsuite, 90% of the Instagram users follow a business account. 

LinkedIn

Founded in 2003, LinkedIn is a social network that connects professionals from different businesses. “LinkedIn allows users to further their careers by searching for jobs, finding connections (even at third hand) at a particular company, and receiving recommendations from other users,” notes Britannica. According to Foundation Inc, there are over 675 million monthly users. People with accounts on LinkedIn are scrolling through their feeds to discover new valuable tips to improve their businesses approaches. Keep that in mind when you’re submitting information on behalf of your organization. LinkedIn is not the kind of social media where you’ll find memes to laugh at and adorable cat images. Here’s a trick: you cannot publish articles as a company page, but you as an individual can write a great piece of content and tag your brand’s page. 

Audience: 26-55 years old, based on a Hootsuite article about LinkedIn stats

Most popular LinkedIn account: TED Conferences

Takeaway: More than 70% users are outside the USA. 

Pinterest

Similar to Instagram, Pinterest is a network based on sharing images and quick videos that people can pin and save into their boards. Pinterest is a great way to organize topics based on your interests. If you’re interested in architecture, you’ll search for all the pins related to this matter and create a board so you can find them anytime and get your inspiration. Since its launch in December 2009, Pinterest is used by over 300 million monthly users worldwide. This social media constantly draws retailers to create a Pinterest business page as an online storefront to attract new customers using beautiful visuals.

Audience: 18-49 years old, mostly women

Most Popular Pinterest account: Oh Joy! 

Takeaway: Over 42% of women use Pinterest as their resource, while only 15% of men access it. 

YouTube

This is the largest video-streaming platform in the world, and it was created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees. In 2006, Google bought YouTube and since then, this platform has become an important search channel for users. YouTube is based on user-generated content , and you have a great opportunity to make your business discoverable. There are over 2 billion of YouTube accounts that live stream videos or publish videos of themselves & others doing crafts, giveaways, tech tutorials, music videos, and so on. People search through YouTube databases for original content they relate to.  

Audience: Everyone

Most Popular YouTube account: T-Series

Takeaway: People on YouTube are watching a billion hour of videos daily. This is the second largest search engine behind Google, surpassing Bing, Yahoo, AOL and Ask.com combined.

Snapchat

Snapchat was launched in 2011 and nowadays it is used by over 210 million of active younger users. This platform is an attractive social network and a new way to reach out to another audience. Neil Patel describes Snapchat as a “highly authentic, personal, and engaging medium for digital marketing stars to connect with their customers.” It is said that content doesn’t last too much on Snapchat, but it’s a social media platform where businesses are not too many. So, it’s a market that can be exploited. Unlike Instagram where people take high-definition images and put focus on crystal clear images and mostly make-up related filters, Snapchat uses its stories to entertain, so that everyone can make jokes and use filters in the most funny ways possible.

Social Tech Junkie describes Snapchat as a way to “catch breaking news, appreciate unique works of art, and get some incredible laughs.” So, if your audience mainly concerns teenagers, you could try to market your brand in a natural, humoristic way on Snapchat too. 

Audience: 13-29 year old, according to Smart Insights

Most Popular Snapchat account: Dj Khaled  

Takeaway: Influencer marketing is rising on Snapchat, as 4 out of 4 Snapchat users respond to new brands used by celebrities they follow.

Get the Most Out of Each Social Media Channel

With ever-changing marketing tactics and technology evolution, as a digital marketer you have to keep up the balance and live with the trends. People may have different levels of education, demographics, and ages according to each social media statistic, but all of them are interested in getting valuable tips to improve their lifestyle. If you keep posting quality content and respect the social media platform’s terms, your business is safe. You can find more about each social media demographic from the Sprout Social comprehensive guide. Most of the social media networks allow groups that can be private or public.

If you want to reach out to other audiences than yours, you could look out to share useful information. Consider this article as the starting point for your company to learn more about who your audience is and how to reach through which platforms. In marketing, being open-minded is a must. Social media is the best way to promote your business and make it visible to the world. You can improve your leads, increase sales, and boost conversions by using inbound strategies and amazing content. On social media you’ll reach the audience that is really interested in what your company is all about, and you’ll build long-lasting relationships with your followers.