Mastodon isn’t as famous as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit. However, what Mastodon lacks in fame, it makes up with its unique features.
If you’re feeling restricted by the saturation of mainstream social media platforms and want to explore a new avenue for connecting with users, then Mastodon is worth looking into.
Here we’ll discuss who owns Mastodon, what makes it unique, and how marketers can benefit from it.
What Is Mastodon? Is it Similar to Twitter?
Mastodon is an open-source, decentralized social network comprising independent servers organized in a federated structure. This means that users can join or create their servers.
The platform is similar to Twitter. It allows you to “toots” (tweets) of 500 characters or less. You can follow people, create hashtags, and boost (retweet) other people’s posts. What sets it apart from Twitter is that a single company doesn’t control it. This means that individual users and servers can modify the platform to their liking, making it more customizable than Twitter.
Mastodon also has a stronger focus on privacy, allowing users to choose whether they want their posts to be visible to followers or only to mentioned accounts.
Who Found And Who Owns Mastodon?
Mastodon was created by Eugen Rochko in October 2016. Rochko is a German software developer and entrepreneur who grew up using Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. He enjoyed those platforms but didn’t appreciate how private American companies structured and controlled them. That’s why he created Mastodon, named after Atlanta’s heavy metal band.
Mastodon’s growth wasn’t immediate, but it gained sudden popularity when Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022. Musk’s plan to cut staff and weaken moderation caused many Twitter users to look for alternatives, and Mastodon was one of them.
While around 800,000 Mastodon accounts were created, its user base soon shrunk by 30% from its peak. The reason? Users felt that the platform was highly dominated by tech-savvy users, making them feel unwelcome.
In an interview, Rochko revealed that he started working on Mastodon as an experiment while still living in his parent’s apartment. When the network exploded in popularity, he worked 14 hours daily to keep it running smoothly.
Why Use Mastodon for Marketing
Not sure where to start with social media marketing? Looking for something more secure than Twitter and Facebook? Mastodon might be the perfect solution.
The following are the benefits of using Mastodon for marketing.
Leverage Community Engagement
Community-centric marketing strategies provide marketers with the perfect opportunity to engage with users in an authentic, natural way. They also help to foster relationships with customers and build trust.
Mastodon is made up of independent communities or “instances.” You can either build your own instance or join an existing one.
Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages when it comes to marketing. For example, if you join an existing instance, you will have access to a larger audience but will probably not be able to market as openly.
Building your own community, on the other hand, requires more effort and resources but allows you to create a space specifically to market your brand, gain customer feedback, and bring in valuable leads.
Maximize Affiliate Marketing and UGC Content
The team behind Mastodon is indeed anti-advertisement, but that doesn’t mean you can’t market your products and services through the platform. The community-first approach of Mastodon opens doors for affiliate marketing and user-generated content.
You can use affiliate marketing to get people talking about your products or services or run UGC campaigns to enhance the effect of word-of-mouth marketing and increase your reach exponentially.
There are many tools to make UCG and other marketing campaigns a breeze. As per Publer 2023 roadmap, Mastodon integration has finally been introduced to help with scheduling, publishing, and analyzing your Mastodon content.
Related: Beyond Mastodon Scheduling | Automate Your Fediverse Presence With Publer
Remember that Mastodon users love to be part of something meaningful, which means in-the-face marketing tactics won’t work here. Subtler techniques, such as creating content that engages the audience and encourages them to share, are the way to go.
Talk About Unexplored Topics
Mastodon currently has +8.8k instances (or servers). If it doesn’t have an instance for your niche, you have a great opportunity to create one.
Being seen as an expert in your niche helps you stand out and gain customers’ trust. This “trust” can benefit your brand in the long run, as people are more likely to choose a credible authority over any other business.
If you have trouble creating content for Mastodon, you can use Publer AI Assist to generate engaging and valuable content easily.
Building an audience and gaining recognition will take time, but it’ll be worth the effort.
Research Your Market
If your target audience is already on Mastodon, you should take full advantage of it! You can use the platform to research your market and get an in-depth understanding of their needs.
On Mastodon, each server is gathered around a single topic. So, find the right one and start observing the conversations. What are people talking about? What do they seem to be interested in?
You can also use the platform to learn about any complaints people might have about your product. This feedback is invaluable for understanding your customers and fine-tuning your product and marketing strategy.
Key Takeaways
Mastodon is a great alternative to traditional social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. It allows marketers to engage with users on a deeper level.
To recap:
- Mastodon was created in 2016 by Eugen Rochko.
- Rochko founded Mastodon because he didn’t appreciate that large American companies controlled social media.
- Mastodon is a free, open-source platform that allows users to join or create independent communities.
- The platform makes community-centric marketing strategies possible and provides opportunities for affiliate marketing and UGC content.
- Brands can use Mastodon to research their target audience to understand their needs and preferences.
- Marketers can create instances for niches not yet represented on the platform, allowing them to establish themselves as experts in their field and build trust with customers.
What do you think about using Mastodon for your business? Is investing time in a long-term and organic marketing strategy on Mastodon worth it?
It certainly can be, especially if you’re using Publer! The platform can be used to schedule toots, boosts, threads and automate your scheduling plan – and who does not love some fresh insights on how their content is performing? Find out all you can do for your Mastodon account with Publer here.
Ervin Kalemi
