An introduction to social media.

Hardly a day goes by without reference to social media, social networking, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. What are they and can they really help businesses find new customers?

What is social media?

Social media is online networking via such websites as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube, Digg, etc. These websites work via “Web 2.0” technology which allows internet users to easily save, publish and share information with friends, colleagues and followers.

Blogs, podcasts, video and photos can be uploaded to a social media website and then be shared with contacts and other websites relatively easily and at very little cost, if not for free. 

It is a fast growing form of communication, with the young and old now communicating more regularly via social media than ever before. 

Why does it work for business?

People follow or linkup with other like minded people who have common values, goals or interests. Being able to attract followers who have a shared interest in what you write about provides a potentially lucrative opportunity for businesses to convert followers into paying customers.

A fundamental benefit of social media is that as well as providing a way for businesses to promote their offerings and gain traffic to their websites, they allow business owners to convey their personalities by providing a forum for them to give their opinion. Essentially, Web 2.0 technology allows authentic and genuine people to convey that they are experts in what they do, which builds credibility and trust with potential customers.

The growing volume of people using online social media means there is a captive audience for businesses to target to help increase their brand recognition. Companies spend large amounts of money on buying mailing lists and contact details, but most social media websites provide a platform to connect and communicate with a target audience for free.

8 tips for maximising the effectiveness of social media

• Add social bookmark links to relevant pages on your website and blog. Let people share your information with their contacts. You can download a free bookmarking widget from www.addthis.com. 

• Share an interesting article. If you come across a good article then share it with your followers because if you found it interesting then the chances are your followers will too.

• Be aware of the serial follower. Although this may be against the spirit of some social media websites, don’t follow someone just because they follow you. Is someone following x thousands of people really interested in you and able to truly follow you, or is their objective to simply get as many people following them as possible? 

• Promote your social media web-pages. You may want contacts and clients to follow you, so make it easy for them by having links to your social media web-pages in your email signature or footer and on your website. 

• Manage social media responsibly and have a company policy. If you employ people the chances are that they will already be on a social media website. If you linkup with employees then there is a risk that their personal pages may contain information and images that may not fit with your brand. For example, do you really want your customers to know that Tim from accounts spent a stag weekend in Blackpool with a traffic cone on his head? 

• Ensure your social media marketing strategy is fully integrated with your traditional marketing and PR strategy. If you write, submit and publish articles on the web you should inform everyone in your social media network by bookmarking the link to your social media web-pages.

• Link your various social media websites together. For example Twitter can feed directly to Facebook, and so on. This allows you to convey the same message to your different audiences but without the need to duplicate the message on each social media website. 

I'm a marketing consultant who provides marketing services for small businesses in and around Sutton Coldfield.  Contact me for a free no-obligation consultation.