Social Media for Business

In many ways the story regarding consumers internet habits during both 2011 and 2010 has been the unstoppable rise in the use of Social Media. Several key players have emerged within the field, all of which have grown enormous, enthusiastic user bases in a very short period of time. Facebook for example currently has 800 million users, 50% of whom access the service daily.

As a result of the reach that they offer it has become impossible for businesses to ignore the potential of posting promotional information on these platforms. All of the major Social Media services offer a free sign up and many offer additional features to allow business to use the platform as an advertising medium.

Here is a brief overview of the most popular Social Media platforms:

Facebook

Businesses are well catered for on Facebook with Facebook Pages, which allow you to quickly setup a page for your business based on the category of work you undertake. Once your page is setup you can post status updates, photographs, videos, links and more - all in the same way that you would post items to your 'wall' in a personal Facebook account. All of these updates are then relayed onto the wall of those people who have 'liked' (i.e. chosen to follow) your page. There are a wealth of tools designed to track the popularity of your page, how many people like it, who is talking about it and more.

Twitter

Historically, Twitter was not perceived as a marketing tool by many, just a place to transmit concise messages to a private or public audience. This has rapidly changed though, with many businesses and brands now having their own Twitter accounts to promote their offering to a massive potential audience of over 300 million users. The key with Twitter marketing is to keep it low-key and relevant. You are limited to 140 characters per message, so you will need to be creative and use links within tweets to direct followers to enhanced content within your website or other Social Media websites that you operate.

YouTube

There is a wealth of functionality associated with YouTube that is often not tapped into by businesses. It's primary function is to allow users to upload and view video content, and for a business wanting to showcase product or services using the rich medium of video, it provides a fantastic platform. Videos can also be embedded within the pages of your website, and the ability for other users to comment on your videos is not something to overlook. YouTube itself is an immensely popular site, and this is sure to grow as it is owned by Google and is sure to be integrated further into their search offering.

Google+

A new offering from Google which aims squarely at eroding Facebook's market share and offers many of the same features whilst introducing several new ones. Google+ was launched to much fanfare in 2011 but has yet to gain as many users as either Facebook or Twitter. It cannot be discounted however, given Google's domination of the search engine market and the way it is integrated within their current product range. Initially businesses were not allowed to sign-up but Google has now rolled out features to allow you to configure your own business page, much in the same way as it works with Facebook. Google+ is certainly a platform to watch into 2012.

LinkedIn

A Social Media tool centred on business, LinkedIn in many ways could be viewed as a 'grown up' version of Facebook. It allows you to post updates on your business, link with customers and associates and allow other people to publish reviews of your business. It also offers a premium paid-for version that allows you to, amongst other things, view more information about which other LinkedIn members are looking at your profile.

Making Social Media work for your business

When looking at all of the above platforms, the key point is always that they provide you with a direct connection to your customers and/or potential customers. Whilst you do need people to 'like you', 'follow you' or 'poke you' in the first instance, once they are onboard you can easily communicate regular updates to them and maintain a presence in their mind of your business offering. You will need to be creative (your followers are not going to welcome repeat identical posts) but if you can maintain variety and interest we believe that Social Media offers tremendous opportunities for driving large amounts of visitor traffic to your website in a way no other form of marketing can present do.

Would you like some help with the Social Media strategy for your business? Contact Source Design today and we will be happy to provide more information on how we can help your business raise it's profile.