Swimming in the Social Media Pool Ocean
Some of the many options available to utilise in your social media strategy
Whether you are currently standing on the shore looking out, or already dipping a toe in, or trying to swim through the swirling tides of possible social media opportunities, I’ll hazard a guess that if you are reading this then you feel that you certainly haven’t yet got command over this area of ‘marketing’.
If you have done any research at all on the subject you will realise that the main budgetary concern isn’t money, it’s time!
Like it or not, whether you are a company large or small, self employed sole trader or not-for-profit organisation, if you are neither involved nor preparing to become imminently involved on the social media front, I’m sure you will be aware of just how many of your competitors are already engaged with it and making it work for them.
Can you afford to be left behind?
The Main Players
Rather than indulge in a long drawn out explanation of how each of the social media companies / portals works, given that they are constantly adding to or evolving the features they offer [and I would thus have to keep re-writing this page], I think it best if I give a quick overview of those I normally deal with and leave more detailed analysis of the rest to posts in the social media section of the blog. At the side of this page you will find links to sites which I feel have the best specialist writers on the subject and at the bottom are a couple of selected blog articles to get you [even more] warmed up.
Let’s start with Twitter as it’s the network you will find me on most, I have accounts for both business and personal use. A great way to network with people on a speedy level – the 140 character limit per message makes it the SMS of the online world.
Linkedin is much more a business networking tool, not so much social media as professional connectivity. All the same, even if you have limited time to spend, still worth joining and posting a full profile from the start.
Facebook and ‘new kid on the block’ Google+ are more conversational in outlook, and both recently have begun to pay more attention to introducing features which will attract business users.
Ever use photography, audio or video to record what you do? Why only post these media on your own site where there may be a limited audience? Why not get accounts with Flickr, Youtube, Vimeo, Audioboo or similar to post these to? There they can reach a potentially much larger audience and you can still show them on your own site by embedding them via links back from the hosting site. You never know, you might even post something that goes ‘viral’ one day… in a good way, of course!
OK, those are all huge over simplifications of things, so best get in touch and we can discuss your individual needs.
A Few Choice Social Media Articles on Other Sites
Developing a Social Media Strategy – Gemma Went
UK leading the way as mobile social networking use skyrockets across Europe – The Wall
Twitter Vs Facebook: Which Is More Valuable For Brands? [Infographic] – Social Times
5 Ways to Turn Social Customers Into Brand Ambassadors – Mashable