Part 1 - Introduction to Social Media
It would seem that the world and his wife is always tweeting,
liking, poking and living their life in cyberspace. But what does
that mean to you? Can you use these modern mediums to reach new
customers and expand your digital presence? The answer is probably
yes. The difficulty lies with which one of the ever growing list of
social media sites do you use, how are you going to manage them and
how are you going to get the best from it. This is the first post
in a short series that will help you to better understand the
basics of social media.
Firstly, what is social media? It is a relatively new concept
that has been in the public consciousness for less than a decade.
In simple terms, it is content generated by the user that they wish
to share with other users. Some formats have come and gone and some
are better known than others. We will focus on the two biggest
players in social media, Facebook and Twitter.
It doesn't matter if you are a huge multi-national company or
Mrs Miggins trying to publicise her award winning local pies, used
correctly social media can help you. You can use it to communicate
with your existing customer base, to target new customers or both.
Let's say you want to get feedback on a new service, advertise a
new course or promote your latest promotion, there are ways to get
this across to your customers without having to spend a penny.
When someone follows your updates then they will see what you
have posted whilst they browse their particular social preference.
Once they are a 'follower' then your updates will be viewed on a
site that they actively return to or a mobile app they use on a
regular basis. This means you can get your message across simply
and easily whilst people go about their daily digital lives.
You can also use social media to share your website or blog.
When integrated into your site, visitors can share content, posts
and other parts of your website with all of their friends or
followers. The potential is endless. Let's say John visits your
site and shares it on Facebook. John has 250 friends who could
potentially see what he's shared. John's friend Jim really likes
the post about your site so he shares it too, but Jim has 400
friends and two of them share it to their friends. Already you've
potentially reached over a thousand people and the chain goes on
and on.
What do I post? You may ask. Success may not come from how many
people you have following you but from what and how you communicate
with them. Your friends and family may like to know that you had
sausages for dinner but try to think about what your audience will
want to read. Try sparking up a conversation. Mrs Miggins could
post something like, 'What's your favourite pie filling?' and her
followers will post comments, reply, retweet etc depending on where
it was posted.
Over the next two posts we will help you to understand how to
get the best from Facebook and Twitter. Don't know what a hashtag
is? Or not sure what happens when someone likes a post? We'll break
it down so you can easily get started.
Look out for Part 2 - Facebook. Coming
soon.
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