By Ayo Odusolu
Have you heard of any
of these: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, Wikis, RSS Feeds, Delicious, Flickr?
If you have, then congratulations and welcome to the world of Social Media.
Hearing about them and
knowing what they really do are two different things and so this article will
not only highlight the different types of Social Media available for the Small
Business Owner to make use of; it’ll also explain the merits and likely
de-merits of using such media.
First a few basic
questions to guide our discussions – What is Social Media?
Social media is not
a strategy or a tactic – it’s simply a channel. A
channel through which millions are conversing, interacting and inter-phasing
with themselves online.
Or put another way,
Social Media is about having conversations online with other people. These
people range from your customers, your employees, your investors,
your critics, your fans and even your competition....in
a nutshell, anyone who has internet access and an opinion is actively engaging in online conversations.
Why bother with Social
Media?
It’s all about
Connections!
You need to seriously
consider getting involved in Social Media for the following reasons:
1.
Most
of your audience is already online: People
are actively using social media (Social media sites are the
fastest-growing category on the web, doubling their traffic over the last year-
Source: Universal
McCann’s Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, April 2008)
2. It’s
an inexpensive but accurate way of getting feedback or hearing what people are
saying about your Business vis-a-vis your Competition.
3. It
can help you in all stages of marketing, self-promotion, public relations, and
customer service
4. Create
awareness for events & campaigns
5. Increase
your brand exposure
6. Find
new opportunities and customers
7. Support
your products and services
8. Retain
clients by establishing a personal relationship
9. Be
an industry leader – not a follower
3 examples of Social Networking
Sites and how to use them
1.
Facebook:
arguably
the largest Social Networking Site in the world with about 110 Million Active
Users. Though it has membership spread all over the world, its users are
primarily in US, Canada and UK
Facebook
also provides the added benefits of ability to interact with current and
potential customers at anytime and anywhere they are.
A
small business owner on facebook can also make use of this medium for highly
targeted advertising and social interactions
2.
Linkedin:
Another
massive Social Networking Site with about 35 Million users worldwide, Linkedin
is a great platform for the Business User. It shows you which of your own
contacts can introduce you to their connections who know them.
You’ve
heard of the “six degrees of separation” right? Well, with Linkedin you can now
leverage on the power of your existing contacts to introduce you to their own
contacts at the press of a button!
3.
Twitter:
Not
yet as popular as the first two above, twitter is rather unique in that it is a
micro blogging platform that only allows you to compose your entire message in
140 characters! You can easily “follow” people you are interested in and have
others “follow” you as well.
With
Twitter you can
Tweet
about company news and tit-bits
Special
offers or discounts for your Twitter “followers” to drive sales.
Provide
real time updates about your company’s events
Get
immediate feedbacks about your business from customers following you.
Provide
personalized customer service to customers experiencing good or bad service
delivery from your company.
So, there you have it- the world
awaits you and your business online. Social media is the future- your customers
are already there. The ball is therefore firmly in your court.
To get the best from your Social
Media Plan however, you must
remember that, the key is to
have content that “engages” others
(potential and existing customers) and makes them want to link to your site.
See you at the top!
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