The increasing popularity of social media networks like Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and YouTube has created a new branch in online marketing. Many large companies, celebrities and politicians establish a social media profile in one of these social media networks to increase brand and name awareness and popularity.
In creating a social media profile for your company or website, you need to know first what you hope to achieve within each of the social media networks. In this way, you’ll be able to choose the correct platform for your marketing campaign as various social media networks present different results. For you to know what is the best social media network for you, here are the big 4 social networking sites and what they can do for you:
Twitter is what is termed as a micro-blogging platform, now what is that? Well it is pretty simple, Twitter lets you reply to the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. It allows for you to engage in informal and witty communication with yourfollowers. Also, you can be followed by an unlimited number of people who are interested in what you’
Tweeting is a good way to build a company’s popularity and establish a strong consumer base. Make new product introductions and events amusing and build a “following.” One of the first companies to really utilize Twitter in a corporate setting was Zappos.com. Most of the 1,500 employees of have a twitter account and they are constantly talking about what is going on within the company, its products, and more. Also, they are searching for conversations with certain keywords to participate in.
Facebook is a social network geared towards making families, friends, and groups of people stay connected. It has many applications that you can use to promote your website. You can post pictures, videos and urls for all of your “friends” to see. You can create groups that people can join and establish a page where people can indicate whether they like it or not. For maximum exposure, choose Facebook to create your social media profile.
While a standard FaceBook account is reserved for an individual, a business can create a “Fan Page” where they can talk about their business and communicate with their fans.
LinkedIn is the largest social network composed of professionals. This is the best way for you to establish a connection to your specific industry and build on your repertoire of contacts. If your website or company’s target market is professionals, then LinkedIn is the way to go.
Your LinkedIn profile is also your online resume. This site is the best social network for connecting with co-workers, business associates, clients, etc.
YouTube
YouTube is the largest video social network. It allows you to upload your videos for everyone to see. If you think your company has a visual side that is interesting and amusing, then YouTube is the platform for you. Creating a successful short video can become the first step towards success. Essentially YouTube allows you to have your own public online TV station, with videos being searched, and viewed in the hundred of millions of views per day.
Additionally, people can subscribe to you videos and share them with friends thereby adding a viral component to this service. And, it is also an inexpensive (free) way to host videos that you can easily put on your website or blog. While you will have the YouTube logo on the video player, you have a no-cost way of putting your videos online.
In the modern age, where everything is available online and people Google something or someone before they make a buying or business decision, your social media profiles & information becomes a vital part of any marketing strategy. Entries into most of the social networks are picked up in the search engines in a matter of minutes, and a twitter post can easily make it to the first page in a Google search by tomorrow.
Make sure that when you start working with your social media profiles that you keep your information consistent, accurate, and your entries compelling. Many companies, even small businesses and entrepreneurs are opting to hire a professional social media consultant to help them get everything setup and also to maintain the information. I’m going to be talking more about that is another post so look for it in the very near future.
