Social Media has changed the way people connect, discover, and share information
Social media is the technology that connects people, whether it’s to share content or just to chat.
Social networks are the places where social interactions happen (discovering & sharing).
Social media marketing is the way to use that technology to build relationships, drive repeat business. and attract new customers through friends sharing with friends.
Sound familiar? That’s because social media marketing is really just word-of-mouth powered by technology.
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Facebook has over 1 billion people!
Facebook’s user profile cuts crosswise over locations, races and ages making it the best known and most used social network in the world.
Facebook makes it simple for individuals to impart their encounters through short posts, photographs, motion pictures and by “liking” and sharing fascinating content, hobbies and events they find on the web.
The sheer volume of Facebook utilization makes it critical to think about, however all the more critically, individuals are doing more than connecting with friends. Near 50% of Facebook’s clients are associating with organizations and philanthropies and sharing the news, arrangements, and other substance from those associations.
There are 100 million active Google+ users
Google+ is Google’s answer to Facebook
The user experience (UX) is like that of Facebook (status updates, post, feeds and sharing), however the thought here is to make it less demanding to impart content to particular sets of individuals (called Circles) in place of simply publishing content on your wall for everyone to see.
What is the benefit for businesses?
To some degree, search results are as of now impacted by Google+ action. Those who actively participate on Google+ have a better chance of getting in front of their target audience via search results. Google is presently a web search tool with a self-fulfilling engagement platform. Brands and businesses that engage on Google+ will have an advantage over those who don’t since consumers begin to adopt and favor personalized search results via Google+.
The other profit aside from inquiry is in its organizing potential. Since the system is not yet standard you have an improved risk of having discussion with industry pioneers and making associations that could profit your business in the long run.
It’s not just for celebrity!
Since its launch, Twitter has evolved into an excellent tool for businesses to interact directly with customers, demonstrate thought leadership, get feedback, and supply support.
Twitter is graded as one of the ten most visited websites and allows every type of individuals to share and consume info they find fascinating.
Twitter users post news, articles, promotions, and jokes all in a hundred and forty character chunks. By “following” somebody on Twitter you’ll see all of their posts and simply share them with the those who “follow” you. For many, Twitter could be a nice source of real-time news and insights regarding the things that matter most to them.
Twitter provides your organization a voice and is another quick and simple way to share messages and obtain feedback from your customers, members, and prospects in real time. and since it’s really easy for messages to spread quickly, Twitter will bring you to new audiences that you simply won’t be able to find through traditional marketing.
The Instagram community is now more than 150 million people
It as a “quirky,” “fun” and “beautiful” way to share photos.
Using Instagram, business owners will instantly place a face to their businesses’ name and watch their client relationships and sales flourish as a result, indeed 54 % of major brands are using Instagram for his or her business.
- Connect and inspire your customers, downlines and prospects
- Take photos at business oriented events and share them on Instagram
- Invite team members to share photos of team events
- Hashtag (#) your pictures appropriately therefore individuals will notice them
More than 175 million members in over 200 countries & territories.
LinkedIn is the most widely used social network for connecting people professionally (e.g., based on their business profile, not their personal life) and is a social media home base for lots of B2B organizations.
LinkedIn users create professional connections based on their interests and experience, often participating in group discussions and answering questions relating to their industry or areas of expertise. They also stay on top of and share relevant industry news.
LinkedIn is a great way to create professional connections that can give you ideas and advice for running your business and to help spread the word about the value you are providing to your customers.
As of September 2010, Flickr was hosting over five billion images.
Flickr is a free photo-sharing network with a very strong and active user base. It is one of the largest photo and video hosting services on the web
How does Flickr work?
There are two types of Flickr account: free or Pro. The free account is fairly comprehensive. Users are allowed to upload 100 MB of images a month and 2 videos. However, if you fail to log in to your account for 90 consecutive days, you account will be deleted. You are also denied access to the original upload file – Pro users can access and re-download these images. Images can be tagged and labelled with geographical data to make them easy to search for. There are a number of copyright options for users: everything from a Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to use the images for non-commercial purposes with attribution, to all rights reserved.
Can I market my business on Flickr?
Technically, users are not allowed to use Flickr for commercial purposes – you can’t just upload an advertisement as it’s against the terms of service. If you are in a service business – accounting or insurance, for example – Flickr probably isn’t the most useful network for you. But if there are any visual elements to what you do, or if you manufacture real-world products, there are a number of ways to promote your brand on the photo-sharing platform.
35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube… every minute
YouTube is currently the 2nd largest search engine in the world after Google.
If you decide to post company videos, this is the place to do it.
What is the benefit for businesses?
- Raise awareness
- Generate word-of-mouth
- Improve search rankings
- Increase referrals
- Personalize your brand
The major benefit of Pinterest is that it’s currently driving more traffic to web sites than Google+, Youtube, and LinkedIn combined.
Pinterest is like a virtual bulletin or cork board that allows users to find and curate images and videos.
Unlike other photo sharing sites, the emphasis here is on the discovery and curation of other people’s content, not just storing your own.
What is the benefit for businesses?
The major benefit of Pinterest is that it’s currently driving more traffic to web sites than Google+, Youtube, and LinkedIn combined.
It’s recommended that you get comfortable with the platform as a user first, and then use that knowledge to work on your business presence.
One thing you can do now is use the site to get inspired: All that visual content will surely bring to mind ideas for marketing campaigns, photos, products, and other content. Sign up, browse around, and let the site help you brainstorm your own projects.
How does it work?
Pinterest allows you to use visual assets like photos or infographics as a type of social currency in their own right—garnering likes and “repins,” the equivalent of shares or retweets—instead supplementing web pages, blog posts, or other text-based media.
You can easily post images from other websites to your Pinterest account using the “Pin it” task bar button, or you can just browse the Pinterest platform to discover, like, or “repin” content others have already posted.
This visual aspect of the site is one reason why it’s captured the interest of so many businesses, from retailers to photographers and designers, who are using it as a portfolio or product catalog. Customers and clients can say which products they love (shoes, bottles of alcohol, furniture … you name it) and want to buy for themselves, and their friends can further the endorsement by pinning the pictures to their own walls.
Many companies use different social networks to create different experiences. LinkedIn for business discussions and lead gen, Twitter for content marketing updates and customer conversations, and Facebook for more fun company culture based updates. Instagram is also perfect to help your Facebook account by capturing funny moments on the fly and push them to Facebook to brighten up your presence there.