Nothing illustrates the difference between old media and new media than social networking platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Under the old model — newspapers, radio or television — someone owns the platform and publishes information through it. If the audience wants to respond, members send in a letter or call the talk back phone lines. In social media, the audience does the publishing, then members talk to each other about it.
In many ways social media isn’t anything new: it’s the internet equivalent of hanging around the mall or gossiping in the tea room, and even using internet services like bulletin boards and newsgroups pre-date the world wide web.
What the newer social media platforms have changed is how people share information. It’s now much easier for people with similar interests, backgrounds or family links to connect each other from anywhere in the world. By joining these networks you will be able to tap into passionate and motivated communities that might, if you show respect to them and their interests, be interested in your products.
And just as you can establish or enhance your web presence using free online listings, you can extend that presence using the free social media sites.
Talking, not shouting
One of the big differences between the traditional media channels and social media is the way you attract attention. In the older media channels, you had to shout in the hope your product would be seen. This model suited big businesses that have the deep pockets needed to fund a traditional marketing campaign.
For smaller business, the only way to compete with big business campaigns was to be as loud as possible — big billboards, garish print adverts and irritating late night TV commercials were typical ways of being seen. But even if you were big, you had to be big, loud and brassy.
The social media channels operate more like a conversation, and using the shouting techniques of the traditional sectors will kill your site stone dead. Instead, communicating in social media is about cultivating online relationships by getting people, not always customers, to becoming supporters of your business. They may choose to support your business because they like you, they think the product’s funky, or because their friends like you or your products or for any other of a million possible reasons. In many ways this suits smaller businesses that operate on local reputations and word of mouth##—##especially because most of us don’t have the funds, or the brash personalities, to run loud, abrasive advertising campaigns on TV or radio.
Facebook
With more than 500 million users at the end of 2010, and looking at a potential stock market value of over $50 billion dollars, Facebook has become an internet force to be reckoned with. The Facebook platform has a number of quirks and features that make it unique on the internet.
At the core of Facebook is your network of friends##—##not necessarily people you know in real life, but folk you have agreed to become Facebook friends with. Your friends can communicate with you, see information you have chosen to keep private from most of the world and invite you to join their games, groups and causes. Those friends can also post on your Wall, which is the first screen you see when you go into your Facebook account. The Wall keeps you up to date with everything your friends are doing, including what they Like.
The ‘Like’ button appears on every page or update on Facebook: if you like something someone has said or done, you click the button and your likes will go onto all your friends’ Walls.
Facebook does not allow businesses to set up personal profiles. Instead, businesses have to set up a Facebook Page, which is free and can be customised to suit your business.
Probably the best thing about Facebook for the smaller business is that it’s a great channel for announcing events and products. However, the service also has the benefits of building up a base of friends and customers. Using it to track customer complaints and the performance of products shouldn’t be discounted, either, as unhappy clients will post messages to your Wall.
To set up a Facebook Page go to <www.facebook.com/pages> and click the ‘Create page’ button in the top left hand corner. This will take you to the ‘Create a Page’ screen, which gives you the choice of the type of page you prefer.
For most business owners, the choice is between ‘Local business’ or ‘Place of interest’ and ‘Company, organisation or institution’ although ‘Product or brand’ can be appropriate if you are launching an individual product.
When you choose one of the Page options, a sub-screen will appear asking for your basic details, such as location and phone number. Once those questions are answered, you will have your basic Facebook Page set up.
From there, you can upload your logo and any other pictures, videos and links to your or other people’s interesting websites in a similar way to that described for local business directories (see chapter 2). Try to keep your information consistent across the different platforms.
Even if you don’t take social media or Facebook seriously, it’s worthwhile checking the page at least every week, just to see what people are saying. If you have something useful to add, such as a special offer or a new product, make sure it goes onto the page.
You can customise your pages with backgrounds and landing pages, which can be complex to set up but effective. More detailed Facebook stategies are discussed later (see chapter 16), but a basic Facebook Page with regular updates is usually enough to get many businesses started.
LinkedIn
Facebook is the general community site, while LinkedIn is more focused on business and recruitment. At its most basic, LinkedIn is like an online CV, where people post their work experience and make connections with people they have worked and dealt with.
LinkedIn also allows you to set up a company page, and that’s worthwhile, particularly if you stage business-oriented events or if you’re recruiting. A company page gives current and previous employees, suppliers or contractors the opportunity to link to your business and follow your news.
Like Facebook, setting up a LinkedIn company page is a straight forward process of filling in key details about your business. As LinkedIn is checked by Google it’s a good opportunity to improve the business’ search engine visibility. Typing in similar details to those you entered for Google Local and True Local in the previous chapter is the best way to use LinkedIn well.
If your business mainly deals with other big commercial organisations, government departments or professional groups, then you will find LinkedIn is a particularly powerful tool. Having a comprehensive, up-to-date profile is an indicator to big clients that you are serious in the online space.
Flickr
The main purpose of Flickr is photo sharing. Over time,it has also become a powerful social media platform as like-minded people gather online to share photos and interests. Photos posted on Flickr often aren’t directly related to the business, but one landscape gardener actually gets business from his wildlife photos. It’s more typical that a reception hall might have photos of weddings, and an entertainer will have photos of their performances.
Naturally photographers and artists use the photo sharing sites to display their portfolios. There’s nothing to stop you posting pictures of work you’re proud of as a concreter, hairdresser or caterer — just remember to get permission from your client if they can be identified from a photo.
Flickr, and the other photo-sharing sites, can be a very good way to build a community and fan base around your organisation. If you like taking photos, your hobby can become a useful part of your business.
For business, it’s straightforward to set up a Flickr profile by visiting the www.flickr.com , setting up a new account and then posting photos relating to your business. With a link to your website in the profile page you’re creating an online profile that is going to attract the interests of the search engines while spreading the word about your business.
YouTube
Another surprising social media platform is YouTube, the video-sharing service. Many businesses are shooting videos to post on YouTube to promote their products.
Like other social media channels, loud advertisements for the business don’t work on this platform, while instructional and informational videos do well while also promoting the business.
A great example of this is Jim the Realtor, a San Diego–based real estate agent who has become famous for taking videos of his inspections and travels around southern California. As well as being entertaining, he gives many good hints on what to watch for in badly constructed homes, overhanging powerlines and various vendor tricks.
Often successful businesses on YouTube, like Jim’s, don’t spend a lot of money on production — though if you have the budget, skills and equipment to do a high quality video it won’t hurt. However, the experience seems to be that online viewers aren’t fussed about picture quality when watching videos on a computer or smart phone
Twitter
Probably the most hyped social media tool through 2009 and 2010, Twitter has become the darling of the media industry, with marketers, public relations firms and journalists flocking to the service. Twitter allows people to send messages from their computers or mobile phones that are no longer than 140 characters, forcing senders, known as tweeps, or twits, to be witty and concise.
Twitter’s attractions are that it’s a good way to tune into what people you find interesting think, and share their thoughts, ideas and news. As a communication tool, Twitter is as much about listening as talking, so it’s a great news delivery tool.
For businesses, Twitter can be an awkward tool to use, as it’s probably the biggest time sink on the internet. If you do find really interesting people to follow, you can easily find yourself immersed for the entire day reading fascinating, but totally irrelevant, websites.
For startup businesses, it’s usually best to sign up to Twitter as a marketing tool, then check in regularly to check what customers are saying about you and what important people are saying about your industry. As you begin to understand how Twitter works and what your circles are like, you can then start posting product announcements, communicating with customers and contributing to the conversations you find interesting.
Setting up a Twitter account is extremely easy. Click on the yellow Signup button at the top of the Twitter webpage to set the page up; choose a user name##—##preferably your business name or something very close to it; and put in your email address.
Once you have set up a page in Twitter, you can choose to customise the look and feel of your page using the same techniques described for the other social media platforms (see chapter 2). You can also set up your website to automatically feed new information into Twitter as it’s posted.
Conclusion
Social media tools are a good way of getting online for free, as well as being an adequate substitute for smaller or cash-strapped businesses that don’t want their own website##—##although I recommend that every business spends a bit of time setting up a site.
To have a successful presence in social media requires having something useful to say, so you need to have the platform to say something, and that’s a basic website, which can be created using free website blogging tools (see chapter 4).
Checklist for social media
- Have you chosen a user name close to your business name?
- Have you included unique pictures and videos in your profile?
- Have you linked your social media sites to your other web presences, particularly if you have a website?
- Remember to use social media to listen: your fans and your critics will be there so social media provides a valuable listening post.
- Remember to take care not to be sucked into spending too much time online.
- Remember to try to avoid mixing personal and business in your online presence.
- Remember not to use social media when you’re angry, upset or drunk.
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