Social Media. Carolyn Boyes

identify them one by one. Once I have clients I don’t need to phone or visit them. Instead, using social media, I can keep in touch with anyone anywhere in the world and show them what I have to offer using words, pictures and video. Social media is now a gigantic global conversation and a global business must.

      Business Secrets: Social Media consists of 50 secrets in total, divided into seven chapters.

      ▪ Plan. Start afresh. Learn how the world has changed and that social media is the most effective tool for the success of your business.

      ▪ Promote. The whole world can become your marketplace. Think how you can build a community of followers who will turn into customers for your business.

      ▪ Post. There are so many different social media tools now. Discover which ones you should use and what the best ways are to use them.

      ▪ Position. Use social media to build a long-term brand on the web which will grow your business for years to come.

      ▪ Monitor. By keeping in touch with what your customers want you can consistently tweak your social media presence and make it effective.

      ▪ Be real. Social media is entertaining and fun. Don’t just have a business conversation: be human. Be entertaining.

      ▪ Follow web etiquette. Observe some basic guidelines and legalities online just as much as you do in your offline business.

      If you follow these seven chapters, you will know everything you need to know in order to use social media effectively for yourself and your business. People will know about you and your brand and, more importantly, they will want to become your clients.

      Social media isn’t just fun, it’s also the future of your business.

      

      The world has changed. The mindset of the business world has had to shift enormously from even a few years ago. Over the last decade we have seen the globalization of the marketplace and an enormous appetite to buy, research and socialize online. No business can afford to be offline now. But a website is not enough. You need a strategy for multiple social media platforms.

       1.1

       Ditch the old thinking

      In the past, if you had a business you probably had an office, possibly a shop, and you advertised your products or services in the press and via a website. You would broadcast without really knowing who was listening to you. If a customer wanted to give feedback to a business they would need to write a letter and wait for a response. Now so many people use social media the whole process has been speeded up: from weeks to seconds.

      Social media and old media are very different. With old media you could only have a one-way conversation between the business and its prospective customers. You can talk to your customers and they can talk back to you. There are other differences, too:

      ▪ Old media markets to a mass, unknown audience. Social media is a way of tailoring your marketing to one person at a time.

      ▪ Old media is written by professional marketers. Much of social media content is generated by users and commentators in response to what you post.

      ▪ Social media channels are open, democratic and responsive. Content can be forwarded and adapted by its users, unlike with old media.

      “TV took 30 years to reach 50 million people. Facebook took 2 years” Anon

      one minute wonder Think about marketing your business on social media in a professional way. Do your research and look at which channels your users follow. Not every channel will be used by the same type of user. Start by thinking about the top five reasons why you want or need to use social media.

      ▪ Marketing on old media is usually highly edited and polished. Posts and commentary on social media are rougher but often more authentic.

      ▪ Users pay to access old media: newspapers, magazines and TV. Social media is usually free for the user. You can access it when you want and from where you want.

      ▪ Old media is controlled by the owners and the business which pays for the content. Social media content is jointly controlled by the user.

      ▪ Old media is often focused on people in a particular country. Social media is global.

      You can use social media to share news and expertise, upload product images and videos, write a weekly blog and start discussions. It can become a promotional tool for your business; helping to build your business brand and customer base as well as your profits.

      Create a marketing plan that suits social media, not old media.

       1.2

       Know your channels

      Social media sites are known as channels and social media can be accessed via the internet or apps. The number of channels is expanding all the time and its influence on our lives is growing.

      If you have a business you can use social media to win customers and build a brand in a fun and entertaining way across global borders. Although new channels are added all the time, here are some you must get to know if you are going to promote your business effectively:

      ▪ Facebook is one of the most popular social networks in the world. Every day it is used by billions of people. Individuals, groups and businesses all have Facebook profiles.

      ▪ Twitter is a ‘microblogging’ site – a place where you can write short posts of up to 140 characters. It has become a source for people to get instant information on the news and post comments and pictures, even videos and links to blogs.

      ▪ LinkedIn is the biggest professional social networking site. Employers increasingly expect professionals to provide a link to their LinkedIn profile before getting hired.

      ▪ YouTube is the largest video broadcasting and sharing site of content such as vlogs (video blogs), music videos, talks and movie-making. Find everything from funny videos to how-to videos on here.

      “These days, social media waits for no one” Aaron Lee

      one minute wonder Take the time to look at how your competitors are using these channels to create social networks and online communities by tweeting, blogging, posting and sharing. Social media is very different from advertisement-buying activities and other types of digital marketing.

      ▪ Instagram is a highly popular sharing site for photos and short videos and has helped the craze for celebrity ‘selfies’ – a picture of yourself.

      ▪ Pinterest is a place where you can create your own pinboard of images that you have collected and share them with your followers on the web.

      ▪ Tumblr is similar to Pinterest. Here, you can set up a blog, determine a theme and post all sorts of content.

      ▪ Snapchat is an instant messaging mobile social network. It is based around the idea of videos and photos that self-destruct after viewing.

      ▪ Vine is a video-sharing app. The short (up to six-second) videos can be embedded in a tweet or shared in emails or on other sites.

      Use social media to make your products and services easily accessible and desirable.