How to Use Social Media Platforms

How to use Social Media

It's okay knowing what Social Media is and how to create a SM profile, but how do you expand that to enable business clients to ensure the know how to interact in SM so that they can proliferate their brand messages, gain brand recognition and promote their products/services correctly.

Many people who already use any sort of Online Marketing and communication product like Facebook, Twitter LinkedIn etc. already know that it only takes a few minutes to actually create the profile and it is not that difficult, but pretty quickly you are looking at a default screen for the tool and wondering what to type.

There are now over 200 tools that make up the collection of products that are all part of the Social Media Platform and naturally they all have slightly different interfaces, they also have different engagement models too. So the issue for many people is 'How should I engage?', well there are so many ways to communicate gain contacts and start the whole process of creating the online persona. I think it is always a good place to start to ensure you understand the rules and etiquette of SM and then of course the rules and etiquette and audience of the actual SM tool you are using.

Firstly you must understand the terms and conditions of the particular Social Media site before you start to engage, for instance written into the Facebook terms and conditions they will not allow you to have more than one Facebook account.

Many people think that this is a major issue since they feel that you need at least two accounts one for personal communication and one for company communication. The issues here for many people appear to be around the fact that they:

a) don't want to share very personal contact information with individuals who are company contacts

b) Most people feel that if you do have a shared account then if anything slightly embarrassing gets communicated this could be seen as un-professional by business contacts. These are real concerns since these sites are social communities of individuals often broken down into smaller social communities, good and bad news can travel fast.

However it is worth pointing out that if the Facebook platform is used correctly and the security features are configured in the correct manner, it is fairly easy to create a professional online entity and keep these communications separate from any personal ones and the same the other way round. Twitter has a slightly different philosophy on this and written into their terms and conditions, you can have more than one Twitter profile as long as each profile has a different email address and this is the same for many other Social Media tools.

It is also worth mentioning about the nature of the content on Social Media sites again this is usually written into the terms and conditions of these networks and you should be aware that if your site has content of a sexual nature or indeed of any content that breaks the laws of the country you are in then the profile can just be taken down.

Also please be ware if your Social Media profile points to other sites that have this sort of content then again you are risking breaking the rules of the Social Media provider. If in doubt please always keep an updated copy of the terms and conditions handy, it is not worth taking the risk especially when you may have put many hours into creating your online brand through particular Social Media platforms.

On a more general note, you should always try to be:

• Honest, Not hiding anything

• Trustworthy

• Good citizen

• Not always selling (Contributing to Social Community)

People are much more likely to believe others they trust on the net than any corporate entity or individual who is seen to be promoting in a dishonest way and making blatantly obvious false claims about products and services they deliver.

When Using Social Media -Be a 'Good Citizen'

As a member of the online Social Media community you should try to post up regular pictures of events, personal break-through experiences, posting new pictures (Flickr) as a representative of the community (community based selling). Market, promote (Events up coming, New product launches), provide customer service as a representative of the community. Because of the Social aspect of Social Media people are always looking to share comments, views, on your offers.

They also want the opportunity to make comparisons and discuss these comparisons with their online contacts and trusted communities, maybe gain feedback on which product or service is good and bad and why?.

Many of the larger companies are now starting to realise the importance of brand management, the use of the fantastic Viral elements of Social Media marketing techniques, it is far less about full on selling and more about being a 'Good Citizen'.

John H

Is a Successful Busines Development Specialist, Search Engine Optimisation and Web Design consultant, John is a lead developer, Search Engine Optimisation Consultant and Social Media specialist with the leading Web Design company E Solutions in South Yorkshire, UK http://www.socialmedia-training.co.uk/ specialises in delivering Social Media Training to the business community as well as delivering courses for specialised online marketing and brand management.

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Social Media Strategy: How Social Media Platforms Create a Perfect Storm

I want to have a discussion with you on how an organization should create a social media strategy. Before we have that discussion and conversation, I want to pose to you a basic question."WHY"? Why should an organization make a social media commitment? We live in an absolutely breathtaking time, aren't we? Truthfully, business now functions a the "speed of thought" to quote Bill Gates. When Mr. Gates made this comment, social media was not a major issue in business. In contemporary business, the quote has even greater significance for a marketer. Social media is a GAME CHANGER. Social media allows an organization to market in "real time". This allows organizations to create strong brands. Social Media allows organizations to have a personal "conversation" with consumers. When this "conversation" is made, a strong brand is created.

Social media are the platforms like Facebook and Twitter that allow marketers and customers to have instant conversations with their customers. This allows an environment in which "disruptive" markets can be created and and for these markets to thrive. Two recent events prove this. The two events are the election of President Obama and the passing of President Mubarak. These events happened because people had a common platform to go to----a "community" meeting place to meet, to create the changes that they wanted. People had a place to have "a conversation". President Obama began a political career with no money and no name recognition. These are critical elements that are needed to run successfully for the American Presidency. The existence of social media changed the political paradigm and allowed President Obama to compete. One of President Obama's closest advisers was Christopher Atkins, who was one of the original originators of Facebook. With his help, Barack was able to create a branding strategy that won an election that would have been impossible in "old media" times.

President Obama and Hilary Clinton are examples of "old Media" and "New Media". In contrast to Barack, Hilary Clinton was well known, had a large amount of original cash, came from a large, influential state, had a large political network. She possessed a strong conventional political brand. In addition, between herself and her husband, it is a well established fact that the Clintons are the best pure politicians in modern American political history.

Barack's great asset is that he, with Mr. Atkins' help understood social media. The Obama campaign was a "disruptive technology". The Clinton campaign did not understand this new medium--- social media. Her manager, Mark Penn, was an expert in conventional media strategy, but the Clinton campaign did not understand the changes that have taken place in common platforms, that allow a great many people to meet in one place, at one time, and have a "conversation" with "friends". These changes allowed the Obama campaign to overcome seeming disadvantages, to turn their weakness into strengths. Barack's strength in social media allowed Obama to carry Iowa, a state that has few African Americans---a state that would have been a strong Clinton state in years past.

Marketing is about making correct decisions and making correct "bets". To make these decisions and these bets, a marketer has to have correct information that is in "real time". Through Facebook, Barack had this asset. He knew what voters were thinking, and at what time they were thinking it. Facebook allowed Barack to understand sudden changes in perception in voter attitude, and to deal with those sudden changes, that happen in any campaign. When problems arose, such as the Jeremiah Wright issue, Barack was able to contain the fallout. In times past, a Jeremiah Wright episode would have been enough to sink most candidates. Let us not forget that a concession speech, sunk the candidacy of Howard Dean, in 2004. With a platform like Facebook, Barack was able to turn bad events into great opportunities. In the Wright issue, Barack knew that he had a significant problem. He knew what was on people's minds. Even his harshest critics say that his speech on race in Philadelphia in March of 2008, was a game changer in his candidacy. Through Facebook, Barack knew what had to be said and he said it in a way that all Americans, black and white, could understand. "Conversations" on Facebook allowed Barack to know how to communicate with people---even his greatest detractors.

In the case of President Mubarak, for many years there was a strong opposition to him in Egypt. The opposition couldn't dethrone because Mubarak had great advantages in money. He also had the backing of the Egyptian Army, the most important force in Egyptian society. In the present Facebook environment, these changes were overcome. Basically, one kid was arrested and got beaten by the police. He got mad, went on Facebook, and created a rally. The many opposition groups in Egypt now had a common place to meet. The army realized that Facebook had created a real paradigm shift in Egypt, and they withdrew their support for Mubarak, and a change was made in short order. AMAZING!!!!

Using these two examples, in can be seen that selling products in a market place should be easy. It would seem that way, but an organization must still have a strategy for social media to work. The purpose of this article is to explain the great paradigm differences that Facebook and other social platforms have created. Facebook has created unheard of scale. To seal the deal as to the "why" question, I would like to quote some statistics on how much scale the social media platforms have given to a modern marketer.

Time magazine tells us from its 12/20/10 issue that 98,604 Friendships are approved on Facebook each day. Among Facebook friendships, 55,304 Links are shared EACH MINUTE. Facebook has integrated with 2 million websites, worldwide. Each day, 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook each day. The most profound statistic is that if Facebook were a country, it would be the THIRD LARGEST NATION IN THE WORLD. Facebook accounts for 1 in 4 faceviews each day. These statistics account ONLY for Facebook. There are many, many other social platforms now functioning in the world, that are integrated with Facebook. The scale that Facebook creates is indescribable for a marketer. Now, virtually, the ENTIRE WORLD is located in one place---or least in a place that a marketer can reach, all at one time. It is almost as if a marketer rented a hall, invented the entire world, and then played a commercial, and then sat down individually with each of these people, and had a conversation with each of them.

This scale creates "A PERFECT STORM", for a marketer. Each individual that goes on Facebook or Google is tracked by Facebook and Google as these individuals traverse their social media sights. There are privacy concerns that a marketer will have to address. The scale of social media sights has allowed individual consumers to be targeted and segmented as never before. By working with the advertising departments of Facebook and Google, a consumer can be targeted with just the right message and product at just the right time. A marketer doesn't have to waste their time on a consumer who is not really interested in their product.

This "PERFECT STORM' allows a marketer to market in real time. They can approach each individual consumer AT THE PRECISE TIME the consumer desires to make a purchase. In real time, an organization knows if an ad communicated to their targeted customer. An organization knows, in real time, how successful their advertising is, and adjustments can be made, at that precise moment in time.

Dean Hambleton

Dean Hambleton
dnhambleton@gmail.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dean_Hambleton

I hope this article has convinced you to use social media as a primary tool in social media marketing. This tool is only a tool. To be successful, you need a strategy. If you feel that I can help your organization, I hope that you will get in touch with me.

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