Need help in knowing social media better and how it can benefit your business? Anybody who is somewhat tech-savvy can say that he knows what social media is, but the fact is that, social media is not just limited to the use of Facebook or Twitter; it’s a much broader concept and is of great importance in business and publicity terms. We also can take advantage of social media websites in popularizing our business, but before we start we need to understand what it actually is. Of course it’s not a rocket science; keep reading further to understand social media better.
What is Social Media?
To know what social media is, we can simply break the phrase in individual terms separately; Media means a platform which provides information, like television, a radio or newspaper and social means something related to public.Therefore social media is a two way interactive platform which exchanges information. Technically social media can be defined as a‘highly interactive platform which is computer operated and allows the users to exchange content, pictures, ideas, videos etc. in virtual communities and networks’. Social media differs from the traditional media in a number of ways, especially in terms of accessibility; because it is operated online, anybody who uses internet can be a part of the social media. Traditional media like television, newspaper etc. can only provide information and there is no possibility of views and reviews of the audience, on the other hand in social media one can post his views and reviews reacting to the contents exchanged very easily.
People have now started spending more time in using the social media websites as compared to other websites. These sites have become a strong communication channel between individuals, communities and even big organizations. Out of various forms of social media websites social networks are mostly used by the people all over the world. Currently the mostly used social media website and largest social network is Facebook followed by Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest. Other popular websites include Youtube, Mint.com, Infographics, etc.
When did Social media get popularity?
It’s a long time now when we first used or saw a social media website like Facebook or YouTube. Earlier they were just considered for the purpose of entertainment and connecting with friends, but soon it was realized that they are a significant platform to publish information and is easily accessible to a wider range of people as compared to traditional media like newspapers and television.
Where can Social media be used?
Social media is available for the internet users in numerous forms like social magazines, discussion forums, social weblogs, social networks, micro-blogging, podcasts, social videos and image sharing, social bookmarking etc.; but one should learn, how to benefit from it.Those who participate actively in the social media networks are not just limited to content sharing; they can benefit reputation building, career opportunities and extra income from it. Social media should be used where a significant piece of content has to be shared with multiple audiences.
Who can use it?
There are no special skills or education required for using social media websites. Anyone who can use the internet can be a part of social networks, communities, news and interact with the content contributors. Publishing in a social media site does not require special education or training, anyone can use it.
How to plan effective social media marketing strategy?
Businesses which are looking forward to connect with their customers more deeply should go for social media marketing strategies. Just like every marketing strategy requires planning and goal setting, so does social media as an effective marketing tool. Below are few tips:
• The most important and foremost step which one should do is to set realistic goals for their business. Unless and until you are sure that what you are looking for business enhancement, you can’t move ahead with your social media marketing strategies. Goals should be, ethical, measurable, realistic, achievable, time bounded and specific. It’s not important that you set too many goals at single point of time; you can set two to four primary and secondary goals at a time.
• The second step or you can say essential step to be taken alongside setting goals is setting marketing objectives. Setting realistic goals without quantitative objectives is totally worthless; which means if your primary goal is to search customers and generate leads, you should set the quantity also as to how many customers have to be searched and how many leads have to be generated. Again the set marketing objectives should be realistic, measurable and achievable.
• If you are planning an effective social media marketing strategy, you should identify who are your ideal customers. You should be aware of the age, income, work profile, interests, problems etc. of your targeted customers.
• If you are marketing your business through social media, you should be aware of your competitors and their activities, because they are also marketing in the same way as you. No need of exploring all your competitors, just pick 3-4 strong ones and keep an eye on their activities like which social networks they are using and what is their content strategy.
• While you are spending time on choosing the most appropriate social media network for business marketing, you should also track that which network is not much useful for your purpose. You should stop wasting time on such networks. Also you should prioritize your focus on the social network in which the prospects spend more time.
• There is symbiotic relationship between content and social media. Without an effective content, the effect of social media is not very strong, and without social media marketing no one will come to know about your content hence it’s extremely important to maintain focus on both smartly. The three important social media content strategies include, content type, time of posting and frequency of posts. You can post the content in different forms like text, links, images videos etc. depending on the requirement.
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