As mentioned in some of our other blog articles, social media is a great resource that every business should be using in some form or another. Social media and networking sites offer unlimited opportunities for business and not only provide a communication outlet for consumers but help develop a stronger business presence as well.
Social media and networking sites assist millions of users in the production, contribution, and education of new ideas and concepts each and every day. Social media has the potential to play a huge role in any business, large or small. Companies that utilize social media outlets are often able to see an increase in brand recognition and web traffic. By providing simple easy to use communication platforms, social media assists companies with proactively monitoring and controlling their customer communication and perception. The following is a short list how using social media can potentially help your business.
- Share content, by sharing your content you can build your brand recognition and company’s reputation. The more thoughts, concepts, and ideas that you express while using social media the more your online presence will increase.
- Learn from your competition, keeping up with social media lets you see what other companies are doing, how they are doing it, and how you can benefit from similar concepts.
- Learn from your customers, not only can you learn from your competition but you can develop product ideas just from listening to the needs of your customers. Social media sites can provide insights into what the customers really want and allows you to develop products that are in demand
- Develop customer relationships, being in continuous contact with your customers enables you to solidify your presence and generate a positive customer perception.
- Provide quick customer support, providing a method of immediate feedback enables a business to quickly address the concerns of their customers.
- Self promotion, a business can express new concepts, promotions, and events with a global approach that is both free and effective.
- Acquire more customers, because your business gains more exposure using social media it can quickly lead to new clients.
- Allows you to save money, most importantly social media is free and can generate the same attention as a costly advertising campaign.
With all of these reasons to use social media it is not surprising how many businesses are beginning to or have been utilizing these types of sites. If not for these benefits it is still crucial for a business to use various types of social just to keep up with their competition. So, what social media sites should your company be using? The following are the top most influential social media outlets on the internet today.
“Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.” (From Facebook.com April 28, 2011)
“Is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. You can share a lot with a little space! You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline, and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media content.”(From Twitter.com April 28, 2011)
“Over 100 million professionals use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Stay informed about your contacts and industry, find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals, and control your professional identity online.” (From LinkedIn.com April 28, 2011)
- YouTube
“Allows billions of people to discover, watch, and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.” (From YouTube.com April 28, 2011)
- Digg
“Digg is a place for people to discover, share, and promote content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our community.” (From Digg.com April 28, 2011)
“Reddit is a source for what’s new and popular on the web. Users like you provide all of the content and decide, through voting, what’s good and what’s junk.” (From Reddit.com April 28, 2011)
- Delicious
“Delicious is a Social Bookmarking service, which means you can save all your bookmarks online, share them with other people, and see what other people are bookmarking” (From Delicious.com April 28, 2011)
- StumbleUpon
”StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble! We deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. Rating these sites you like automatically shares them with like-minded people and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend.” (From StumbleUpon.com April 28, 2011)
- Squidoo
“Squidoo is the popular publishing platform and community that makes it easy for you to create “lenses” online. Lenses are pages, kind of like flyers or signposts or overview articles, which gather everything you know about your topic of interest–and snap it all into focus.” (From Squidoo April 28, 2011)
- Tumblr
“Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything. Post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser, phone, desktop, email, or wherever you happen to be. You can customize everything, from colors, to your theme’s HTML.” (From Tumblr April 28, 2011)
- Disqus
“Disqus is a comment platform that helps you build an active community from your website’s audience. It has awesome features, powerful tools, and it’s easy to install.” (From Disqus April 28, 2011)
These are just a few of the many social media and networking sites out there. You are probably missing out if you’re not already using them so, what are you waiting for?
Did your favorite social media site make our list? If not share it below!
Thanks for Reading have a Great Day!
Dustin
