Matthew Gates https://notetoservices.com 7m 1,846 #socialmedia
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
The Social Media Advantage
Social media websites attract millions of users each day, most of whom spend no less than an hour on their favorite social media website. From interacting with friends, family, and fans, to the influence of celebrities, there is something powerful and awe-inspiring about social media. At no time in the existence of the human race have so many people been able to communicate and connect with each other at such a massive level. Everyday ordinary people are becoming influential leaders on their favorite social media networks, sharing stories and photos, reviewing products, and coming up with many more creative and unique ideas.
All social media websites are completely free to sign up and are usually run with advertisements that keep them going. These ads have the potential to be seen by millions of social media users. Social media websites, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have attracted celebrities who no longer have to rely on tabloids and media or a publicist to share their personal lives with their fans and followers, but are able to interact directly on a personal level, making them far more appealing and fun to engage with, as we no longer have to write physical fan mail letters, to which we hope a response may be returned after a few weeks. A quick message through any social media network website and if the celebrity feels like responding back, they are fully capable of doing so.
When a business with major news used to release new products, they would rely on the news media, journalists, and television and radio advertisements to get the word out there, but with social medial, they are able to quickly communicate with their followers, buy an advertisement on any social media network, and have the news go out immediately, skipping the middle man and possible leakage of sensitive data.
Almost all social media websites, while remaining personal, are becoming much more business-oriented and striving to allow for businesses to thrive, making money for both the social media network, and becoming a mediator of high traffic to company websites and businesses. If you are a company that lacks a social media profile, you may want to sign up and even hire a few social media entrepreneurs and marketers to do some publicity for your company. You are never too late in the game to sign up for a social media account and get your business rolling with the potential clientele from social media websites.
This is a very basic and brief profile of just some of the major social media networking websites including what they are and some their features.
Facebook allows you to set up a profile, and post updates, links, conversations, events, photos, videos, petitions, or even collect donations online. Users who choose to “like” your organization see updates without needing to navigate to your page, and can get involved in discussions with other supporters. It’s particularly good at increasing the level of feedback and discussion you have with supporters, driving traffic to your website, and attracting people to specific events. It’s likely to take two-to-four hours a week to manage your Facebook account. You may receive real time updates from other users and other users can post on your wall or page.
Features
Photo Uploading: This feature allows users to post photos or images to their page.
Public Message Posting: Privacy settings allow for the general public to view messages.
Groups: This feature allows a user to start a group and invite people to it. The group then can have discussions about the topic of the group, such as improving golf swing.
Video Uploading: This feature allows users to upload videos to their page.
Event/Activity Invites: This feature allows users to create and invite friends/subscribers to their event.
Twitter lets you send out a stream of short messages called “tweets”—for instance, updates about what you’re doing, or links to resources of interest. People can choose to “follow” your tweets, and if they particularly like one they can “retweet” it (post it again so their own followers see it), potentially exponentially increasing your audience. People tend not to read tweets all the time, or to actually listen to everyone they’re officially “following” through Twitter, so it’s not necessarily a reliable method of reaching any one person. Think of it like a radio station—you’re broadcasting into the ether, and some people are listening, but it’s hard to know who. Twitter is particularly good for connecting with like-minded organizations and the media, asking questions, and providing very frequent updates. Expect to devote about two hours a week to manage a Twitter feed. You may receive real time updates from other users and other users can post on your wall or page.
Features
Photo Uploading: This feature allows users to post photos or images to their page.
Public Message Posting: Hashtags allow for users and followers to read posted messages.
Groups: This feature allows a user to start a group and invite people to it. The group then can have discussions about the topic of the group, such as improving golf swing.
Video Uploading: This feature allows users to upload 30 second videos to their page.
LinkedIn is an interesting website that falls somewhere between social networking for the general public and the niche social networking sites described below. Each person sets up a profile which is similar to a resume, and can then link to other people that they know. Targeted at professionals interested in professional networking, it’s likely to be of particular interest to groups whose mission is to support people in their jobs or who have a focus on professional networking. You can also see all the LinkedIn contacts for anyone you’re linked with, making it straightforward— if time-consuming—to look through each person’s connections to see if there’s anyone to whom you’d like an introduction. You may receive updates from other users and other users can post on your wall or page.
Features
Photo Uploading: This feature allows users to post photos or images to their page.
Public Message Posting: LinkedIn began a blog section in which the general public can view blog posts.
Groups: This feature allows a user to start a group and invite people to it. The group then can have discussions about the topic of the group, such as improving golf swing.
Video Uploading: This feature allows users to upload videos to their page.
Event/Activity Invites: This feature allows users to create and invite friends/subscribers to their event.
Instagram is a photo and video sharing service accessible through mobile and tablet devices that attracts a lot of visitors and allows for its users to share photos on other social media platforms. Instagram relies heavily on photo and video uploads, while allowing for followers to comment. Instagram has probably become most popular and famous for selfies, especially among celebrities. Users can follow others feeds’ to get an updated report of daily photos and videos from those they are following. Instagram has also added an advanced photo filter option, in which users can apply creative and unique filters to their photos. Instagram remains most popular among teenagers.
Features
Photo Uploading: This feature allows users to upload an infinite amount of photos to their account and share them with other users.
Video Uploading: This feature allows users to upload an infinite amount of 15-second videos to their account and share them with other users.
Explore Tab: Users interested in seeing different photos from various sources can click it to quickly and easily discover new photos.
Pinterest is a “catalog of ideas”, basically a pin board, in which categories of pins are posted on a wall, and within those pins, anything from photos to websites are posted. Registered users can follow “pin boards” or “boards” of interest, from recipes to funny cat photos and more. Many websites across the Internet allow you to “Pin It” which adds photos of your favorite photos or websites to a pin board of your choosing. Users may also send pins to their followers, share them on social media, comment on pins, and and favorite the pins they like for later viewing.
Features
Photo Uploading: This feature allows users to upload an infinite amount of photos to their account and share them with other users.
YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing website that allows for registered users to upload an infinite amount of videos with no time duration limit. YouTube is extremely popular throughout the world and allows for people to engage with each other through comments and videos. YouTube is used by many individuals and business professionals alike to promote just about anything and everything. YouTube allows for you to subscribe to different users and allows you to see old and newly uploaded videos of your followers and fans. YouTube also provides recommendations, allows for you to save videos and watch them later, or view your history of videos you have previously watched. Although YouTube is very lenient on what is uploaded, it does have strict copyright protections and reserves the right to remove any video uploaded without question.
Features
Video Uploading: Upload an unlimited amount of videos without any time restrictions to your account.
Partner Sharing Program: If your videos are popular enough, you may be offered the opportunity to sign up to be an affiliated partner of YouTube and make a lot of money.
Playlists: Make playlists of your favorite YouTube videos.
What can social media do for you?
There are over 100,000,000 users across social media websites. By updating your social media profiles with useful content such as articles, pictures of your products, or even tutorial videos, you can have your content seen by many people and the marketing and branding will take care of itself. With just 1 person liking something on your profile, or following your business, all of their friends see that they liked it or are following you.
This starts a chain reaction. As more people begin to see your content they begin to recognize your product and it gets out to more people. Comments people make on your product are real time comments and it also helps to increase credibility because other people that see your social media page can view other comments that users have made. It also allows them to make their own.
Social media allows people to share what they’ve seen and what they like all by the click of a button. It makes it faster for them and they are more likely to click a button such as “like” then to go out and tell their friends “Hey, I’ve read this article” You can also post links directly back to your website or even articles that you have written to get people to see what it is your company is all about.
Join any social media network today and begin to discover the advantages of social media!
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