Social Media Channels to use for Business

Wednesday May 23rd 2012, Posted by: Laura McGregor (0 comments)

With Social Media Marketing having such a great impact on the choices customers make it is important to understand which social media channels are suitable for your business.  Develop a plan for the channels you are going to use, what kind of online presence you want to create, and include these in your marketing strategy. Choose wisely since each channel can contribute in a different way, and you need them to work together.

Blogs

Blogs are an easy way to regularly update your customers and employees about news. Businesses that have blogs tend to represent their own unique voice and opinion, and use them as a differentiation tool. Blogs are written in an informal manner, and are easy to maintain.

Micro Blogs

Microblogs are easy to use for communication with customers, networking, and staying on top of the latest news. Twitter is  one of the most popular social media communication channels so chances are high that your potential customers are micro blogging.

Content Communities

Content communities such as YouTube are cost effective advertising channel for a business. Upload is free and many people are using YouTube  to find informative content about companies. YouTube will also help with your SEO. Videos can be tagged with keywords and optimized to ensure  a better chance your video and information will be found in organic keyword searches as part of Google’s mixed results.

Virtual Social Worlds

Virtual Social Worlds have a huge number of people signed signed up and engaged and the popularity of virtual communities is growing every day. Many companies have realized this trend  and are advertising in Virtual Social Worlds. The most popular example is Second Life. It allows you to create your own business or organization, organizing virtual meetings, events, and training simulations.  Communication with customers or your employees is made easy, and there is an opportunity to network with new people.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia will help with your reputation management since it almost always shows on Page 1 on the search engines, and it increases trust in your business. However, keep in mind that there are notability guidelines and your business needs to qualify in order to be featured on Wikipedia. If you qualify you will not have an opportunity to manage your own page. It will be open for public to update so remember to check the article regularly, and make suggestions about the content.

Other

There are quite a few social networking websites that will be useful for any business. Some of the most popular are listed here:

• The top of the list belongs to Facebook  giving you the opportunity to create a page for your business, and an opportunity for advertising and promotions.
• LinkedIn will give you an opportunity to connect with industry professionals, and engage in discussions.
• Upload your stories on sites such as Reddit, StumbleUpOn and Digg to drive traffic to your website.
• Focus can offer you help from business professionals who use the network to share their experience and advice. Information is available for free, and it is easy to use.