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Social Media Explained

By Web Heads - November 10, 2009

We hope that all businesses can understand the importance of social media on the internet and how it can effect the exposure of your business.  If you are unfamiliar with social media go ask your kids or friends how they keep in contact with their peers.  They will undoubtably say Facebook, Twitter, Myspace or a barrage of others that are trying to get their foothold into the social media blitz that has taken the web by storm.

Let's take a look at these social media websites, identify what they are and how you can use them. You need to know about them and what they can do for your business:

1. Facebook.com - To call them a juggernaut is an understatement. They have been the fastest growing community online for some time now and its because of viral marketing. Facebook is a place for you to connect with your friends by communicating and sharing what is going on in your life. You can create a profile for yourself and keep in contact with all of your friends, share pictures, plan events and the list goes on until you understand that this is the epitome of social media.
   
   So how do you utilize this beast for your business? It's called "Pages". You can create a profile "Page" for your business within Facebook and get your friends to become fans of that page. You then provide posts or updates about what is going on with your business and this will keep your fans informed. What happens is your friends or clients tell their friends or clients and all of a sudden you have some serious attention! This is how viral marketing works. If you don't have a Facebook "Page" for your business, get one now and start utilizing it.
2. Twitter.com - What I'm writing right now is a blog post. Twitter is essentially a blog posting service for anyone except you can only write a "tweet" that is 140 characters in length. So this is why it is referred to as a "MicroBlog". Anyone can create a Twitter account and start "tweeting" about whatever they want and they do! It's growing at such an astounding rate that it is impossible to be ignored.
   
   Much like Facebook, you can create a profile for your business on Twitter. Also like Facebook you can acquire fans of your feed (In twitter they are called "followers"). So the more you post about things that are important to your business or what's going on, the more your followers will see them, find them interesting and tell their friends about it. It's easy actually; it's only 140 characters so a quick sentence is all you need to do. Try it out!
3. LinkedIn.com - In a nutshell this is the Facebook for businesses. It helps you by allowing your profile to be more business oriented as opposed to personal. Other businesses can recommend yours and the more you get the greater the potential is to attract new clients for your company. It is a way of controlling your professional identity online and helps you stay informed with your contacts in the industry. Start a profile and you'll see what I mean.
4. Wordpress.com - If your business doesn't have a blog on their website or a website for that matter (Contact Web Heads about this obviously) then Wordpress is an easy way for you to create a blog in minutes. You can setup a blog for your business and start posting relevant information about your industry or anything that you like to get your name out there. If the content is rich then you will get people that read it and this is just great exposure for your business (not to mention that it can definitely lead to sales!). It's easier than you think to do it. They have tutorials that will help even the novice web user.

All of the social media options I've mentioned above are free. Can you believe it? You can start this tomorrow and in a short while you will see the benefits of this powerful marketing medium. Need I say more? Come on..use your Web Head!