Think4 IT Solutions look at social networking
WE TRULY live in a modern media age with social networking becoming an increasing part of our everyday lives.
With new platforms springing up all the time, it’s likely that most people choose to communicate via one form of social media or another.
Whether it’s via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Myspace, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr or Blogger, most of us have been on board in a networking capacity.
Social interaction or simply getting in touch with friends remains the most popular use of social media platforms, with the number of users reaching staggering highs.
Figures released this year show there are 1.11 billion users on Facebook, while there are almost 190 million Tweets posted every day.
But social networking is also becoming an increasingly important and influential tool for business.
Used correctly it can bring great benefits with businesses able to promote their brands, increase brand loyalty, enhance their reputations and advertise their services direct to the public or commercial consumer.
Businesses can deliver the exact message they want to and, depending on the platform they choose to use, in different ways for specific markets andaudiences which may miss more traditional marketing techniques.
For cutting-edge business, like those in IT and communications, social networking can fit like a glove.
From promoting an event on Facebook to a blog post on Blogger, a few tweets per day on Twitter or a picture edited for maximum coverage on Instagram, businesses can enhance their profile with positive outcomes.
The more followers a business chalks up on their social networking page cancontribute to a growth in popularity, exposure and, most importantly, customers.
And interaction can help improve a business operation, with two-waycommunication providing opportunities for positive feedback on products, services or even business strategies.
Through social networking and interaction, businesses can also learn more about their target audiences through comments and visitor analytics.
The information discovered can be useful to future marketing campaignsand social network platforms offer a cost-efficient and effective platform for marketing and sales.
But it’s not all good news. Social networking must be used responsibly to send out the right message.
Where individuals can embarrass themselves or get themselves into hot water by revealing too much, businesses can also get it wrong.
They should remember that social networking sites provide a new or additional shop window for their business – so the image must be right.
And that goes for the company and its employees. An individual moaning about their place of work via social media is not good for the company’s image and so personal use may have to be monitored.
Equally, given such an open forum on social media sites there is scope for negative feedback and ratings from customers.
Left alone that can be damaging but addressing responses in person and with a positive approach can turn a negative into a positive.
Businesses should also be aware of how much information they put into the public domain and make sure that they are not helping the opposition.
In a fast-moving world, information also has to be kept up to date to show you are current and pro-active, which can be time consuming.
But the pros far outweigh the cons and when it comes to social networking, businesses should be making it work.
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