Social Media
The rise of social media in recent years has meant that today there are a plethora of different social media platforms that can be used to the advantage of business owners. This guide will introduce several social media platforms that are currently popular for business use.
Twitter is a micro-blogging service whereby users send and receive messages of up to 180 characters in length to each other, known as “tweets”. Users can track the tweets of other users by “following” them, and in turn can have their tweets “followed”; the more followers a user has, therefore, the more visible their tweets are. Twitter is useful as a business tool because it allows you to personally engage with potential and existing customers, monitor what is being said about your company and keep interested parties up to date with your company’s newest developments, products and offers.
Many people are already familiar with Facebook for personal networking, but opportunities exist to use Facebook for business purposes. The most prominent of these is Facebook Pages, a flexible space within which users can promote their local business, brand, or organisation, amongst others. Facebook also offer several paid advertising solutions, whereby campaigns can be targeted at Facebook users according to defined demographics such as age, location, and interests, which can direct people to the company Facebook Page or an external website.
Billing itself as the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn is designed for users to showcase their professional qualities. User profiles include elements such as professional experience, education and honours and awards, as well as endorsements from other LinkedIn users. LinkedIn is thus a great place to establish yourself as a competent individual within your industry. Moreover, due to the number and diversity of groups on LinkedIn, it can be a great tool for finding and networking with like-minded individuals, as well as discovering potential business partners or additional company personnel.
