‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘LinkedIn’, ‘Delicious’, ‘Flickr’, ‘Digg’ - the list goes on… You may have heard these words being increasingly used either by the press or by friends and colleagues, but how much do you actually know about what they do?
These are not simply a random collection of strange nouns and phrases, but are some of the most influential Social Media platforms to hit our computer screens this decade.
People have been using them for years to communicate with long lost friends and family, share news and photos or to plan their holidays, but it is only relatively recently that businesses have started to think about how they can use social media to their own advantage.
As well as providing additional platforms to promote your products or services, social media is a great way of giving your customers or potential customers an insight into your business and communicating with key stakeholders in an open and transparent way.
The key to utilising social media effectively, is to plan your online activities the same way that you would plan any new PR campaign or project. Identifying which platforms are relevant to your business and who you need to communicate with is essential – many businesses who state that social media has not ‘worked’ for them, have simply been going about it in the wrong way.
Neglecting to plan strategically will likely lead to wasted time and effort so it’s important to step back and think about what you hope to achieve and where you should channel your efforts. For example, if your business wants to promote retirement homes for the elderly, there is not much point engaging in Bebo – a social networking site used predominantly by 14 to 17 year olds.
As the winners of the 2009 CIPR PRide award for Best Use of Social Media, Project PR in Ipswich is perfectly placed to advise on all aspects of social media and to propel your business forward into the world of digital PR.
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