Social Media Channels: Which are Best for Your Business?

1. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA AT ALL?

By far the most important question you have to be asking yourself if you are looking at venturing into the world of Social Media. Why is it then that so many business owners and organisations are holding back from entering the social media world?

• 75% of Australians (approx. 16 million Australians) use the web and this figure is growing (Internet World Stats)
• The Sydney Morning Herald released the following headline and article on 26 November 2012: Online ad spending to overtake TV in 2013
• Roughly 14% of radio and tv adverts convert into sales – and the budgets for these channels are HUGE!
• Robert Cialdini’s work around social psychology shows us that people are 80% more likely to buy from recommendations of their family, friends and communities than as a result of seeing an advert on radio or television
  

So, if you are looking for a bigger audience and a more profitable return on your investment dollars, perhaps now is the time to put a toe in the social media waters and make a splash!

2. WHICH ARE THE BEST SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS FOR MY BUSINESS?

An important consideration for any business deciding to get involved in Social Media is this: Any online activities that you get involved in, should always connect in some way shape or form, BACK TO YOUR WEBSITE! You have not spent time and money developing your on and off-page SEO not to link back your online activities to your website. So, where possible, develop your social media strategies to get your community clicking on and connecting with you back on your website.

• Blogs: sharing ideas, information and opinions is fast catching on in the world of social networking. Examples here include WordPress, Blogspot.
• Micro-Blogging: providing bite-size snapshots of between 140 – 160 characters. Example: Twitter, Pownce, Tumblr
• Social Networking: by far the most well-known of the social media channels, these sites allow you to form communities to solve problems, ignite and discuss ideas, connect, collect and share information. They could be through the use of images, videos, content or a combination of these. Examples include Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest.
• Pod-casting: This is all about audio and could include listening to your favourite music, listening to an audio-book, learning via audio and the list goes on. If you are thinking of doing videos, a great way to reuse your material is to strip the audio from the file and distribute it on I-Tunes. Alternatively, you could create a picture for YouTube and attach your audio to the picture and you now have a YouTube video ready for distribution – neat! Example: ITunes
• Email Marketing: Building and keeping in touch with your online community is vital. Email Marketing allows you stay in touch, build credibility and brand awareness. You can find solutions via companies such as Aweber and the free version on MailChimp
• Social Bookmarking: This is a centralized online service which enables users to add, annotate, edit, and share bookmarks of web documents. Examples include: Reddit, StumbleUpon, Digg
• Video Broadcasting: This primarily focuses on the sharing of videos for education, entertainment, sales etc. Examples include: YouTube, Vimeo and Vevo
• Broader Content Sharing: Examples include: Scribd, Slideshare and Docstoc
• Discussion Forums: Allows customers and companies to connect to answer product and service queries. Online examples include: Yahoo Answers, WikiAnswers

Now that you have gone through the choices available to you, it is important to understand where you want to focus your time and energy.