What is social media and why we should y?
Tom Funk defines social media as the umbrella term of
web-based and mobile services that offer the possibility to establish a
personal profile, connect with others and create, publish and respond to
content. This can be either shared with the network of friends or with the
whole Internet. (Funk 2011, 8.) Here I found a list of other definitions put
together by Heidi Cohen: http://heidicohen.com/social-media-definition/
. In addition to the definition of social media itself Funk makes a clear statement
of the definitions of:
- Social-networking
sites:
“Services that allow individuals to create a personal or business network.” (Funk 2011, 8). For example: MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Match.com(dating sites). - Social-media sites:
“Services designed around a form of media –videos, photos, articles, and Web pages – that allow individuals to publish, rate, and comment upon the media (Funk 2011, 8). For example Youtube, Flickr and Instagram nowadays. - Blogosphere:Articles posted in blog and mini blogs in Twitter. (Funk 2011, 8).
To answer the question of whether we should use social media in our business I recommend you to watch the following video:
Social media channels
Below you can see the Social Media Channels Diagram by Brian Solis which explains the different social media channels. These channels are divided clearly into groups and include also more than the commonly known channels.
Source: http://www.mikekujawski.ca/2008/08/19/social-media-channels-diagram-newly-updated/
Source: Michael Stelzher 2014, 24.
Like can be seen from the picture above there are plenty of social media tools and platforms for us to use. We as a company do not need to use them all, but we need to distinguish the best possible channels for us. Therefore when we are selecting these tools it highly important that we take into consideration the social media strategy, analyse what is the most effective channel for our business in particular and which sites the competitors are using. Many times people face the following phenomenon when starting to use social media in their business.
Source: http://www.intersectionconsulting.com/2009/social-media-tip-tools-vs-strategy/
In addition to this we must also think of the outcome we want to attract and are aiming for. This in my opinion differentiates the B2B companies from the B2C companies. Channels like LinkedIn and Youtube are maybe more professional and suitable for the purpose of networking and providing product knowledge to the customers as Facebook, Instagram etc are more based on personal usage. However this also depend on the field of business and the target audience and their preferences.
Source: Michael Stelzher 2014, 27.
Like can be seen from the picture above there are plenty of social media tools and platforms for us to use. We as a company do not need to use them all, but we need to distinguish the best possible channels for us. Therefore when we are selecting these tools it highly important that we take into consideration the social media strategy, analyse what is the most effective channel for our business in particular and which sites the competitors are using. Many times people face the following phenomenon when starting to use social media in their business.
In addition to this we must also think of the outcome we want to attract and are aiming for. This in my opinion differentiates the B2B companies from the B2C companies. Channels like LinkedIn and Youtube are maybe more professional and suitable for the purpose of networking and providing product knowledge to the customers as Facebook, Instagram etc are more based on personal usage. However this also depend on the field of business and the target audience and their preferences.
Source: Michael Stelzher 2014, 27.
Social
media strategy & measuring the results
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-step-framework-creating-your-lasse
References:
Funk, T. 2011. Social Media Playbook for Business:
Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More. Praeger.
Santa Barbara, California.
Michael Stelzher 2014. 2014 Social media Marketing Industry Report. URL: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2014.pdf. Accessed: 7.4.2015.
Michael Stelzher 2014. 2014 Social media Marketing Industry Report. URL: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2014.pdf. Accessed: 7.4.2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment