Social Media – A Beginner’s Guide
Social media has been around for a while now but there are still many businesses that don’t see it as important or relevant to them. We’ve compiled our beginner’s guide to social media for those of you who would like to learn a bit more about it.
What is social media?
Social media is a broad term which refers to a number of online platforms which allow people to share information, videos, photographs and audio files.
To put it as simply as possible, it’s being actively social on the internet using any of the means above.
Since it came to the fore, social media has started to play an increasingly large role in business as well as people’s personal lives.
What are the main social media websites?
There are a huge number of social media sites out there, but you’ve probably heard of the 4 below;
Twitter – keep people up to date with what’s happening through messages of up to 140 characters.
Facebook – you can create a fan page for your business and keep people up to date with news and events.
LinkedIn – specifically for business, LinkedIn allows you to network with other business people from all over the world.
YouTube – you can upload videos for people all over the world to see and embed them into your website to make it more interesting for visitors.
How can social media benefit my business?
The answer to the question above will vary from business to business but here are some general benefits of engaging with the social media phenomenon;
- You can communicate with customers quickly and easily through social media
- You can promote your products and services to a wide audience for free
- You can create an online personality for you and your business
- You can generate more incoming links to your website which can help with SEO
- You can build a reputation as an authority in your industry
There are many more benefits to social media than the five we’ve mentioned above, but many people are still sceptical, so we’ve tried to address this below.
Do I really need to bother with social media?
Many people view social media as a passing fad or something that’s not important to their business.
Social media is all about communication; keeping your customers informed, joining in industry debate, putting your business in front of more people and building your brand.
With 70% of UK households now having internet access, social media should be a key part of your online business activity.
Most social media sites are completely free to use so give them a try and see for yourself how your business can benefit.
If you liked this article you may want to read my top 10 tips on using Twitter for business
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