In short, social media is a term that encapsulates a number of online communication platforms that make it easy for people to publish their own news and views, as well as comment on those posted by others.
Why Are Social Media Important? Social media have provided platforms for people to air their opinions, views and grievances with anyone around the world.
People who use social media often become highly influential, are seen as experts in their own spheres, and can develop large audiences around their areas of interest.
Communities of like-minded people are forming around common interests on the web, regardless of where they are based in the world, because traditional geographical restrictions no longer apply.
How Can Social Media Help My Business? There are various social media platforms you can use to deliver messages to your readers and followers.
But, before embarking on any marketing activity, it is important to know why it is useful.
Social media are instant, so your messages are delivered immediately.
And, most importantly, they are interactive - you are actually inviting comment and suggestion.
Of course, the most important point to remember is that search engines love social media because their content is current and fresh.
So, your comments will be picked up by search engine.
How exciting that is! How To Get Involved With Social Media - Blogging A blog allows you post content in the form of text and pictures and engage in a dialogue with people commenting on your posts.
You can control which comments actually appear on your pages by approving, deleting or marking them as spam, using your preferred blogging software.
Blogs can be written in many styles, from informal and personal, to professional and corporate.
As a small business, it is important to inject some personality into your blog, so that your followers get to know you, as well as read your material.
How To Get Involved With Social Media - Twitter Twitter has become increasing popular over the past year or so with everyone who's anyone tweeting their little hearts out.
Twitter is a micro-blogging site that limits the length of the comments you can post to 140 characters.
So, it is unsuitable for posting large chunks of content, but ideal for posting links to other sites containing interesting information.
Twitter is highly interactive and users often re-post, as well as respond to, other peoples comments (tweets) if they are useful.
You choose who you 'follow' (ie, whose tweets you read), so it is a great platform for making contacts and establishing relationships.
How to Get Involved With Social Media - Facebook Many of us have used Facebook for personal networking for many years.
But did you know that you can also use if for business? Again, it is a great way to connect with people with similar interests, and it is easy to build relationships by interacting with other people in your network.
You can also create fan pages for your business and post events to advertise particular product launches.
How to Get Involved With Social Media - LinkedIn LinkedIn is more of a business networking tool than a social one.
For example, it is structured in such a way that your occupation and education are featured more than your hobbies and interests.
However, it works in much the same way as Facebook in that you can invite people to connect with you and join common interest groups.
It also has a feature where you can recommend people, so it is great for asking for testimonials.