An hour a day for Social Media

Do you have an hour to spend each day on your social media marketing? 

Social media, social networking or Web 2.0 is the modern way for people to:

• connect
• communicate
• exchange information, photos and videos
• share experiences, views and preferences and
• conduct research before making a major decision. 

Social media connects more and more people globally every minute and consumers are starting to put much more trust in social media sites for product or company reviews than ever before.

If you have heard of the term “word of mouth” you will understand social media as it could be termed “word of web”.  “Word of web” can easily make or break your business so you should therefore be aware when your company is being discussed on social media sites.

If you can spare an hour a day, take a good look at each social media site available and decide on up to three to get involved in.

Online marketing is constantly changing but currently the main social networking type sites are:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Youtube
• LinkedIn
• Blogs
• Delicious / Digg
• Wikipedia / Knol

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become hugely popular with internet users.  Two out of three internet users are members of one or more social networking sites. The average social networker logs into their social sites 5 days a week and checks them 4 times a day for a total of an hour per day.  This means that users are spending an amazing 20 hours per week on social networking sites.  Research shows that 50% of teens and adults want to interact with their favourite brands via social media sites.

To market your business on social media sites you need to:

1.         know which ones your customers are using,

2.         know what the etiquette is, and

3.         join in the conversation and fun in an honest and ‘social’ manner.

Using social networking to market your business helps to create a community around your brand by connecting you with your customers directly and earning their trust and loyalty.   The great thing about social media marketing is that the only cost involved is your time to maintain it.