Using Social Networks to Connect with Prospects and Customers

Louise Rijk, VP Marketing and Sales, Advanced Media Productions

I’ve said before that social media is not always the best way to go for some companies, and that the ROI is usually not as good as traditional search marketing, but social media is becoming an ever more integral part of internet marketing campaigns and can play an important role for businesses of all sizes. Social networking in particular can help spread your brand name, recruit new talent and encourage potential customers to talk about you naturally.

Defining Social Media

Social media is defined as a collection of online tools, technologies and practices that enables users to collaborate on content and share opinions, insights, experiences and media, including text, images, audio and video. Social media tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, Wikis and social networks, the focus of this presentation. These social networking and content sharing sites include MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us.

MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn: The Major Social Networking Players

The three most well-known and widely used social networks are MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. They are all profile-based social networks that allow users to create their own page, but each one also has its own unique features that make it better suited for certain applications, particularly for business. MySpace is more fun, LinkedIn is serious and professional, and Facebook falls somewhere in the middle.

Profile Maintenance and Content Updates

There’s a lot of activity going on on these sites at all times, so it’s important to update your profile and maintain your contacts frequently. As your tastes, attitudes and interests change, so should your profile; as your network grows, so must your friend connections. You need to be an active user to truly understand social media; as I mention in the presentation, I’m somewhat of a newbie and am not the one who actually handles social media applications for our clients.

Social Media Optimization and Reputation Management

The very nature of these profiles and sites make them full of content and easy for search engines to crawl. The benefit is that people can find you much easier; the downside is there’s a lot more stuff out there for people to find out about you, and on sites that encourage them to share and talk back. You need to proactively monitor your reputation, and be prepared to do damage control at some point. Play with privacy settings before sending these profiles live and set up and RSS feed to avoid major hassles.

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