understanding social media

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL MEDIA

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication techniques.

Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

SOCIAL MEDIA INCLUDES…

BLOGGING COUNTS TOO

TwitterQueen’s Hall, EdinburghBT CareDog’s TrustNHS FifeVisit St AndrewsFife CouncilBBC News (various)Town House Hotels

http://www.twellow.com/

FacebookWalkers CrispsBarack ObamaFife LibrariesKirkcaldyBusinesswomen Scotlan

dLongline Studio, Glasgo

wVisit St AndrewsHepburns Nail LoungeKK Electricshttp://www.facebook.co

m/pages/browser.php

WHO’S USING SOCIAL MEDIA?

Webwise BusinessScottish EnterpriseSTVScottish GovernmentEdinburgh UniversityRB Grant

YOUTUBE

MarketingCustomer supportBroadcast newsDemonstrating products/services/placesAnswering questionsGetting known and getting to know other peopleCollaborating

AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

Types of business use Broadcast – news channels etc Engagement – talking to their customers Watching/listening – monitoring the channels and then

reactingTypes of consumer use

Contributing – commenting, uploading Consuming – reading, downloading Sharing – sending links to friends

Does it work for all businesses? Not everything will but it’s unlikely that nothing will Need to choose the right channel

SOCIAL MEDIA FROM YOUR CLIENT’S POINT OF VIEW

It’s about understanding their customer demographic and where those customers will be found online and how they engage. Then you can decide which are the most likely channels to work

It also needs to fit into their business and marketing strategy

Workshops can help them understand these issues

HOW DO YOU ADVISE YOUR CLIENTS?

Use social media to gather information Follow Twitter accounts Create Twitter lists – focussed results

Use social media to share information Facebook page as a focal point with plenty of information

and links Share information through different channels – link them all

through your website Create LinkedIn company page for Impact21 to tell people

more about what you do Blogging – posts by different people within the organisation

– doesn’t have to be just one personRemember to consider account management and

ownership

SOCIAL MEDIA FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE

Privacy Assume that whatever is posted is visible to the world And can’t be retracted Don’t post anything that you have doubts about putting

into the public domainSecurity

See above Don’t post anything that might lead to identity theft Don’t be paranoid – just think first!

WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Don’t end up having a public argumentTry to take discussion offlineDon’t delete comments (unless generally regarded as

offensive)Don’t set up fake accounts to respondDon’t ignore – in most cases

Sometimes other members of community will deal with it for you

Respond and if there needs to be an extended intervention, take it out of the public forum

Negative comment will happen, it’s better to be aware of it and deal with it than to be unaware of it

DEALING WITH THE NEGATIVE STUFF

Q&A DISCUSSION

Be careful what you tweet Twitter messages are not private Social media crisis management Facebook for Business Social Media won’t fix your broken busi

nessHow social networking has changed bus

iness

RESOURCES

Web: www.florizelmedia.comTwitter: www.twitter.com/florizelmedia

Facebook: www.facebook.com/florizelmediaSlideshare: www.slideshare.net/virtuale

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/paulinerandall