• More than 200 Million Blogs

• An estimated 3 billion videos being watched on video sharing website, YouTube.

• More than 600 million users on social network website, Facebook.

• Millions of people use social media on a regular basis, and many more are joining the ranks every single day.

• http://www.personalizemedia.com/garys-social-media-count/

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among people. This term often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.

• Coca Cola: Fan Page on Facebook, Youtube and other networks.

• Absolut Vodka: They have an Online Video on YouTube and Use Facebook .

•

OkudzetoAblakwa.com: Utilizing Social Media to promote His Political Campaign.

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Ghana.Gov.Gh: Quick and easy way for Gov to get the opinion of the public and to keep the public updated on their activities.

• Barack Obama: President Barack Obama. Has been seen as a leader in the use of Twitter during the Presidential Election. He has over 170,000 followers and is following over 165,000.

Without a doubt, the web and social media are making it easier for businesses to communicate with their publics. It is actually helping to enhance the efficiency of the PR industry.

So how can you incorporate social media to enhance your PR efforts?

Put simply, Public Relations is the practice of managing communication between a particular organization and its publics. Any given organization has a number of publics. Whether it is by communicating with prospects, customers, media, investors, the government, or even internally with employees,

PR is something that businesses will always need.

People have always said good and bad things about brands, and now that social media has risen in popularity, it means people have another platform to talk about your company and products/services.

The major difference, however, is in the viral nature of this platform. When someone mentions your brand in social media, there is much more potential for many other people to notice and for conversations to spread more quickly and easily.

In addition, these conversations have the potential to reach a much larger audience than ever before. If your company is not participating in social media today, it is missing an opportunity to spread its message and missing valuable and even damaging conversations that could be taking place about your brand.

For Public Relations Practitioners, these are some reasons for using the Social Media◦Supreme efficiency◦Monitoring of discussions, anticipate issues◦Humanize stories◦Emergency communications◦Continue ties with your publics◦Create more loyalty, respect◦“bond with the brand”◦Be where the action is◦Be part of the discussion

Communication Blogs: Blogger, ExpressionEngine, LiveJournal, Open Diary, TypePad, Vox, WordPress, Xanga Microblogging: FMyLife, Foursquare, Jaiku, Plurk, Posterous, Tumblr, Twitter, Qaiku, Yammer, Google Buzz, Identi.ca Nasza-Klasa.pl Location-based social networks: Foursquare, Geoloqi, Gowalla, Facebook places, The Hotlist Social Networking ASmallWorld, Bebo, Cyworld, Diaspora, Facebook, Hi5, Hyves, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Orkut, Plaxo, Tagged, XING , IRC Events: Eventful, The Hotlist, Meetup.com, Upcoming Information Aggregators: Netvibes, Twine (website) Online Advocacy and Fundraising: Causes, Kickstarter

Collaboration/authority building Wikis: PBworks, Wetpaint, Wikia, Wikimedia, Wikispaces Social bookmarking (or social tagging): CiteULike, Delicious, Diigo, Google Reader, StumbleUpon, folkd Social Media Gaming: Empire Avenue Social news: Digg, Mixx, NowPublic, Reddit, Newsvine Social navigation: Trapster, Waze Content Management Systems: Wordpress, Drupal, Plone Document Managing and Editing Tools: Google Docs, Syncplicity, Docs.com, Dropbox.com Collaboration: Central Desktop

Multimedia Photography and art sharing: deviantArt, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, SmugMug, Zooomr Video sharing: sevenload, Viddler, Vimeo, YouTube, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Nico NicoDouga, Openfilm Livecasting: Justin.tv, Livestream, OpenCU, Skype, Stickam, Ustream, blip.tv, oovoo Music and audio sharing: ccMixter, Pandora Radio, Last.fm, MySpace Music, ReverbNation.com, ShareTheMusic, The Hype Machine, Groove Shark, SoundCloud,

Presentation sharing: scribd, SlideShareReviews and opinions Product reviews: epinions.com, MouthShut.com Business reviews: Customer Lobby, Yelp, Inc. Community Q&A: Askville, EHow, Stack Exchange, WikiAnswers, Yahoo! Answers, QuoraEntertainment Media and entertainment platforms: Cisco Eos Virtual worlds: Active Worlds, Forterra Systems, Second Life, The Sims Online, World of Warcraft, RuneScape Game sharing: Kongregate, Miniclip, Newgrounds, Armor GamesBrand monitoring Social media measurement: Attensity, Statsit, Sysomos, Vocus

Social media tools play a vital role in the success of your company’s activities. Tools such as online social communities, blogs, videos, photos and podcasts can further enhance the company’s messaging and brand while also delivering promotional information on services.

• • Online Social Communities: global social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Hi5 provide an open forum for users to create group pages, share information and establish new connections.

 • Benefit: Online social communities offer a quick

and, more importantly, free means of promoting events, products, services and post show. You can set up discussion boards on Facebook for attendees to share best practices and relevant content. Also, specific Twitter event pages, provides an excellent channel for real-time announcements and event promotions that engage attendees and exhibitors.

• • Video/photo Distribution Channels: one of the best-known video distribution site is YouTube (www.youtube.com). This is where one can upload videos at no cost for anyone to see. Additionally, Flickr and picasa are image hosting website to share photographs and is also used widely by bloggers as a photo repository.

•  • Benefit: Organizations can use these free distribution

channels to promote their video documentaries. Photos can also be posted on these channels for staff and other clients to download as well as view. You can Interview satisfied attendees at your event to post with a link to and on your website. They can promote events, products and services in exciting and engaging ways all at a fraction of the cost of traditional media.

• • Blogs (web logs): online journals typically written by an individual or a group. Typically, the entries are dated with the most recent on top, and there is usually an opportunity for readers to make comments. There are millions of blogs.

•  • Benefit: Blogs can be useful for promoting

meetings. You can build blog channels around your events to create interest, to get feedback and to build communities.

• • Podcasts: on-demand radio/video “talk shows” that can be accessed directly from your computer or downloaded to your iPod or other MP3 player. They are typically inexpensive to make and can be distributed essentially free via iTunes, other podcast distributers and/or your website.

• Benefit: Podcasts are also great promotional tools for events. Meetings are content generators. For example, interviewing upcoming speakers about their subject matter to create podcasts is one way to promote meeting attendance. If done properly, podcasts will bring traffic to your website, generate business and attract attendance to meetings.

• • User-generated review sites: review sites may ultimately have one of the greatest impacts on meetings, events and society. These types of platforms allow users to locate and rate all types or services, including organizations.

•  • Benefit: The reviews from clients, good and bad,

aid greatly in making purchase decisions. These review sites are emerging for most goods and services. According to the 2008 North American Technographics Media and Marketing Online Survey, sixty percent of people trust information on consumer product ratings and reviews. Yelp (www.yelp.com) for example, is one of several that is used for restaurant reviews and many other services.

Acknowledging receipt of information

Answering a question

Asking a question

Augmenting a previous post

Distributing media

Expressing agreement

Expressing criticism

Expressing support

Giving a heads-up

Responding to criticism

Giving a shout-out

Making a suggestion

Making an observation

Offering an opinion

Rallying support

Soliciting comments

Soliciting help

Starting a poll

Advertisement Animation Demonstration Event/Performance Fiction Film Instructional Video Interview Lecture

Montage Music Video News Broadcast Promotional Video Sightseeing/Tour Slideshow Speech Television Show

• One of the first steps in developing a social media strategy is to establish objectives and determine how your company’s social media usage will help to engage buyers, influencers and customers.

• How will you present your company brand and which social media components will the organization engage?

• Will you present the brand as one corporate ID, several ID’s or as an individual employee? What will be included in your content plan?

Don’t duplicate your Web site, brochure, newsletter

Start with your friends Embrace your audience Keep it personal, real & authentic Use often Build maintenance time into your schedule Encourage participation

• Social media makes us "real" to consumers. If you want people to follow you don't just talk about the latest product news, but share your personality with them.

• We can use social media to associate ourselves with our peers, which may be serving the same target market.

• We can use social media to communicate and provide the interaction that consumers look for.

Organizations have a remarkable opportunity to use social media to extend their products and services and capture greater share of mind. They can propel their brand to a higher level, where true benefits can be created. By working closely with the right partner and developing a strong strategic approach to social media communications, organizations can use this new medium to gain membership and revenue.

Hubspot Laura Lake Gary Hayes

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