There is no denying the usefulness of social media. We are never going to return to a time when it wasn’t a part of our lives either directly or indirectly. Everyone from the young age of 13 to the old timers are qualified users on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube. Everywhere we turn these platforms are ways to put us together with our preferred vendors, friends, family and strangers.
It may be easy to locate a specific type of industrial equipment like an overhead crane also known as a bridge crane, for example, but to get an opinion on the company who supplies such an important apparatus one could go to a social media site and get first-hand feedback from prior customers of the manufacturer. Getting the inside story on a product or someone else’s opinion on a subject is just one aspect of how we interact with social media.
Facebook is the largest and best known social networking site in the world with over 1.44 billion monthly users. As one of those 1.44 billion monthly users you already know that it is a social networking site used to communicate with people who share thousands of different interests. It’s a place where a video of puppies playing with baby chicks can go viral in 24 hours or a news story can hit the public faster than regular broadcast channels can get it out to the masses.
Networking with someone from Iceland to New Guinea or Japan to New Jersey is as easy as requesting them to friend, join your circle, link to you or otherwise simply engage. From there you decide if it’s a friend you want just for chats and exchanging stories and recipes, or will the connection lead you to possibly a new customer? Social networking is a huge platform for commerce.
Is the purpose of your involvement social or business social, or both? Most of us who have a business know the value of using the most popular social media sites to brand and promote ourselves. Within all the social networking sites there are gold mines of possibilities. With so many untapped markets that are frequently farmed by the on-line marketer, social media is the place to see and be seen.
Different algorithms trace our likes and dislikes and then present us with varied, but applicable information that coincide with our preferences. Even if you are simply using social networking to catch up with Uncle Joe to ask about his fishing trip to Alaska. Uncle Joe might respond back with a couple of photos and some text about how beautiful Alaska is and what a terrific time he had. The bots within the computer theme will soon hook you up with sidebar advertising. You might see a tour company offering trips to Alaska. You might see Pro Bass Shop’s seasonal sale on fishing gear. These can follow you around all over the web, until they go stale and/or the vendors advertising dollar runs out.
Whether using social networking for business, fun or both it is a way of life. It will continue to get more polished and refined with every passing year. End users hold on to your hats!
Leave a comment below and let me know what your experiences with social media have been. Do you have a preferred platform?
