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In basic terms, social media can be described as an online method of communication enabling users to share information via text, images, audio and video.
Social media is all around us with sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn becoming part of most people’s daily routine. The sheer popularity of social media was shown when Facebook hit the headlines for its use in Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign. The American president’s campaign team used the networking site to help encourage younger Americans to vote, making his page the one with the most ‘friends’ in the world – with close to three million people registered.
Another campaign that proved the sheer power of social media was the Cadbury Wispa group. A Facebook ‘group’ was created to encourage Cadbury to consider producing their Wispa bars again – and it worked! The popular 80s chocolate bar was back in shops for a limited time period.
In terms of business, more and more people are taking their work life onto the online community. Newspapers and news channels use social media as a resource to keep the public up to date with breaking news.
Businesses across the world are using LinkedIn, a social networking site aimed specifically at professional people. Enabling the user to create an online business profile, LinkedIn is a platform for online networking. While this can not be a substitute for real networking, being part of the online business community can be very helpful – you never know when contacts may come in handy!
Take Twitter as another example. With short daily entries, you can provide the outside world with your thoughts on recent news, your business, or simply what you have been up to that day, depending on the tone of your ‘tweet’.
Using Twitter is an ideal way of bringing life and personality to a business. It is also a way of showing a company to be up-to-date and forward thinking.
An involvement in social media is, in this ‘techy’ business world, very important for businesses. In a similar way to a company website, social media is a free method of self-promoting and a great way of creating an awareness of a company. A few ‘tweets’ a week or creating a profile on LinkedIn or Facebook will automatically increase people’s awareness of your business.
Social media can provide more creative outlets for business messages and campaigns. Charities are using sites such as Facebook to alert people to what they do or if they are holding a fundraiser. They can of course use regular media and communications channels for these messages but by using Facebook they are reaching a whole new audience.
In the run up to the International PROMOTA Show 2010, PROMOTA will be ‘tweeting’ about the show and what will be on offer.
Rod Duncan, chairman of PROMOTA, said: “It is important for us to ensure we are communicating with our members on every platform, and launching a Twitter page ahead of the show was a great place to start in terms of social media.
“The Twitter page ahead of the International PROMOTA Show will offer teasers about the show, and will keep the audience informed about important, need-to-know information in the run up to the event. We’ve a dedicated team working on the planning of the show and they will all be ‘tweeting’ their backstage insights.”
Using social media in the run up to events such as exhibitions can be very effective. Social media is free and not at all time consuming, and as now so many people are ‘online’ you can be sure that you will be noticed. Using Twitter for example will help to create followers and a positive energy around an event, especially if you drip-feed information over a period of time.
Mr Duncan continued: “We hope that members and non-members alike will read the updates over the next few months and get more and more excited about what will be on offer.”
Sites such as Twitter also enable you to post pictures or ‘Twitpics’, which is a great way to add another dimension to your social media campaign. Mr Duncan said: “We will be posting images from last year on the Twitter page so that new visitors and exhibitors can see what to expect.”
When you decide to start using social media for your business make sure it has a purpose, otherwise it will not attract the interest or following that you are hoping for. Also ensure that it presents your business in the right way; choosing which social media outlet you use is very important. Finally, above all, make it relevant as people are investing their time in these sites. So if you have something interesting to say these forms of communication can open a whole new set of doors.
For more information about PROMOTA and the International PROMOTA Show visit www.promota.co.uk. For more about social networking see this month's Business Monitor.
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