This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
...And The Rest
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are by no means the only social media sites in existence; they are simply very popular at this time. But there are other sites out there that deserve inspection, because your business may have some use for them.
Google Plus (or +)
Google Plus, also known as Google+, is the latest social media network to hit the scene. Currently, the site is in beta mode, with use of the site by invitation only. As soon as it went live, use of the site exploded, reaching 20 million users in just a couple of weeks, according to several technology news outlets at the time.
Google+ primarily uses the user’s written comments as its social currency, but adds geolocation, photo and video uploads, and link sharing as early features. One attraction for Google+ users is its instant-update functionality and the way that connections are managed through specific categories of connection types, known as circles.
Businesses should keep an eye on Google+, not just because it’s the latest cool thing but also because Google+ will have complete integration with all other Google products.
This means that Google+ will be tightly matched with the millions of Android phone users out there. Android phone users already can upload photos instantly from their phone cameras and make use of geolocation features. Just imagine what businesses could tap into when allowed to add their functionality and presence to Google+.
Flickr
Flickr is a photo-sharing site that enables users to share their photos and videos with other users.
The Yahoo!-owned Flickr provides a great way for any user—personal or commercial—to easily host huge galleries of images free of cost. Businesses looking to host pictures for an online catalog or from a business event, for instance, would benefit from a Flickr account.
Vimeo
Vimeo provides users with an easy way to upload and store their personal or professional videos. One advantage to Vimeo is it doesn’t impose a time duration on the length of videos users can post.
Business that are looking to produce a lot of video content might want to examine Vimeo as a possible social media platform.
WordPress
WordPress is one of the premier blogging platforms in the world, and it provides two key blogging services for its users.
The first is blogging software that can be downloaded and installed to work with a separate website, such as a business site. This software is free to use and very popular.
Social Media Success Story: C’est Cheese: Exploring Social Media
Mari’s first challenge is to figure out which social networks her company should use to connect to her customers. She’s already decided to use PayPal for her online payment system, and wants to use the tools that she’s heard will connect directly with those networks, too. But she doesn’t want to be limited to those networks alone.
Given the relative age of her customers, middle age and older, Mari is pretty sure that Facebook is going to be a good network to use to plug into those customers. But she would like to catch younger customers who are just exploring culinary products and good food as well, and isn’t sure which options provide the best payoff for this group.
A lot of her customers have expressed an interest in cooking classes, but Mari’s store doesn’t have the right kind of space for that. Instead, she is thinking about producing some videos that will demonstrate how to cook with some of her store’s products, so she definitely will want a YouTube account.
Along the same lines as cooking classes, posting some recipes on a blog would work, too. Her store’s website is already set up to be an online catalog, and she doesn’t want to spend money for a redesign to add a blog. What she can do, though, is set up a free blog on WordPress.com and create a link to that blog from her main website.
Mari will take a look at where her customers can be found as the story continues in Chapter 6, “Connecting with Social Media Customers.”
The second and more of a social media service is the blog hosting provided on WordPress.com. On this site, users can set up and start entering their own blog entries—again, completely free of charge.
Hosting your business blog on WordPress is a great solution for businesses that may not have a website yet or (more likely) a website that isn’t entirely configured to host a blog. The massive WordPress community can share your content (that it likes) and really get the word out fast, too.