Deciding What Social Media to Use

When deciding what social media platforms to use, finding out where your prospects are hanging out is a good idea. With 5 million users, Facebook is a pretty good bet, though you probably won't find quite as many people over fifty.

You can use Quantcast.com to get an idea for what demographic of people are interested in your type of business as well as what websites your prospects are hanging out on. But the most important thing that will determine what platforms you decide to use will be your goals. Remember those? It's time to get them out and find out what social media platforms are going to best.

Many of your goals will fit with a variety of social media platforms, but some of the platforms may not fit with your goals. It will be up to you to evaluate each type of social media and each social media website to see if it matches your goals. This will help you choose which to use and which to fore go for now.

Take into account the amount of time you have to use social media as well.

Types of Social Media

There are generally 6 main web platforms that are identified as social media. Each one has it's own unique characteristics and uses. The 6 main forms of social media are:

Blogging is defined by a website or part of a website that is easily updated with new content and timestamped. Popular blogging platforms include Blogger and Wordpress websites.

Micro-blogging is a form of blogging where smaller snippets of information are shared, such as with Twitter. Micro-blogging typically focuses on more easily dated material such as “What are you doing right now?” instead of the typical blog, which can focus on more long-term content. Blogging is beneficial to marketing because it allows the sharing of news and information quickly and easily.

Social Bookmarking makes it easy for people to bookmark their favorite websites and resources online and share them publicly. Websites and content are usually rated by popularity and ratings can be additionally influenced by other users. The content creators dream is that their material will be shared publicly on social bookmarking websites and gain popularity.

Media sharing consists of the public sharing of media such as video, pictures, audio, etc. Websites
encourage users to upload media so that others may listen and view them.

Social Networking websites exist to help build social networks and facilitate relationships among groups of individuals. People use these websites to connect with other people for a variety of reasons including business, friendship, common interest, and romantic relationships. Social networks are commonly used connect with familiar people as well as meet new people, and to share ideas, events, activities, and interests.

Forums are websites or part of a website where people can post messages and sharing information, while others can come along and respond to the original message or to other people within the conversation. Forums usually revolve around common interests and hobbies.

Social Review sites allow users to add their own comments and reviews of products and services and share them publicly. There are social review websites for just about any product or service you can think of including sites that let users review local businesses.

Hybrids
Most social media platforms integrate several forms of social media into their websites. For instance, Facebook is a social networking website but it also uses elements such as micro-blogging (status updates), media sharing, forums, groups, and more.

Hybrid social media platforms are constantly evolving and we can expect to see new types of social media websites being utilized all the time.

In the future, if you have the time and expertise, you may wish to explore these options. Right now you should focus on the largest and most used platforms to place your efforts.

Top social media platforms


Blogging:
• Blogger
• Wordpress

Micro-blogging:
• Tumblr
• Twitter

Social Networking:
• Facebook
• Linkedin

Social Bookmarking:
• Delicious
• Digg
• Stumbleupon
• Reddit
• Mixx

Media Sharing:
• Youtube
• Flickr

The Advantages of Social Media

In today's world, people are online. Everything we do, whether it be watching a new movie, using a product, visiting a store, or learning something new, we like to be able to interact with it online.

Think about the last thing you shared online. Maybe it was the recipe that you tried for dinner, a new website that you discovered with Stumble-upon, a blog post that you found particularly useful, or a hilarious video on YouTube.

Did you share it on Facebook or twitter? Did you email it to family and friends or bookmark it with your favorite social bookmarking site?

Even if you don't share that much, think of all the avenues of social media that you use to find the things you are interested in.

If you use a search engine, chances are you've come across a link to an interesting article that was posted on Digg or Delicious. This is helpful to you; You may not have found that awesome article otherwise, but because it was so awesome, others took the liberty of improving it's rankings by saying to the world, “Hey, I think this link is cool.” In the same manner, other people came along and said, “Hey, I think this link is cool, too.”

The advantages of social media to advertisers and businesses is simple.

Today, people are using social media to interact with products, brands, and businesses in a way that was previously unheard of. You and I can “like” a brand on Facebook or “follow” a business on twitter with the click of a button. It's the equivalent of subscribing to a newsletter without the hassle of giving an address, email, or even forking over some money.

There are some downsides to this. The first that comes to mind is that it's easier to attract less serious prospects.

This problem is countered by the fact that more individuals have access to you and your products; Those who are not quality prospects, but hop on board now, may stick with you and prove to be excellent prospects in the future.

Social media gives the ability to warm up your prospects to the realization that what you have to offer might be exactly what they need.

The main advantage to social media is the ability to connect with your prospects on the platform that they are most comfortable with. Instead of visiting your blog/website and being out of their element, you can interact with them in their environment first.