Social Media 2012 - What's in it for your business?

According to Bloomberg, in late 2011 Facebook was valued at $100bn (Not so much now!), Twitter £7bn and LinkedIn at $3bn.  These vast sums have been arrived at because of their ability to reach a combined audience of nearly 2bn. 

As Social Media platforms mature, and with the entry into the market of the ad-heavy Google, community marketing (talking to like-minded individuals with common goals and interests) is becoming increasingly prevalent. 

B2B Marketing’s December 2011 survey suggested 54% of UK companies are either planning to increase or establish a Social Media presence, so it looks likely they’ll find a receptive audience.
Here are my top-five things to look out for.

Google+
From zero to 40million members in three months is no mean feat and this is just the start for Google +.
Built with both social and business use in mind it allows you to keep in touch with customers, attract prospects, keep up with industry news and run your online business from a single space.

LinkedIn
This has been built on the premise of putting professionals together; initially with the intention of furthering careers.Recently it has evolved and it’s now a great place to raise the profile of your business and seek new customers, as professionals seek out recommended suppliers to make their business more efficient in these troubled times.So join and interact with groups in industries you are/would like to work with and create your own group into which you can place content of value to customers and potential prospects.For example, if you’re looking to target doctors you could create a group called, ‘The Doctors’ Investment Surgery’ and invite GPs and other doctors to join.

Facebook
As the web gets larger (we now have over 300milion sites to choose from!) and people’s lives get busier, major players like Facebook are finding themselves a breeding ground for a world of weird and wonderful content that they had probably never even dreamed of.

Twitter
Until recently, Twitter has been more of a ‘share engine’ than a business destination page like Facebook.  But with Twitter brand pages coming soon, you can have more control over page layout – including keeping tweets ‘pinned’ – as well as much more control over your feed (the online way of referring to your content).
This new functionality will make it even easier to promote your services and gain new followers.

YouTube
The all-new YouTube will become even more popular with businesses as time-poor consumers of all kinds look to research the services they need.
So whether you want to explain the implications of Retail Distribution Review or give tips on saving on motor premiums then YouTube’s a great place to be seen.
And don’t think you need a polished, studio-produced video either; many of the most viewed and valued YouTube videos are shot on phones and other handheld devices.  Keep it short, simple and easy to understand and you’ll gain attention and engagement.

Get involved now and get ahead of the competition.