Social Media
So what’s all the fuss about Social Media I hear you ask, isn’t it just about a load of teenagers chatting on Facebook?
Many people have a clouded view of what social media is all about and how it can help their business so here’s another way to look at it …
We all write letters, read newspapers, make telephone calls, send & receive newsletters, listen to the radio and watch TV. All of these are forms of communication or “Media” and we use them all to help promote our business without question. “Social Media” is simply a trendy phrase applied to online forms of communication (yes it even includes email) and it is not limited in it’s use to bored teenagers by a long way.
In fact recent statistics show that if Facebook were a country and it’s users were citizens then it would have the 3rd largest population in the world! Now that’s a lot of people …
So how can Social Media help your business?
Look at it another way, if someone told you you could have all the free TV advertising you wanted you would go for it without question. Well you can, plus you can have free newspaper advertising and magazine advertising and free brochures as well, all with Social Media 
Lets look at that statement and explain it a bit better:
TV = YouTube
Anyone with a video camera and a computer can put promotional videos together and upload them to YouTube for millions of potential customers to see, all for free!
Newspaper = Twitter
Want to know what’s going on in Perth, go to twitter and search for #Perth, or better yet go to “The Perth Daily”, an online newspaper compiled from information broadcast on Twitter.
Magazine = Facebook, LinkedIn & Google+
Why pay to advertise in a magazine when you can set yourself up on Facebook and leave subtle links back to your business page all over the place. Every time you leave a comment on another page everyone that follows that page has a chance of seeing your comments and a link back to your business. That could soon mount up to thousands of people learning about your business:)
It’s worth pointing out here that you need to keep these comments appropriate to the page on which you post and not blatantly promote your business on another business page.
Brochures = Blog / Facebook Tabs / Email Newsletters
Got an event coming up, some information you want to share or a new product to launch? Sending out brochures / invitations to all your customers can be an expensive business and not something you’d do every week but with your own blog you can do it every day if you like. Simply get your clients to subscribe to your blog or your email newsletter and there you go, free brochures.
Facebook Tabs are also another great way to promote events and new products to your clients.
So What Next
Of course there’s always a downside to any free lunch and in this case it’s understanding how to use (not abuse) Social Media to enable your business to get the best out of it.
There are millions of people out there using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and many more Social Media tools just waiting to hear about your business
The age old phrase “How do you know what you don’t know” comes into play here, and that’s where Social Media experts like us here at MADCAT Digital Design can help. So give Maggie a call on (08) 9305 2312 and we’ll show you how we can help.
