Wislounge

Thoughts and opinions on web development

What Would it be Like Without Social Media?

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What would it be like without social media?  What kind of life would people be leading if there was no such thing to be part of daily living of humans?  Will we be better off or find ways to have them anyway?

Imagine a life that is led in a rather old-fashioned way where they may be computers but no such option as using them for social interaction and networking.  Imagine computers without Internet connection and merely as a modern version of typewriters.  Imagine computers as purely an office equipment, an iPhone only a stylized version of a landline phone, and no other gadgets with Internet capability has ever been invented yet.  Will the term “social media” have a different meaning from that which we know of now?

With all the human preoccupation with online networking where humans are not the only ones connected but groups, business entities, and sites, it is almost impossible to think of how socialization will occur without it.  We must however remember that people have survived before without it.  There might be a big difference though with people who have never experienced it and those who have experienced it and are forced to scale down.  After all, how can something be missed if there is no prior experience about it.

Without social media, humans will definitely find some other way to do something similar.  The advantages people experience today because of technological advancement are quite many. One has to step back once in a while though to appreciate what we have.

About the Author:

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information.

Image: mojocreator.com

Social Media Marketing of Blogs

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Can blogs survive without social media marketing?  It would appear that as time progresses, the answer tends to favor the negative.  This means that blogs who continue to ignore the social media platform for marketing are getting left behind by their competitors.

Blogs primarily aim to compete for attention.  While most blogs simply compete for increased readership, business blogs employ social media for marketing purposes more than anything else.  The captured audience represented by membership of social media entities is great in actual numbers thereby making it an effective incentive for businesses to run after.

Businesses that have tapped social media reported an improvement in feedback, public perception of company,  customer support,  customer satisfaction, and sales.  Management’s lack of understanding of programs that focus on social media is just one of the identified obstacles to successful implementation of related marketing efforts.  Consumers and customers expect businesses to use social media primarily to solve problems and to get customer feedback on the products or services they are offering.

However, many businesses have wizened up to the other possibilities offered by social media through the use of their blogs.    Through blogs, customers are able to interact with the company and the brand in the swiftest possible time.  A considerable advantage is given to companies with blogs since they are able to react accordingly to comments and opinions.

Maintaining a blog is seen as one of the most positive activities that businesses can undertake in the online environment and one of the most effective support of blogs is social media.  Social media allows blogs to be more interactive.  Many customers feel that they are more inclined to transact with businesses which employ social media options because of the added value offered.  Businesses have to exhaust all possible options in marketing and communicating with customers and there is no better way to do it than through blogs and social media.

SEO: The eCommerce Gateway

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SEO has successfully created opportunities for businesses all over the world in various platforms that browsers use the most.  Popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter, started off mainly as Social Networking sites.  As the webs of friends and other contacts grew on these platforms, businessmen started seeing the opportunity to penetrate these markets through advertisements. “Likes” from Facebook, and “Followers” from Twitter have spread brands like wildfire by exposing products and companies to countless people in unimaginable ways.

Displaying the Starbucks’ logo on Facebook pages would get users of this site to click on it to find out more.

“Sharing” videos for example, reaches out to the many interconnections and spreads what the video offers. SEO companies swiftly saw an opportunity to help websites and brands get noticed and took advantage of it.

Creating a profile on Facebook is one of the methods that have been used which resulted in amazing results. News and Current Affairs websites, like the BBC for example, have Facebook profiles that continuously get updates which provide their readers with information.  The smart phone revolution has also helped make the use of these Social Networking platforms, even more effective.

The Internet is after all, the place where everything is “happening”.  Internet marketing strategies target a considerably broad audience. They are able to pull in crowds easily without having to manage them or think of logistics. People have an ability to gather, converse and share information/photos with just a few clicks.

Take advantage of this opportunity and learn more about what can be done with the help of SEO service providers, because they know exactly what to do in order to keep the website within the first pages of reputable search engines.

Image From  BrentDPayne

Small Businesses Should Make Better Use of Social Media

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Social Way A recent report by Reuters cites a study conducted for Citibank Small Business that found out majority of small businesses do not use social media for business purposes. According to the survey, 75% of the respondents don’t find social networks and mediums like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as useful in expanding their business networks or generating leads. 86% has responded that they don’t even use information from social mediums as a source for business advice.

I say small businesses stand to gain much from using social media in their day to day operations.

Granted, most small businesses out there are probably brick-and-mortar operations, which have a small sales, manufacturing, service or other activities as its main source of income. Some of these may be home-based or freelance/professional basis. Indeed, many small businesses go on by without the need to engage social mediums on a day to day basis.

But social media can definitely help small businesses expand their network, and do marketing at lightning speeds at dirt cheap costs. Offhand, here are a few benefits of social media that I think small businesses should consider.

Viral marketing

For any business, there’s nothing like a viral marketing campaign done right. Word of mouth, after all, is a very effective tool in the dissemination of information, especially if it’s done among people who are considered to be connectors. The real measure of how effective a small business can do viral marketing is not by the number of people whom you can share information with. Rather, success can be determined by the importance and influence of the people you share this information with. Social media users who are influential and trusted are better at word of mouth marketing, especially if they are within fields of interest relevant to your product or service.

Market research

Not all businesses can afford to hire marketing consultancy firms to determine market trends and do research. The Internet is rich with this information, to some extent. For instance, you can use Google Trends to spot trends in user interest for certain keywords and phrases. You can look for product reviews to find what customers are looking for. You can even search for mentions on Twitter and on blog review sites to find what people are saying about your industry or product.

Custmer relations

In the eyes of a consumer, the best companies are those that are transparent with their dealings with the public. It’s best for any business to build up trust with the consumer base. One of the ways you can do this is by being accessible from all possible channels. Most businesses already have a website. But having a contact form that lets you receive emails might not be enough. If you bring your conversations online–like through a blog, forum or Twitter, then you have a better chance at resolving possible problems even before they happen. If you’re lucky, passionate users might even build interest groups themselves, and it will be the community that does the support for your clients.

Any small business stands to gain a lot with social media. Even if the benefits may not be direct, it’s a matter of extending goodwill and enhancing your presence in an ever growing community of connected individuals. Being active on Facebook, Twitter, in blogging and forums may not necessarily be able to directly result in added sales, revenues and expanded business. But by being connected, you can start building up a network and you can gain the trust of your audience.

image credit: flickr/caseywest

Is Twitter a Complete Waste of Time?

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Typing on keyboardWhen I was working in the corporate world, I had to scold myself whenever I had the urge to blog during office hours. Sure, writing was my passion and my hobby. But of course, doing this on company time would be tantamount to stealing! That was until I found myself shifting jobs, in which my new job actually involved blogging. Not only was I authorized to blog on the job, but it was also my main responsibility to get the word about the company’s products and services through blogging and word of mouth.

Now blogging doesn’t sound like a complete waste of time, does it? My blogging during company time helped me on two fronts. First, I helped publicize the company’s services. No, I was actually evangelizing, and not just publicizing, since I was so passionate about the technology (at least back then). Also, it paved the way for me to become better known in the blogosphere as among the first people in my country to make a living out of blogs and blogging.

Now does the same hold with Twitter?

A lot of “internet marketers” are taking Twitter by storm, but a lot of people are still getting it wrong. Twitter is not about blatantly blasting messages to thousands of people. It’s not about getting the most number of followers. It’s about genuinely connecting with people in a forum where they are comfortable. Now in that regard, Twitter is not a waste of time, but instead something that you can productive with.

In my case, I find myself actually being less productive the more time I spend away from Twitter, and other online sources of discussion and information for that matter. To many, Twitter is a place where they can chat and banter. It’s a place to showcase their latest conquests, rants and raves. But to folks like me, it’s a place where I can look for hot trends, for article ideas, and even for business ideas.

So whenever I find myself having blogger’s block, one of the first things I do is check TweetDeck for new updates, links and other messages from my contacts. I also watch tweets on keywords relevant to my fields of interest. And when I post something new, I try to give it a bit of a push by tweeting a link. I don’t usually expect people to take notice of automatically-tweeted blog post announcements, and so I manually craft each headline, to make it interesting and relevant.

And so that was my long answer. My short answer is no: Twitter is not a waste of time. Yes, it does eat up a lot of my time, and most of the time it also compounds to the time I spend, dealing with the information I learn and discussions I get involved in. It keeps my mind active, my fingers twiddling on the keyboard, and in some cases, the cash register ringing!

Image credit: flickr/foxtongue