With the rapid development of online technology, the
world is becoming much more social and associated. More and more people are
involved in the online social networks. Nowadays, social-networking sites are
not only a way to keep in touch with others, but a new way of life. 61% of
adults under 30 years old use online social tools at least once on a typical
day. There's absolutely no doubt that social networks are playing an
increasingly important part in many people's lives.
For me, I’m really interested in this course of
social networks, since all the contents are quite practical for display myself
on a more capacious network platform.
Besides Facebook, Linkedin, Slideshare and Google+
which I'm using now, I set up my new account of Twitter and Flickr, create my
personal web and link my multiple on-line identities through About.me, use
Hootsuit to manage the multiple social networks simultaneously and the various
profiles on different accounts....those social tools facilitate my
communication with others and maximize my exposure to the latest information
resources and different ideas derived from various cultures.
I benefit a lot from those widely-used social
networking tools. By posting my profile and joining in groups in Linkedin, I
manage to combine the realm of social media with the job market. Linkedin helps
me open up a door to more professional points of views, more working
opportunities and a more extensive social circle. At the same time, Twitter and
Facebook are working in connecting my finite personal space with the infinite
wide world. In China, it is forbidden to use most of those social tools;
therefore, almost all of them are new to me and offer me the opportunity to get
access to the ¨outside¨ world. It is those social networks tools that make me
realize that the more you come into contact with the world, the more you will
find yourself ignorant, and the more you have to work to establish yourself in
this global society.
Alongside personal usage, more businesses are taking
advantage of the benefits that social media sites can offer to promote and
market its brands and products. Let's first have a look at some figures:
55.3%: 55.3% of SMEs in Spain are using social
networks in a professional way.
96%: 96% of companies survey that their investments in social media
would be increasing
.
65%: 65% of companies in networking updated their profiles
at least once a week.
Social media is quickly becoming one of the most
cost effective ways for businesses to advertise. The following points of benefits which online social network would bring to companies are summarized
according to what I have learnt in this course.
- Social media is a fast and great platform to get the news out. Companies make use of social media tools to maximize their exposures to the market with lowest costs by encouraging people to be fans, to follow the company's activities,to join the company's community, etc.
- Thanks to the ´comment ´ function of most of the social media tools, the company could keep up with how the company and the brand are being considered in the customers´ views. The social media tools such as Facebook, Tweets and Twitters enable the companies to get the first-hand feedback and new ideas from the public, thus, the companies could monitor the business process and make modification timely.
- Social media tools help company to keep connecting with their customers. In this social area, the relationship between the company and the customers is largely depending on the positive collaboration and active connection in the online communities. Companies use tools such as Twitter to interact with the customers, offering real time customer services or address the problems of disgruntled customers online.
- Social media also is an ideal way for businesses to connect with suppliers, collaborators, associates… and to improve the internal marketing and set up corporate culture by connecting with all the employees of the company.
- Once the companies have built a network of people (e.g. an online community) , they could take use of the focus groups to do additional market research or real time search. The social media allows the companies to poll the customer base quite easily.
Thus, we could make the conclusion that social media
sites are one of the best ways for companies to market and promote the
companies´ brands online.
What’s more, in order to boost the sales, smart
company would put more emphasis on content marketing and shifting their mindset
to operate more like a media company. They use the top engine searches
(SEO), pay per click systems (SEM), email marketing campaigns, etc. All
these options of online marketing are aimed to generate and drive quality
traffic that results in sales. At the same time, by using Google Analytics,
Marketgoo, Raven, the company could optimize the website for search engines and
measure what has happened and is happening to the company in
web environments.
We now live in a digital age, people want relevant,
valuable content that's going to move them a step closer to identify the needed
information, interact with different people and cultivate global mindset,
display on a global-level platform to gain more opportunities, etc. Since
search engines and social media sites are quite catered to those demands, they
are now dominating the web traffic and widely adopted by people all over the
world. All those tools are well-designed and easily to use, so why shouldn't
you make use of them now and be a real social person?
P.S. Here I put my contact information. Welcome to
my social network world!
Facebook: YU WU
Twitter: @YUWU39
Linkedin: YU WU
About.me: YU WU
Slideshare：YU WU
