Click here to view a list of social media definitions.
Facebook is a fastest-growing popular online platform that enables customization of user interface, which also includes installing applications to personalize the experience further. Users are connected to their friends very quickly as they could receive notifications when someone in their network has made changes or updates to his/her current profile or status.
LinkedIn‘s tagline “Relationships Matter” is very appropriate to show us what this social network does. Believing that people relationships is a valuable asset, LinkedIn serves to help individuals and companies to build and maintain them. This gives professionals an advantage to be more successful and productive in their careers by leveraging on as well as contributing to their own professional and trusted network.
MySpace
A large and diverse audience uses MySpace. Hence, it’s hard to tell who these people are. Available in 15 different languages, MySpace allows customization of profile and integration of features such and blogs, groups, bulletins, widgets. It seems to be widely used by the entertainment industry such as musicians, bands and comedians. Subsequently, it allows the rise of independent bands by providing a platform that bypasses the big players in the industry.
Twitter is a popular microblogging system that enables users to send messages of 140 or less. It first started as a means to communicate within friends, family and coworkers and has evolved into a powerful social medium as a great and extremely fast way to disseminate information. Talk about the grape-vine. Twitter indeed illustrates the meaning. Even the 44th U.S president Barack Obama tweets.
Digg
Playfully named as Digg, it is indeed a platform to dig for good stuff and release breaking news. Discovering and sharing websites is basically what Digg is about. Users “digg” for web content and submit links to Digg. These contents include from anything from technology to sports. Subsequently, Digg becomes a system that allows the internet audience to drive the type of quality of information on the web. The main repercussion is that there’s no editorial monitoring, so we must be careful when it comes to collecting data and information.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a mini-blogging, customizable platform easy to set up and very attractive in either simple or more complex form. Brands concerned with spreading news especially focused on visuals can receive good exposure here, if cultivated well, because of the reblogging feature where followers can pick up the post and reblog it to their own blogs. Fashion brands particularly have embraced this instablogging-style, but any business with strong visuals can also build a social network and distribute images that link back to their webpages just as successfully.
Also considered one of the ruling platforms for visual images and photos, Instagram offers stylized filters for your photographs or images. Using these filters can give images you tweet or share a branded feel quickly depending on the filter you use. (Also, while the genius of Instagram is that you can follow and share with other major brands and influencers, other apps offer filters like Instagram that you can use for a branded-image look.)
Foursquare
A great choice for local businesses, Foursquare can attract attention whether you use it to offer deals to your consumers or encourage check-ins by team members that are then automatically shared on their Twitter or Facebook feeds. Foursquare also offers a way to connect with other local check-in enthusiasts and let them know when your company sends representatives and checks in at conferences, trade shows or other industry events stoking your credibility.
This platform is so similar to Tumblr and Instagram, but so different. Businesses can use Pinterest to post collage-board pictures of products, design processes, inspirational visuals, and more. Then, with the cultivation of a social network surrounding your page, you can generate frequent interaction and repins, rather like reblogs, by users. In addition you can search out bloggers or complimentary businesses to partner with in future promotions or like minded ventures.
Quora
Do you need to be an all-knowing polymath interested and knowledgeable about everything to use this site? No; however, participating allows you to not just learn things you didn’t know before, but also offer the knowledge you do have about topics related to your business. Who is to say you won’t run into like-minded users and excellent resources, especially if you are in the business of consulting or research.
Flickr
Flickr allows you to upload pictures and illustrations to a first-rate platform for adding descriptions, geo-tagging, and organizing. Plus you can interface with third party apps and bring your visuals onto your business webpage, Facebook page, and others, all from one centralized source.
Google+
Many day-to-day users question the validity of Google+ for their business; however, creating links that rest in the shade of Google search on a Google platform is not a bad strategy, and, especially in light of the recent creation of brand pages for Google+, allows users to cultivate brand awareness among circles they might not have considered before. Google+ is not made up of purely friends (as is Facebook) or business contacts (LinkedIn) or news hounds (Twitter), but rather a group of colleagues interested in thought-leadership and technology.
YouTube
Besides the obvious use of YouTube, posting videos to market your business or clients’ businesses, YouTube also ranks high in search engine page results and online visibility. It is essentially the 3.5 of the Big 3 because of the popularity of video, especially user-generated video. Even if you don’t make videos for your business, consider running a promotion where users submit their own centered around your product or service and feature them on your YouTube channel.
Source: Constant Contact
