Making Social Media Work for You

Social media can be a very beneficial tool to increase market penetration for a business or personal ventures. For the past five years I have used the social media sites Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote my blog, Everybody’s Boy which highlights the journey my family has embarked upon since my son’s diagnosis of Autism.

I have also grown a following for consulting and freelance work through social media outlets. Some of the benefits I have found to using social media platforms is that there is a wide and diverse reach, it is accessible to virtually every consumer, and it costs little to no investment.

On Facebook you can promote a posting or run an ad campaign for a small cost, however the nature of the platform is a more organic reach. People like your content or product and then share it with their friends who in turn share with their friends and hopefully through this process your message, product or service can go “viral”.

Twitter works much the same way as Facebook, except the manner in which you share information is by 140 character posts that are “retweeted” by your followers. It’s very important to choose your words carefully with Twitter to ensure your message is compelling and descriptive enough to be shared.

Linked In is a professional social network that allows you to make connections with current and prospective business partners. It’s a good tool for sharing ideas and beginning to build relationships that can transfer over into other social media sites.

There are many other social media outlets such as Stumbleupon, Tumblr, Four Square and Pinterest – all of which share slightly different platforms.  Tumbler and Pinterest are image based, Four Square is a location game, and Stumbleupon chooses pages for you based on your historical browsing.  Each can have a positive impact on growing your business or brand, depending on your desired outcome and target audience.  Give it a try. It’s free so you have nothing to lose - and have fun!