There are so many articles about social media all over the newspapers at the moment: companies personally addressing customer complaints, celebrities taking over Twitter, books being published in excerpts of 140 characters…but what does social media mean for your company? And do you need it?
If you’re considering social media, you should think carefully about what you want to achieve from using it. The primary reason to use it is to engage the customer; creating two-way communication shows you care about the customer and want to listen to them. Although their feedback may not always be positive, it’s important to handle the rough with the smooth and provides a valuable lesson in PR.
Timely and regular communication is expected in what has become an extremely fast-paced society. Ensuring you update at regular intervals means your community can begin to grow organically as more people find out about you. I’ve seen too many campaigns started without forward planning and abandoned after a couple of months. Key campaigns that are marked in the calendar should have social media planned into the list of activities surrounding them.
So what types of social media do you need? Let’s consider three of the most popular ones: blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.
