Social media and Internet presence important for business

 You’ve read that one of my goals downtown was to grow our online and social media presence. Two years ago, we didn’t have an email blast list. Now, we have 850 active community members who get our updates. In 2013, we had just over 400 likes on our Facebook page. Now, we have 1,777. That’s just our downtown Freeport page. We also have pages for each of our fundraisers that have 5,360 likes. Last year, we didn’t have a Twitter account, social media and marketing today we have 85 followers. Social media is often thought of as just for kids. However, Statista reported that of 30- to 49-year-olds that use the Internet, 81 percent have Facebook accounts. It’s becoming increasingly important to keep the heads of household in mind when marketing online. Facebook is live. Pictures, daily happenings and experiences are often reported as they happen. Phones connect directly to the site. With a few clicks, a photo or opinion can be shared with hundreds of people. Similarly, Twitter is a way for people to live tweet things they see. In slower motion, a person can also share experiences with Google. They have listings and maps of businesses that they keep updated. Web users are able to leave reviews for all to see. If you are a business owner and you are not monitoring these things, you should start. Know your target demographic. Those demographics and website statistics will help you develop a list of social media sites you should target first. Start small, social media marketing plan template managing two or three and expand as you learn. Many businesses now use social media and its various applications as tools for business. What’s not to like? It’s a form of advertising and helps you keep track of the general sentiment for or against your company and acquire customers, among other things. But just like everything in this world there is a downside to social media. Aside from helping your business it can also hurt your business as well.

Post when dealing with social media

Some celebrities and athletes say dumb things on social media, and they've learned the hard way what kind of damage the wrong tweet or post can do. Teens are making the same kinds of missteps on social media. Many are unaware of the consequences. A company that aims to help students better navigate the complicated worlds of high school social life and social media has developed a lesson for high school kids that makes them think before they post. Socialize Right was developed by Eric Sloss, marketing social media Cynthia Closkey and Sarah Mayer of Shift Collaborative in East Liberty, a marketing and communications agency that manages social media campaigns along with traditional marketing and communications. Misuse of social media and inappropriate postings are "pervasive" in middle and high school, said Susan Miller, an educational consultant who works with Socialize Right. Kids have migrated away from mainstream social media sites such as Facebook, in part because their parents and grandparents are there, and in part because sites like Vine and Snapchat offer more in the way of video. Some popular social media apps like After School allow members to post anonymously - or even post something using someone else's name. "That's how complicated it is in schools right now," Ms. Miller said. "You really don't know who's doing it. You don't have the ability to be the cyber detective, but we're still dealing with the aftermath." Shift Collaborative teamed up with KDKA-FM sports talk host and former Pittsburgh Steelers punter Josh Miller for a presentation for the Cincinnati Bengals on using social media effectively. (He is not related to Susan Miller.) "That kind of inspired this idea, because I see my students and our clients using social media in various ways," said Mr. Sloss, who also teaches social media and public relations at the University of Pittsburgh's department of communications. "There's a huge learning curve. We teach parents to clarify the complicated ever-changing social media landscape, as well as encourage students to think social media marketing b2b about their digital legacy." In the Socialize Right school presentations, Josh Miller, who also played for the New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans, serves as a role model and social media coach for the students by drawing on his own experiences and those of others in the sports arena to tell cautionary tales about the pitfalls of social media misuse.

What social media has to offer your business

There are plenty of articles out there about how businesses can use social media to bring in more customers, but we don’t often think about what else businesses can get from social media. Being present online and having your own stream of media for your business is important, but you can gain just as much from reading and sharing other firms’ content as your own. Here are three ways to use social media to your advantage. Whether you’re an established social media marketing packages business owner or you’re just thinking of starting your own small business, there are a lot of tools out there to help you along every step of the way. Social media is a big aspect of business operations nowadays, and in many ways you can gain just as much from reading other companies’ social media content as you can from putting your own content online. If all of your tweets are about your business activities, it’s easy to become repetitive and drive away followers. If you share news and other content relevant to your industry, however, you will add variety to your company’s social media news feed and attract more followers with your expanded focus. Also, by promoting other people and businesses you enjoy, you can build good relationships with them and they’re more likely to promote your business in return … or even offer to build a partnership and collaborations. Does your business ship a lot? You can learn how to save money on shipping costs by following companies that social media marketing proposal specialize in the business of shipping, and learn the ins and outs of things like freight indexing, how weather is affecting shipping, and which companies offer the best deals. And that’s just one aspect of your business that you can learn more about and profit from. Creating relationships with other businesses and learning more about the process of shipping gives you the ability to offer your customers the best overall experience while saving money for your company.