The Basics of Social Networking

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Undoubtedly a subject of the moment, social networking is not exclusively for personal use and is proving itself to be an excellent form of communication for business.

It is a key way to generate brand awareness, create a following and interact with customers / clients.

However... there are pitfalls. Many of which relate to:

• Understanding of what social networking can accomplish;
• Fundamental set-up and usage of pages.

Though it is not impossible to get it right, (pretty much) first time, by following a few simple rules, many businesses give up their usage or become despondent simply because they don't know what they're doing!

1. Audience: Following last weeks' post, remember that you need to be mindful of who your audience is - e.g. demographic, interests etc;
2. Set-up: This applies mainly to Facebook pages, it is key that your page is set up correctly as appearing as a 'person' instead of a business is firstly, unprofessional, and secondly, likely to be closed off by the moderators of the site in the long-term. This means that all your hard work and followers will be lost!
3. Posting: Relevance and type of posting is key - try to put yourself in the mind of the customer you want to reach. Would they want to know the latest product or service you now offer? Yes. Do they want to know what you had for dinner on Saturday night? Probably not... unless you're a chef! Don't be a post-pest; constant and irrelevant posting can turn people off your page and business.

This is just a bite-sized taster of social media for business... remember how helpful it can be and more importantly, doing it right can really help your business.