WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

"Social Media isn't a replacement for existing communications channels but a new one that complements them and has its own set of rules" Iain Dodsworth | TweetDeck

What is Social Media?:

• Involvement: Social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested.
• Honesty: Most social media services are open to feedback and participation. The sharing of information.
• Conversation: Whereas traditional media is about 'broadcast', social media is better seen as a 2-way exchange.
• Community: Social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively.
• Connectivity: Social media thrive on their connection, making use of links to other sites, resources and people.

Social Media Platforms:

• Social Networks: Websites that allow people to build personal web pages and then connect with friends to share content and communication.
• Blogs: The most popular form of social media. Blogs are online journals.
• Wiki: Wwbsites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them. the most famous is WikiPedia
• Podcasts: Audio and video files that are available by subscription.
• Forums: Platforms for online discussion, often around specific topics and interests.
• Content Communities: Communities which organise and share particular kinds of content.
• Microblogging: Social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content updates are distributed online and through the mobile phone network. Twitter is the clear leader in this field.

Social Media for Business:
In 2009 Social Media became extremely popular, thanks to its predecessor, Social Networking, this interest becoming an essential part of the global online experience to both SMEs and consumers. 

• Twitter has experienced enormous popularity, reaching nearly 1400% annual growth.
• Facebook has a global database of 400,000,000 users.
• Apple iPhone continues to develop thousands of relevant applications.

Social Media sites are where consumers go to experience, share and publish profile information about themselves. In terms of marketers there is a large amount profile data that is available to convert into business, these profiles suggest they have expressed an interest in relevant products and services and this gives companies a positive insight into reaching the holy grail of marketing > Targeted and Relevant Audiences. A recent example of a brandsinvestment, was to see Pepsi decide that a $20,000,000 social media campaign was more effective than showing TV Adverts during the 2010 Superbowl.

Social Media Quick Facts:

• 29% of marketers say that social media is driven by multiple company departments.
• Asda recently launched a blog for its buyers to communicate directly with consumers.
• An increasing number of brands are putting formal structures in place to ensure wider company involvement in social media.
• Some brands believe all departments will have to change for an organisation to truly leverage social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA BRANDS THAT HAVE GROWN IN 2011 & A CLIP ALL ABOUT THE INTERNET