Social Media Channels
So what are the social media channels available?
Well, they come in many different shapes and sizes but essentially they break down into the following categories:
Social Networking Websites
Possibly the most talked about group of websites are the social networking websites. These sites are generally profile based and contain many different functions for finding people, adding them to your network and then sharing content with them. They often include forums, discussions groups, events calendars, some kind of email type communications function and other third party applications. Current examples are Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and LinkedIn
Blogs
Blogs are news threads or opinions from one person which others can then comment back on and discuss. They're a great way to establish authority and to keep an audience engaged with your brand, product or service.
Forums
One of the original forms of social media, forums are places where people can discuss topics in a user format. Quite often they are used to create communities with common interests and can cover all manner of subjects from gardening to book keeping. They can have a very powerful search presence as the content of a forum constantly evolves around a single topic and often contains numerous links from within and externally from other websites. Seeing your company name come up in a negative light in the search engines on searches for your organisation can be very, very disheartening. Consequently, it is always worth keeping track of your common searches and making sure you keep the forum users, and the bloggers, on side.
Video and Photo Sharing Websites
Unless you've been living in a purely offline world you will have heard of YouTube. YouTube is the perfect example of a video sharing website. A constantly growing online repository of user submitted videos covering all manner of topics from the downright hilarious to the downright bizarre. A media so powerful there are TV shows about its contents, its the perfect place to start building a social media presence - just make sure whatever you do is interesting and worthwhile!. Photo sharing sites, such as Flickr, are online photo libraries where users can share their photographic and imaging talents with their family, friends and peers.
Wikis
Wikis, such as Wikipedia, are user created websites about a given topic or topics. They're a place where users can create pages about anything and then publish them for the benefit of the world at large.
Presence Applications
Presence applications, or micro-blogs, are status based applications whereby users can keep the world at large with their latest musings, comings and goings. Twitter is probably the best know presence application and its meteoric rise over the past 12 months has seen it being used in more and more creative ways by those that understand it. You can find our Twitter page at http://twitter.com/flecthmcgull and through it you can stay up to date with all the latest from the world of digital marketing, as well as find out a little bit more about the people of Sagittarius Digital and the interesting/odd things that they get up to!
There are lots of social media applications and channels and they are a fabulous way to underpin your digital marketing and communications strategy in a cost effective and proximate way. The idea that social media sites are just for kids is a falacy and they can be a great way to create real community engagement across a diverse range of people.
Sagittarius Marketing has a wealth of experience in levearaging social media channels for its clients from running Facebook campaigns, Twitter channels to creating viral content for YouTube.
For more information about what social media can do for you and your organisation, brand, products and services then call us on 08450 553 888 or email info@sagittarius-digital.com.