BLOGGER- Blogging is a very popular way to inform customers about your business and keep them up to date with new products. Blogger is also a very good way to post a short summary about the background of your company and/or your personal background. During class we used it to introduce our business, post a review/summary of our podcast and post a blog about how to deal with bad business reviews. Learning how to use this type of social media was very useful, as I had never blogged before! If I was using blogger for an actual business I would start be explaining the history of the business and the owner/inventor. Then use it weekly to inform customers of upcoming events, special deals and awesome products!
TWITTER- Twitter is probably the second most popular social media site behind Facebook. Twitter is very easy to use, and very easy to gain publicity. Throughout the semester we used twitter to promote our blog, Facebook and podcasts. It was also fun to follow other classmates and help retweet and promote their business's. Using twitter was a very cool experience, it helped me "keep tabs" on the competition and help promote other students business's. The only con I can think of when it comes to twitter is the small amount of characters you can use. Other than that, Twitter is a great way to spread the word about your business. If I was using Twitter for a new business I would use it to follow, and gather information on competitor companies. I would use it to promote new products and send links to our website, and our other social media networks. Twitter can be very useful, but be careful... do no overload people twitter feed!
FACEBOOK- Facebook is the most common social media platform. Using Facebook we shared photos, stories and links to our blogs, twitter accounts and podcasts. Using this social media was very fun, simple and I would say the most reliable out of all. Facebook is quick, easy and by far the most popular out of all. It would be the easiest to get the word out about your new business/company. If this was my real business I would create a Facebook to update our customers of new products, pictures of those products and I would post a status every time we had a sale going on or special items on clearance!
HOOTSUITE- Hootsuite was a very useful social media site, but also the most difficult to use. During class we connected our twitter, Facebook and blog to Hootsuite which enables you to plan ahead and set times for which you want each site to send a posting, or tweet. Although Hootsuite can be very helpful when not trying to drown your followers or customers, I found it very confusing and tough to follow. If I was to use Hootsuite for a real-life job I would set a week of tweets, Facebook posts and blogger updates all at the beginning of the week. It would be a reliable tool when it came to NOT overflowing your customers Facebook's or Twitter feeds.
NICHE SITES- When it comes to niche social websites it truly depends what your business is, to know if it is a reliable marketing source. If your company is something of a wide variety, such a beer-brewing you will have beer luck with niche sites rather than someone who is looking for a wakeboarding niche site. For class I was able to find a very cool website that was for all extreme-sport athletes to get together and talk on discussion boards and share pictures, tips and tricks. I found this site to be very cool. If I was a business owner I am not sure I would use niche sites very often, unless its simply to advertise. These sites are usually small and do not have a lot of traffic.
PODCASTS- Podcasts are simply a short radio or audio snippet which is usually used to advertise your business or product. We used a podcast to quickly explain our company, what we do and what we represent. I think podcasts are slightly overrated due to the fact I do not believe you reach many people when you do podcast. If I were to somehow use a podcast in a real-life business situation I wouldn't do my OWN podcast, I would find a podcast that is directed toward my target market and simply put a short commercial or ad on that podcast. Overall my experience using podcast was not very good.
VINES & VIDEOS- Vine is a very popular and up-and coming social media application. This allows you do post 6 second videos. That is the only negative... you only get 6 seconds. We used vine to do a giveaway which was very fun. Overall my experience was very good with vine. I have used this app in the past so it came easy to me. As of now vine is used for mostly funny and prank videos... If I was running my own business I am not sure that I would use this media to promote my business and or products.
RATINGS & REVIEW SITES- In class we had to see how we would deal with a bad report on a social media site about our business. Sites that take ratings such as "Yelp" are very beneficial to companies. This is a place where they can see reviews, questions and concerns about their business. I would find this very helpful as a business owner. My experience using these sites are very good, and very often. I check the reviews for the golf course I work at in the summer. If I was a business owner in real life I would check these sites regularly, and if I found a bad review I would try to contact that person and see if I could make their experience more enjoyable next time.
In conclusion I think all of the social media platforms would be useful for certain business's. But if I had a real life job for Cool Dude Wakeboards I believe that Facebook, Twitter, and a Podcast advertisement would be most helpful in spreading the word about my new business. Facebook because it is the most used site, easy to post pictures. Twitter because it is easy to follow competitors and make sure we are ahead or right on the heels of the wakeboarding world. I also think it would be very helpful to do a radio ad in the southern states where wakeboarding is a year-round sport. It is very easy to reach a mass amount of people on the radio.
