Social Media and Online PR

Facebook - The leading social networkSocial Media is increasingly used by companies for their online marketing and PR activities. Social media has become the latest frontier for online marketers looking for more effective ways of interacting with their customers. Currently Facebook and Twitter lead the way in this new and exciting area.

The phenomenon of social media is not new. Blogs and Internet forums have beeen around since the late 1990s. What has changed is the penetration of these services into the mass market and the  almost ubiquitous adoption of online social networking as the communication tool of choice by the modern generation of digital natives.

On its own, Facebook is now the World's most frequently visited website. With over 500 million subscribers as at November 2010. As has been pointed out by many commentators Facebook has more subscribers than every country except China and India has population. Facebook is increasingly exploring ways to monetise its vast user base. This includes search.

Channels in the Social Media Category

  • Blogs - Including Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Foursquare
  • Forums
  • YouTube
  • Podcasts
  • Flickr
  • Bookmarking
  • Review sites

Location based social networks

Social Media gives organisations an almost instant access to insight from their customers. What do they think about your brand, how do they rate your service? Social Media is different from Traditional Media for three main reasons – speed, accessibility and cost.  To communicate and publish via Social Media has huge advantages as it can have a local or global reach, it can be done with limited skills and resources, it is quick and can be updated at any point. You can control access via subscriptions, encryption and pass words and choose your access model to be via fixed or mobile devices.  That is a lot of upside!

But there can also be barriers to entry.

  • Is Social Media right for your businesses?
  • Which parts of Social Media would pay off rather than distract?
  • How do you know that you are not wasting your money on experimenting?
  • When is the right time to start participating?
  • Are there enough resources in the organisation to take on Social Media?

Social Media is now part of the online marketing mix and needs to be a consideration of any marketing strategy. At Simply Clicks we understand the impact and influences of individual components of social media. We can help your organisation to choose the right strategy, keep up with it and make sure that you achieve your objectives and get return on your investment. Your plans and actions of social media need to be constantly evolving; they need be engaging and can’t be allowed to get out of date.

Simply Clicks has many years of experience in Social Media engagement. We can help you understand, analyse and interact via the new channels available. Our strategies are always based on the needs of both your organisation and market category.