Week 2 Post 1: Let's Look at Social Media

Everyone is familiar with social media these days - we all remember getting friend requests from our grandparents and thinking "Well, we've reached peak internet..."  Good or bad, social media is here to stay and with it has brought new thinking, capabilities, and connections.  How we use those qualities is up to us, but interestingly enough, some platforms are better at that thinking, or capability, or connection than others...but it depends on who you are and what you're trying to do.  Are you an average person looking to reconnect with old friends?  Or a small-time crafter looking to break into the market?  Or a Fortune 500 with something to say?  Let's take a look at what social media platforms work well for each use.

For most of us, our first interaction with social media was personal.  We'd heard about this new thing called MySpace where you could share posts on your wall, and also deeply personalize your space.  You also got to find old friends on there, and everyone with inexplicably friends with Tom.  I have to admit that I resisted joining MySpace until my hand was forced with a school project...and that was it.  I was hooked with how easy it was to communicate and personalize.  And as an introvert, it allowed me to do it all at a distance that was comfortable and controlled.  Not too long after a little platform called Facebook appeared and social media as we knew it changed for good.  As the hands-down leader of social media, Facebook brings a lot of strengths and unfortunately some downfalls too.  But, on the whole, there is a reason it is the #1 social media site for personal use.  Over its evolution it's added user-run groups for any special interest the mind could conceive, support for a variety of content formats, easy integration with other websites and apps, and powerful algorithms that help connect its users with people and information that are relevant to them.  It's also added a sales platform recently and has firmly established itself as a one stop shop for bringing people together, connecting them to relevant information, and helping to build relationships.  For personal use, Facebook reigns supreme and any user can tell you why.  Facebook put MySpace out of business and is solidly on the way to sending Craigslist and online forums to their graves too.

But sometimes Facebook is just too...Facebooky.  Concerns about privacy, annoyance at the barrage of content, and more has led to the success of other social media platforms for personal use too.  Instagram (now owned by Facebook incidentally) offers a lightweight phone-only platform that does an effective job of filtering out the junk and presenting the information you want quickly through a heavy reliance on photos as content.  The experience is as much of the product as the content.  A lot of moms have made Instagram their go-to for social media because it effectively gets them the information they want and little else.  On Instagram copy comes second, but the power really is in the hashtags and @s.  They effectively connect content and allow you to explore on your own terms - it takes a few purposeful taps to wander into new discoveries.  It's not forced on you.  But, hashtags also do an effective job at giving the little guys a voice.  Now, a fan of a product can tag the manufacturer and have a reasonable chance of getting a response.  Or, content from regular people like you and me can get picked up and shared by the big guys.  Never did I expect a retirement cake I made to show up on the official Star Trek page, but a few hashtags and you're famous for a moment.

The last platform I'd like to discuss is one that has definitely presented an overwhelming amount of content and sucked you in for hours...YouTube.  In our cord cutting world YouTube has firmly established itself as a lightweight alternative to network television.  Granted, you won't find big hits on there (at least for free), but you will certainly be connected to a variety of content - much of it created by regular people like you and me.  Here, regular people can teach you a new skill, others can give an idea a voice, and even more can create long-running vlogs to document adventures, trials, or teach you the culture of a foreign place.  Many think of YouTube as just a platform for cat videos, but as a personal user I can tell you the incredible things I've learned there - about cultures, how to be an ally to those with disabilities, and even how to fix my oven.  For personal use, YouTube does an incredible job of connecting you with the information you want...and even more.

But what about the other side of social media?  When it comes to business social media still reigns supreme, but in different ways.  Instead of connecting businesses TO content, it serves businesses by connecting users to THEIR content.  Given its 1 billion users, Facebook has the most users of any platform and the exposure businesses need.  Added tools enable businesses to effectively use that exposure by way of business pages, reviews, maps, business hours and contact information, engagement metrics, and more.  And, since everyone is already on Facebook it's not much effort to search out business information there.  Or, business comes by way of users recommending a business and other users decide they'll give it a try too.  Facebook allows businesses to share all kinds of content quickly and easily too - all from a powerful business page interface.

Another major player in the business social media field is LinkedIn.  It operates much like Facebook with "friends" and "followers", but effectively maintains a professional atmosphere and limits oversharing.  Here, businesses can tap into a vast database of personal profiles - each with skills and job experience listed - to recruit new talent, or to post jobs with useful management tools.  Businesses can also post their own content and articles for their followers to digest and reshare if they like.  This is not the place to post baby pictures - LinkedIn is all about quality, intelligent sharing and making businesses look good.

The last leader in business social media is the tried and true Twitter.  Twitter works much like Instagram in that hashtags and @s quickly connect posts back to businesses, and it provides an effective platform for identifying customer problems and acting on them quickly.  Twitter also famously restricts tweets to 240 characters or less, so while businesses need to be succinct, their content is quickly and easily digested by their followers.  Twitter is also one of the fastest ways to spread news - an effective social media strategy gets your content engaged with first.  It is also an excellent platform for sharing quick bits of information, such as promotions, store updates, and more.  And, with a great social media manager businesses can enjoy free publicity (and business) at the expense of their competitors:

Now, is there a jack of all trades in the personal AND business social media business?  If anyone is it it would be Facebook and Instagram.  Their efficacy as business platforms is driven largely by the sheer volume of personal users - it's sink or swim really.  Both platforms offer expansive connections, sharing of content, and more for both individuals and businesses.  They are also effective at connecting businesses to people, and generating more leads and revenue.