Social Media is online computer mediated technologies that facilitate the sharing or production of ideas, careers, career aims and other types of expression through virtual communities and online networks. They have been around since the 1990s but have become increasingly popular in the last decade, particularly with companies looking for new avenues to market themselves. Companies such as Facebook and LinkedIn offer social media websites for their employees to use in order to communicate with and share ideas with colleagues.
The first step to using social media effectively is to develop a plan. This includes setting up a company profile on a popular social networking website such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. This should include all relevant information about the organisation and what it does. By creating this profile people can then comment and interact with the organisation, creating an interest in the company amongst those looking to find new work or expand their existing business.
People can also create links between their organisation's profile and other social networking websites. For example, if an employer has their company profile on LinkedIn and uses that profile to post jobs they could create a link with their Twitter account by tweeting a job advertisement, using the same social network to update any relevant news and information about the new position and then linking that to their website using the website's website tools. People can then interact with those links in various ways such as commenting on the postings and sharing the job advertisement. These posts can be posted publicly, linked to the organisation's website and/or placed into a company blog.
Another tool used to create interest in the organisation through social media is the organisation's blog. The blogs are created by using an open source platform, which allows the content of the blog to be published publicly on the blog site without needing to have any other social media sites connected. These blogs can then be accessed by anyone who is connected to the company's blog. By using these blogs the organisation can provide users with relevant information from the website about relevant products, services and news relating to the organisation or the business.
Social media sites can also be used as a way to build the organisation's brand identity. In order to do this, an organisation must provide an active link between their website and the social networking site where they have their company profile and blogs. These links are then used to make announcements and to inform the users of events such as company events and company news. People who are interested in the organisation can participate in the discussions by commenting on the relevant topics and leaving comments on posts made by other members of the organisation.
One of the most effective ways of using social media is through the use of the website of the organisation's company profile. This site should be used as a place where new members can join the organisation and gain insight into the organisation and what it does. An interesting feature of this profile is to set out the types of content that will be included, along with a description of the types of articles and materials that will be posted and other information that will be posted. By doing this the organisation can attract a larger audience who can potentially help the organisation to promote itself.
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