I’ll start off with a pretty obvious statement, pretty much everyone in the world uses social media in some way. Some use it more than others, and we all may have different purposes for it. But whether it’s a company or a person, the overall purpose remains the same: to connect.
I already knew the basics of using each of the social networks that the hootsuite class went over. But what really intrigued me was the strengths and weaknesses of each. They were something that I never really thought about, and I’m sure that others really don’t consider it either. I’ve seen plenty of interactions on twitter where someone complains about poor customer service and the company will answer back and try to resolve the problem. In my opinion, that’s a lot faster than calling a support line or something similar. The benefits of that go both ways, for the customer and for the company, so it’s essentially a win-win scenario. For the company though, I think it’s more of an image thing. Before social media, if you had a complaint, you could call or leave a note at that specific store. The reality is that most of these would never be seen or heard by more than a couple of people at most, and probably didn’t change anything. Now, with social media, you can post a complaint on any of a company’s pages. The benefit here, is that others are going to see that and be able to see if an effort is made to resolve the issue. That message could possibly change the way that a person views that company.
Moving on from that rant, I’m not going to lie, I totally forgot that foursquare even existed. I do see the benefits of it though and can understand the appeal of using it. It’s definitely something that could really help out local businesses. Overall, I learned that if one has a company, it’s best to have an account on all of the popular social media sites of the time. While each has its pros and cons, you are still able to greatly expand your each. The way that you can tailor your ads to be seen by specific people is great as well, it means you are more likely to reach your targeted audience. I would like to learn how to make more effective content for viewers, and how to use sites other than linkedin for networking.
That’s all I’ve got for now,
– K