For our first post on this topic I felt it was fitting to do a basic overview of what we view as Social Media and cover some of the benefits for your business and website.

First off lets looks at the Wiki definition of “Social Media”:

“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning, as people share their stories, and understandings.”

This is a solid definition of the term but I would add some too it as well. Social Media is also about participation in communities as well. Social Media is also about engaging your audience and giving them something to talk about. You can think of Social Media as part of your ongoing effort for your business to interact with your customers and potential customers (also known as enthusiasts).

Common Forms of Social Media:

- Blogging (Online Content Production)

- Discussion Forums (insert your favorite forum here)

- News Submission (digg, Sphinn, reddit, etc..)

- Social Networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, etc..)

- Commenting (Other Websites)

- VoIP (Skype, Gtalk, Jajah)

- Photo Sharing (Flickr)

- Peer Reviewed Content Production (Wikipedia)

Social Media Benefits:

One of the core benefits of Social Media is by participating in the discussion on topics that are relevant to your business you are not only lending expert advice coming from someone makes their living in this industry but you also are humanizing your company (read: Brand) at the same time. If a customer comes across a post you have written and they find it helpful and unbiased, you have in effect made an impression on them that has given them helpful information and builds trust with them.

With the internet being so anonymous, trust has become a very valuable if not the most important commodity online. That is the “real power” of Social Media in general is a way to meet your potential customers on neutral ground (anything thats not your website) and give them information to assist them and at the same time you are making a favorable impression on them. When that customer goes to make a purchase they will be weighing many things before making a purchase but if you have really put in effort in helping them with useful information or saved them time you will have goodwill built up with them that your competitors have not and this is what can give you the edge when making the sale.

Other Social Media Benefits:

Well…yes there are “other” benefits as well. If you do a outstanding job of providing great information and make your website into an excellent resource and a place of sales you can get the attention of the “influencers” in your community. I am not going to spend too much time on this subject being that I have a post in the future planned for this subject. An influencer in a simple sense is the person or organization that the people who are interested in your industry look too as a source of authoritative information (think, GigaOm, TechCrunch, Walt Mossberg @ WSJ). If you get these people jazzed about your service or commentary you will get free pres and links that are very coveted are hard too come by. Just imagine if you made a new gadget and Walt happen to write positively about it. Well if you imagination doesn’t work to well then I will describe it as a bank account that happens to have many zeros in it ($$$$).

Is there more?

Yes much more but that will come down the line, I am just trying to use this as a primer before we going deeper into this subject. We haven’t even started to cover the SEO benefits or the viral aspects.

See you soon, til next time

-Dal