Andrew Sirianni

A recent survey of consumer's Internet usage by Hitwise revealed some interesting trends for the way Australian's are using the Internet. Almost a quarter of every hour Australian's spend online is spent on social networking. With so much time spent on these networks by potential customers/clients, it may be time for your business to consider how it can position itself to be visible in the social media space.

I must preface this post by indicating that Social Media is not for every business. And even if it is a viable strategy, a poorly planned/executed strategy can often do more harm than good. But it is an option and given the number of Australians using Social Media, you need to consider it.

Before launching yourself into Social Media, take a moment to assess your approach: firstly, consider whether or not a social media campaign is aligned with your business; then consider the strategy you will adopt and create a plan to implement it.

Once you have determined your strategy and identified the networks that are aligned with your strategy, you are ready to begin creating your Social Media presence. Put simply, this is a simple way to create branding and placement of your businesses in these networks.

However, the most basic way to do this is to reserve the name of your business, add your logo, description and contact details. Regardless of how you wish to use social media, this will at least create a place for you to do it and ensure that you retain ownership of the information relating to your business. It will also ensure that your business comes up when users search for it within social networks.

At the very least, you should register accounts in the name of your business on all the social networks - regardless of how you intend to use them.

Beyond this basic approach, your strategy will be dependent on your business and the way you wish to position it in the eyes of the network's users. Given the brevity of this post, I think it would be half-baked to try to touch on the different strategies available. However I do wish to re-iterate the social media use in Australia is at an all time high. And as a business owner, it is important that you take the time to consider how (and if) your business can use this captive audience to communicate with current and potential customers/clients.

So if your business has not yet considered using Social Media, take a moment to evaluate your options. Not all business have a place in Social Media, but with so many Australian's active in social networks, you really need to evaluate the options. At the very least you should create accounts for your business and you may potentially find another avenue for marketing your products/services.

If you're considering using Social Media for your business, contact us today to find out how we can assist you to review your requirements and develop a social media strategy. With your strategy in place, we can then help you engage with social media platforms in a structured manner to achieve the best outcomes.

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