Simon Paul Thurston

If you’re unfamiliar with the term social media, you’re possibly thinking social what? If this is the case, please allow me to explain in this article what social media is all about, and how it can be used to help your business.

What Exactly Is Social Media?

Social media in its basic sense refers to online media (websites) that enables (and also encourages) social interaction. This was something that until the dawn of what was termed by the internet fraternity as ‘Web 2.0′, was somewhat lacking from our online experience.

Previously, websites did not allow for much in the way of communication.

And yet now we are not only able to see and listen online, but we can also interact too, and I am going to tell you how this can be used to your advantage, and also the benefit of your business.

Our experiences online have very much changed in recent years, with the advent of sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter to name but a few. If you are unfamiliar with any of these sites then do have a look at them.

These interactive, social media sites have not only given individuals the opportunity to interact more and more with their friends, family and acquaintances online, but it has enabled businesses to reach their potential customers in new and exciting ways, and this is good news for your business.

Why Social Media Can Help Your Business

Perhaps most importantly, the whole concept of social media enables you and your business to market to potential customers on their terms. So what do I mean by that and why is it significant?

By marketing your business using the internet in general, but perhaps specifically by using a tool such as social media, your fitting your message in to a logical part of the daily activities for many of us these days.

So what do I mean by that?

Well this is because browsing and catching up with friends, family and colleagues online, rather than doing what we did ten years ago and picking the phone up and talking to them, is now normal practice. So this is good news for you and your business.

So the important point for you here is that you are not having to interrupt or stop people from doing what they would already be doing. This means that people are likely to stumble across your business almost without consciously thinking about it, and so you simply need to make your business more visible to them, and I am going to show you how to do exactly that.

Assembling Your Herd

One thing that participating in social media has enabled most individuals to do is to increase their own personal ‘database’ of contacts, such is the ease at which it can be done on many of these interactive social media sites.

For the users of these sites, the advantage is that they allow you, more than ever before, to keep in contact with friends, family, old school friends, whom ever you want to, and all at the click of a mouse.

This is not only convenient for the vast majority of us that lead increasingly busy lives, but it saves us time as well. Once again, this is great news for your business as time is a precious commodity.

Whether you have any experience of the many social media sites that are scattered across the internet or not, you will soon notice that mini communities begin to develop within an individual’s sphere of influence. This could be a community of friends, family or work colleagues, and all of these contacts will have their own different interests, tastes and opinions, and therein lies the potential opportunity for you.

This is how you can quickly build a database of hungry prospects and potential clients.

In Part Two of this article I will discuss why the use of social media can help you obliterate your competition, and how you can literally communicate your message to as many prospects as you want to both domestically as well as internationally.