{"id":5041,"date":"2010-06-25T13:17:22","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T13:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/?p=5041"},"modified":"2010-06-25T13:17:22","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T13:17:22","slug":"understanding-and-exploring-the-social-media-jungle-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/understanding-and-exploring-the-social-media-jungle-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding and Exploring the Social Media Jungle: Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

With more and more social media sites popping up everywhere, the craze to have the next Facebook or Twitter continues to be relentless. Wikipedia lists<\/a> \u2018some notable, well-known\u2019 active social media sites\u00a0 – \u2018some\u2019 being 190 – and even has a separate page for defunct websites<\/a>, showing that this competitive trend shows no mercy.<\/p>\n

So with almost two hundred \u2018notable\u2019 options out there, how do you know which to use for your site and how? Facebook and Twitter are the most obvious choices, but it\u2019s essential to take time to create a strategy and see what works best for your particular needs.<\/p>\n

Take time to find the sites relevant to you<\/h4>\n

Don\u2019t just jump on the bandwagon. Investigate what\u2019s out there, and make two lists of potentials \u2013 one for pages that require very little maintenance (e.g. a StumbleUpon link), and one for sites that require frequent updates and monitoring (e.g. Facebook).<\/p>\n

When choosing sites, make sure they have an active following<\/h4>\n

Having active members is usually more important than having a large number of members, particularly as small sites give you the opportunity to gain prominence, enjoy less competition and let you take advantage of a more targeted audience.<\/p>\n

Check the terms and conditions of each site carefully<\/h4>\n

If you have a design or photography site (for example) and you want to upload images to a networking site for exposure, clarify the copyright and ownership policies of the site first to avoid upsetting clients or losing ownership of your work.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid of trial and error<\/h4>\n

When it comes to choosing the right social media sites don\u2019t be afraid to have a go, but if something\u2019s not working despite your best efforts then it\u2019s time to move on. Make sure you don\u2019t leave any blank pages behind you \u2013 \u2018saving the name\u2019 can be useful but at least include a link and a logo so people can identify you. This is something to watch out for especially when you\u2019re signing up with multiple usernames that may become useful in future. Try to provide a redirect link to your main account or user page where possible to help people get to the right place.<\/p>\n

Make sure you decide and allocate resource effectively<\/h4>\n

Spreading your time too thinly means that profiles will get neglected, so do a test over a set period and cut out the less successful ones. An abandoned page gives the impression that you don\u2019t care or even that you\u2019ve gone out of business, and spam and inappropriate discussions can run riot. Having a bad presence can easily be worse than none at all, so opt for consistency, and don\u2019t promise scheduled content you can\u2019t deliver on.<\/p>\n

Keep up to date<\/h4>\n

Sign up for newsletters and regularly read the official blogs of the social networking sites you\u2019ve joined. That way you can keep on top of any new features and implement them before your competitors, and also be aware of upcoming changes which may affect the way you operate.<\/p>\n

Think about the purpose of your social media<\/h4>\n

Are you developing your brand, using it as a direct sales tool, improving traffic or communicating with customers? This handy infographic from cmo.com explores the strengths and weaknesses of ten common social networking sites.<\/p>\n

The most effective campaigns are original<\/h4>\n

If you have an idea that\u2019s different to everyone else\u2019s, don\u2019t be scared to try it out; it could lead to a publicity explosion. If it doesn\u2019t work, then take the time to analyse it and figure out why it wasn\u2019t successful or come up with potential improvements. If you\u2019re using social media to host contests, try getting some feedback from participants about what they enjoyed and what problems they faced (if any)\u00a0 to gain more insight into user experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With more and more social media sites popping up everywhere, the craze to have the next Facebook or Twitter continues to be relentless. Wikipedia lists \u2018some notable, well-known\u2019 active social…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,28,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-social-media","category-your-business","category-your-website"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heartinternet.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}