Social media is the power of word-of-mouth using modern technology. Through tools such as blogging, Twitter and Facebook, social media allows for messages to go viral and spread from one person to another via the Internet, exponentially. Social media is about building community and sharing information. Businesses’ out-right promotion and hard-selling tactics fail to travel in social media; they miss the point of listening to and communicating with the community.

Twitter: What are you doing right now? Users create posts of 140 characters or less about what they are doing, seeing and thinking and build a follower base. Following is a one-way street: You can follow anyone (whether you know them personally or not), but they don’t have to follow you. Only your followers view your “tweet” when you post it, but it can be re-tweeted, which allows other people to showcase your message to their followers and so on. Messages are short, sweet and short-lived but still powerful because of their potential for viral distribution.

Facebook: Who are you? Users create profiles for personal use. Businesses create fan pages. When a Facebook user becomes a fan of a business, that fan status is listed on his or her profile page and becomes an element of their online personality. Facebook gives users and businesses the ability to showcase photos, videos and links and allows other users to take a look at what their friends are up to and where they’ve been — a greater slice of life than Twitter shows. People search for those they know on Facebook and then request “friend” status. Once you become a friend, both parties can see and exchange information.

LinkedIn: What’s happening with your career? LinkedIn, a social networking site that focuses on the professional aspects of your life, is all about business. Create a network of colleagues, request introductions through people you know, post your current projects and join professional groups. Relationships are built through contacts, which adds credibility to the network. LinkedIn groups also allow you to reach outside your circle and join in conversations that pertain to your industry and professional interests.

Jennifer Bondurant is the editor of Jefferson City Magazine and the founder of CatchPhrase Communications, a public relations and marketing firm.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.