Social media

This section provides an overview of tools that you can use to communicate with your customers, supporters or donors using media and platforms that are different from the traditional static website. Social media tools and platforms can help your organisation build greater customer awareness and engagement. 

Social media, also referred to as Web 2.0 or user-generated content, is a term commonly associated with online platforms that allow anyone to create, share and interact with a wide range of digital content. 

Examples of social media tools and platforms include: 

• forums
• blogs
• newsfeeds and information sharing tools
• information networks (such as Twitter) and social networks (such as Facebook, Flickr and MySpace)
• audio and video sharing

You can use social media platforms to build up your brand and client relationships because they tend to be more immediate, informal and personal forms of communication. This means you can get fast and honest feedback. In addition, connecting with your customers on the platforms that they are already visiting to engage with their friends and family can maximise the impact of your advertising strategies. 

Social media tools and platforms are used in a wide variety of ways including: 

• Blogs and online forums—you can post information about your business or organisation. Alternately, you may wish to comment on someone else’s blog or participate in an online forum on a topic of interest to your business or organisation. Blogs and online forums can provide more informal and dynamic information channels than what is offered by static content on your website.
• Social and information networking sites—these allow individuals and groups to connect with each other and share information. However, many organisations now use social networking platforms to build a company profile. These profiles position your organisation within existing online communities and invite members to interact with your organisations via comments and feedback, as they would with each other. You can also use information networks such as Twitter to see what people are saying about your organisation.
• Content hosting sites—these provide the opportunity for your organisation to upload photos, audio or video to present a more engaging insight into your products, services or causes. These sites also allow your organisation to build a community of interest around your content.

If you set up profiles for your organisation on third party social media sites such as Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, it is worthwhile investigating how to link to or embed the content you post to these platforms so that it appears on your own website. This increases its discoverability from your own website and leads visitors to your site to engage with you on these social media sites. 

You can learn more about social media engagement through an agency or developer with experience in this area, or start personally engaging in these platforms and build up your own knowledge through experience. 

Before using a social media site, you may wish to consider any legal issues that arise for your organisation from signing up to use the service or from participating in these informal and dynamic environments. 

Whether you are looking to promote a small business or raise awareness about a community group or event, social media can be a powerful marketing tool. There are also options for incorporating social media features into your own website. 

Logos of some examples of social media sites