I am not going
to pretend in my blog today that this week’s social media lessons (and the
following examples for business use) present some easy online strategies for me.
And I don’t think they will be for the smaller business owner either. And
especially for those who do not have large marketing budgets and are not
artfully minded or artistically inclined.
Also not every
business will find a need to use them, or that they fit into their best
strategies for their Branding and their Product or Business Development. Each
business needs to come up with its own strategies and ideas of how these social
media tools can potentially be useful to them.
But for those of
you who can manage the costs of digital media outsourcing, or are more artistically
inclined, or perhaps you are just an artist at heart, or you have a business
that is highly visual; such as within the industries of fashion, publishing or
broadcast media. You just might find these visual social media tools I am going
to cover today quite useful.
These tools
would also be good for those of you who might have larger highly-visual
business websites. Where you probably have the needs and access to large
amounts of visual materials and related business content. Plus the capabilities
and resources to manage the time, and personnel, you would need to create and publish
these digitally appealing Social Media Pages.
Even though I
speak with the caveat toned above – those on a lower cost budget (such as with
my project with the Sabrina Keller Foundation) can still use these tools in
more simple ways – such as by creating a quick promotion or providing product/service
information or presenting a how-to video (etc.) on YouTube. And by posting more
simple pictures, images and other imaginative content on Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram using simple Microsoft
Office tools, a computer webcam or a cheap digital (or video) camera.
I will first
start off with the social image website Pinterest – which is essentially a
public pin board for you and your followers to post images from online or off,
which are uploaded to share and comment upon by your Pinterest Community. This is
good for a Business or Brand with image intensive content, such as those
selling products and services, or who hold events and manage attractions.
Maybe with some experimentation
I think this is probably one of the most useful visual social sites for the
Sabrina Keller Foundation, with their need for low budget or no budget options
for social media strategies. The Foundation
can post photographs from events as well as other images regarding nonprofits
and heart related or arrhythmic diseases. Pinterest has also been
increasing the utility of their site with added tools that help you create and
manipulate your images for more creative pinning. They use features similar to Facebook with a “like,”
“comment” and “re pin” functions - which is when users are sharing their favorite posts with
other friends.
The foundation
could encourage followers to pin their own images from SKF events or their own (heart
related) information on the Keller Foundation Community Pin Board. Event
pictures can be linked to the Foundation Website as well as to their Facebook
Page. Pleas for monetary support or recruiting volunteers can be integrated
into the content occasionally, and be linked to a landing page for giving donations
or signing up to attend an event/volunteer, etc.
Tumblr is similar
to Pinterest with visual posting as well as using textual content (akin to a
visual blog) to explain the materials in captions. This would use the same strategies
for engagement as with Pinterest - using images and linking back to other Sabrina
Keller Foundation websites/pages for getting more information and increasing our
audience engagement. They have many
unique features to engage an audience including a random post function, post archives,
and a “piggy back” feature, with capabilities to integrate with other social
media tools.
A lot of visual
context is used by business at this site with dynamic imagery. Someone - a business
that is more artistically inclined - would find this site a very attractive tool
to promote their brands. Video and sound clips can also be integrated into your
business profiles on here if they are relevant and work with your marketing strategies.
YouTube is the
second largest search engine on the internet after Google and it is a good
place to showcase a business or organization with videos; especially if it can
go viral. As mentioned above, showcasing How-to-Videos for using a product are
a good example of how to utilize YouTube for engaging and attracting your audience.
Using YouTube
for The Sabrina Keller Foundation might not be that functional, as they are not
selling a product or service, or have a need to show how to use something properly.
They could probably post video clips from SKF and other related events to
entice followers to engage with them. Linking the videos to the main SKF Foundation
Webpage/Facebook to make comments and create anticipation for upcoming events
within new and old followers/fans. SKF might also use the national SADS
Foundation Videos (and other related organizations) as a repost through their
own YouTube channel and then link these videos to their own content on their Home
Webpage and at Facebook.
The last visual platform
I am covering today is Instagram - Instagram is like Pinterest and Tumblr – it
acts a place to showcase mostly images and generally limited textual content. It
was originally designed for mobile applications but has expanded to a greater web
based presence - where users can use many types of devices to engage with it –including
smart phones, tablets and now on regular computers.
It is one of the
fastest growing social sites on the web and attracts many types of growing demographics,
with their largest demographic base currently being those between 18 – 34 years
old, and who consist mostly of women. The Keller Foundation would be wise to
use this application – or social tool - as women are a large part of their
target market and have been the biggest fans on Facebook who demonstrate their engagement
with SKF.
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