social media

1. S O C I A L
M E D I A

2. W H A T I S
S O C I A L
M E D I A ?

3. Social media is a computer-based technology that
facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and
information through the building of virtual
networks and communities. By design, social media
is Internet-based and gives users quick electronic
communication of content. Social media refers
to the means of interactions among people in which
they create, share, and/or exchange information and
ideas in virtual communities and networks. The
Office of Communications and Marketing manages
the main Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn
and YouTube accounts.

4. It is crystal clear that there are advantages and
disadvantages to everything in everyone’s life, and
that includes our social networking habits. The
practical advantages and disadvantages of social
media are a subject of frequent discussion.
Participation in social media by the general public
has increased sharply over the past nine years. In the
U.S., the percentage of adults using social media has
increased from 8% to 72% since 2005. Using social
media is widespread across all ages and professions
and is common around the world.
Social media enables users to connect with others and
create a community. It’s more about building
relationships than simply announcing or posting and
not engaging with others. It is undeniably changing
the way one communicates.
Here are some of the main pros and cons that most
people are familiar with:

5. A D V A N T A G E S
• Educational process
• Worldwide connectivity
• Online marketing
• Information spreads fast
• It lets us share anything with
others
• It helps you to achieve your
goals

6. D I S A D V A N T A G E S
• Privacy problems
• It changes lifestyle
habits, and it is sleep
disruption
• Lacks emotional
connection
• Reduces Family
Intimacy

7. SOCIAL MEDIA
The purpose of social media is primarily to build a brand and increase a brand's visibility. With social media
becoming more popular, the more a brand is covered across social media and the more times people see it,
the more likely they are to be aware of it. There are many other things, though, that companies can achieve
through the use of social media.
A key benefit is that it can be used to build relationships with potential customers. Social media can be a
great way of interacting with people and businesses before they become customers. Often people want
information about a company before they commit and it is a good way of getting this information across. It
allows a company to put a face to their brand, show they are interesting and, where appropriate, show their
creative or humorous side.
Another use of social media is to make customers and potential customers more aware of what a brand is
up to. This can be in the form of promoting specific campaigns, updating people on changes and showing
off success. Brands can show they are on the pulse and up to date with the latest happenings in their
industry. They can comment on industry developments and engage with people, including customers,
potential customers, industry commentators, and even competitors. This helps in not just generating new
business, but in customer retention too. Queries and criticism can be easily and quickly responded to so
social media can be used as a form of fire fighting.

8. SEO
The purpose of SEO is very different to that of social media. It is much easier to define and the main purpose has three stages to it; to improve search
engine rankings, which increases traffic to a website, resulting in an increase in business.
The purpose of SEO is often seen as being simply to improve rankings for a set of keywords but, while this forms the basic aim of an SEO campaign,
there is more to it than this. The ultimate goal is to increase business, meaning that the right family of keyword terms need to be targeted. Areas that
people search for need to be targeted for a campaign to be successful; there is little point in investing a lot in being ranked well for things people
don't search for. Good quality traffic is also key, meaning conversions need to be considered as well as the pure number of visitors being captured.
Inevitably, businesses have specific areas they wish to target. This can be areas where they are currently struggling, areas where they feel there is the
potential for growth, or areas where there is a current promotion. SEO can be used to generate business related to specific products and services.
The real purpose of SEO is making a website more attractive to the search engines while improving them for visitors at the same time. Having the
right content, good internal linking, and perhaps having a blog are all key and things that help in a search ranking. They want to rank the websites
that meet the needs of visitors the best. This has always been the case but they are getting better at establishing this.

9. How can social media impact SEO?
Social media and SEO are often spoken about alongside each other, with many suggesting that social media mentions
impact the search engine results. While there can be an overlap, there are many fundamental differences between the two
and the purpose of partaking in each is very different. There are a number of ways that social media may be impacting
SEO. It is believed by some (but has never been confirmed) that Google, and perhaps other search engines, use social
media mentions as one of their ranking factors. The theory here is that the more Facebook likes, Tweets and Google Plus
1s a site has, the more popular a site is. This, in turn, may signal that a site is of good quality, thus justifying higher
search rankings. There are also theories around the amount of online mentions a brand has, known as co-citation,
whereby more online mentions of a company or a website leads to being given more authority in the search engines.
Mentions in social media can therefore make the search engines more aware of a brand and the industry they are in. Links
from other websites are key in SEO and links from social media can help in this way too. The other main SEO benefit of
social media is the very purpose of social media - branding. The more successfully social media is being used, the more
well known a brand becomes. This can lead to more people writing about a brand and linking to their website, thus
assisting SEO.
While there can be a strong overlap between these two forms of online marketing, the purpose of each and how each is
used are very different.