Social Networking Sites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Social Networking Sites - Essay Example Carrying out marketing campaigns using social networking sites generally entails the following: planning – building an SMM plan is vital. The business needs to take into consideration keyword research and brainstorm content ideas which would interest the ideal customers. Content – consistent with other e-marketing areas, content is essential when it comes to SMM. The business should ensure that it offers valuable information that the target audience would find interesting. The business should make a variety of content by implementing infographics, videos as well as images besides content that is text-based (Evans 2013, p. 22). Blog – it is noteworthy that blogging is an imperative SMM tool which allow the business to share various content and information with the readers. Using blogs, the business can also blog about its recent social media events, contests and efforts. Tracking business rivals – it is generally essential to keep an eye on the competition as they could offer valuable SMM insight such as where to get links that are industry-related. They can also provide important data for keyword research. If the business rivals are utilizing a particular SMM technique that appears to be working for them effectively, the business can also do the same thing, but do it much better (Qing 2012, p. 38). Consistent Brand Image – the use of social networking sites for marketing purposes allows the firm to project its brand image across several dissimilar platforms of social media. Whist every platform has its own distinctive voice and environment, the core identity of the business should remain consistent. Links – whilst employing social networking sites for the purposes of marketing depends mainly on the business sharing its own original and distinctive... According to this paper social networking sites are good in supporting business. The various platforms of social media such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Facebook allow the enterprise to promote its products to its followers, and in so doing increase sales volume. Additionally, by engaging and interacting with customers, these social networking sites are also employed by businesses to improve customer care by responding to the clients’ questions and addressing their concerns. Nonetheless, there are a number of potential threats of using these sites for business. These threats include: acting as a platform where people with ill-intentions can generate spiteful negative comments which may hurt the reputation of the business; human error resulting in leaked corporate data; staff members of the business could make inappropriate comments on the social media account of the business; and malware attacks from external sources. However, these threats could be av oided by ensuring that the staff members are educated regarding security threats, and carrying out a wide-ranging data and access control strategy. The paper shows that in general, the best technique for preventing the potential threats that come about as a result of a business using social networking sites is to ensure that the staff members are educated regarding security threats that are associated with social networking websites. The enterprise can also carry out a wide-ranging data and access control strategy so as to prevent loss of data.