Social networking is the use of Internet-based social media sites to stay connected with friends, family, colleagues, customers, or clients. Social networking can have a social purpose, a business purpose, or both, through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, among others. Brand promotion means you're sharing content and links on your own website to drive traffic, share products, or tell your audience about specials. This is the type of stuff that is most common in the social world.
Social media helps people establish better relationships with their family and friends, and now the networking sites also show their significance for apps. Mobile devices are gaining more and more space amongst people when compared to other ways of internet access.
The best explanation for social media is that it's word of mouth on steroids, and people are sharing more than words. They also share ideas, pictures, video, and audio: Content. Then other users share that content — in turn, through personal connections — at an unprecedented rate.
Examples of Social Networking
Social networking is the use of Internet-based social media sites to stay connected with friends, family, colleagues, customers, or clients. Social networking can have a social purpose, a business purpose, or both, through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, among others. Social networking has become a significant base for marketers seeking to engage customers.
Despite some stiff competition, Facebook remains the most popular social network, with a reach 90% of U.S. mobile users, as of October 2018, the most recent data available, as of early 2019. It was followed, in order of popularity, by Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and Pinterest, according to Statistica.com.
For example, a frequent Twitter user may hear of a company for the first time through a news feed and decide to buy a product or service. The more exposed people are to a company's brand, the greater the company's chances of finding and retaining new customers.
Marketers use social networking for improving conversion rates. Building a following provides access to and interaction with new, recent and old customers. Sharing blog posts, images, videos or comments on social media allows followers to react, visit the company's website and become customers.
Customers may complement the company's offerings and encourage others to buy the products or services. The more customers are talking about a company on social networking, the more valuable the brand authority becomes. As a brand grows stronger, more sales result. Increased company posts rank the company higher in search engines. Social networking can help establish a brand as legitimate, credible, and trustworthy.
A company may use social networking to demonstrate its customer service level and enrich its relationships with consumers. For example, if a customer complains about a product or service on Twitter, the company may address the issue immediately, apologize, and take action to make it right. However, criticism of a brand can spread very quickly on social media. This can create a virtual headache for a company's public relations department.
