Social Media for Fun and Profit: Why Engage in Social Media?

Social media is becoming quite trendy these days. Everyone is talking about Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare (or Gowalla). Friends are dragging other friends into the mix to see their photos or comment on the latest popular YouTube video, while marketers are pitching the benefits of social media to businesses across the map. Still, the question many are asking is, “Why bother?”

While social media can undeniably be a phenomenal time sink, it can also be beneficial. There are many ways social media can enhance both your personal and business life when properly utilized. Let's take a look at a few of them below.

First, you need to evaluate why you are even considering jumping into social media. Is it for fun or profit, business or personal -- or both? If you answered the latter, let me encourage you right away to separate your business and personal social media accounts. Even if you feel comfortable enough with potential customers seeing, for instance, you partying on the weekend through your Facebook page (doubtless a bad idea), you will want to cater to a different audience professionally than personally. Do your family and friends really care about the same things your potential clients do, and visa versa? Probably not.

Now that we’ve gotten that straightened out, let’s get a little more specific. If you’re only interested in social media for personal use, you can skip down to the next section. If you have decided to engage in social media for business, however, you need to dig a bit deeper. Are you hoping to increase leads? Improve service to existing customers? Drive traffic to your website? Establish a brand persona (as the Old Spice Guy did)? There are too many ways to use social media for simply “jumping on the bandwagon" to be a good strategy.

Now let’s break down some of the benefits of using social media from both a personal and professional standpoint.

In the case of personal social accounts, you can gain increased connectivity on a nearly instantaneous level. With online social sharing, you can:

-Easily keep in touch with friends in other parts of the world. It’s easy to see what they’re up to and share your life with them, even if both parties live busy lives which would otherwise make staying in touch difficult. After all, it’s a lot quicker to type 140 characters (Twitter's character limit) than to compose an entire email.

-Instantly share photos and albums with everyone (or just a few people) in your network. If you recently shared a fun experience with a friend or group of friends, you no longer have to individually exchange photos. Likewise, if you just went on an exciting vacation, you can share your images easily with everyone you think would be interested.

-Form educational and enjoyable new connections with like-minded individuals through topical online communities. If you enjoy astronomy, for example, you’re no longer limited to the local Amateur Astronomer’s group (though you may actually find one through social media); you can exchange ideas, accomplishments, and images with anyone in the world through topical forms and groups.

-Goof off with friends at all hours of the day and night. You can easily share funny pictures, silly videos, or play any of the hundreds of available asynchronous social games now available online. While it’s never a good idea to let these activities suck up too much time out of your life, it’s also a great way to share experiences with your friends and perhaps unwind after a long day.

The potential benefits of social media for business are manifold. When used properly, social media can help your business:

-Improve off-page SEO. The first thing many people think about when doing social media for business are the potential SEO (search engine optimization) benefits. If SEO is all about backlinks, then by blasting a hundred social media channels with links to our most important site, we should be able to get a really high PageRank, right? Well, that’s not really the way it works, nor is it a good idea, but with a few very important caveats social media can help you optimize your site. If you know the difference between a nofollow and a dofollow link, you can get a few backlinks to your site through some social media channels. However, this is by far the least important of the benefits to social media, and the hardest to do right without spamming your potential audience.

-Gain brand exposure. Get your name out there! It’s long been a tenant in advertising that simply being a recognizable brand name is sometimes enough to sway purchasing decisions.

-Increase traffic to your website. By posting around in various communities, you may pique the interest of people who want to learn more about you or your business. If you answer a question insightfully, for example, you not only help out the questioner but establish yourself as an expert in your field. It’s win-win!

-Build relationships with others in your industry. While competition is fierce in many industries, there is often room for collaboration as well. Whenever possible, learn from the expertise of others and build professional connections that enhance your strengths and open doors for future professional advancement. You might even receive invitations to guest blog or have link requests looked upon more favorably, which will have a direct impact on SEO.

-Build relationships with existing and potential clients. There are so many ways to make this work for your business. You can improve customer service through real-time interaction, monitoring your brand name for negative experiences and addressing them immediately. You might offer coupons available only through those channels, or simply make followers aware of existing promotions. You can (and should!) establish yourself as an expert by providing useful information to your followers about all aspects of your field. By becoming an expert, you increase customer trust and are likely to increase leads.

Now that you have a better idea of the many ways to use social media for business, take a moment to revisit the question of goals. What will your primary goal of your social media campaign be? Your social engagement should be tailored to the answer you choose.

Social media has many benefits when used properly, be they personal or professional. Whether you wish you could more easily stay in touch with your aunt or are hoping to enhance your business’ online presence, always remember the greatest benefit and the ultimate goal of social media should always be communication.

Speaking of communication, please leave us a comment down below if you found this article useful, or if you have questions or suggestions for improvement. You can also check out our other hub introducing the basics of SEO, by FindYourSearch.

Be careful when jumping into social media that you don't post any information you wouldn't want the world to know. Privacy is and always has been an issue of concern in online communication, so be careful what you post!

Also, be certain you understand the social rules of the online community you wish to join, especially if you plan to tweet for business, lest you alienate the very customers you were hoping to impress.