Week 2A: Social Media for Business or Personal Use

Many social media platforms today can be used for both personal and business use.  As a casual user of some social media outlets such as Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, I am somewhat conditioned to think of these tools only for personal use.  But lately I have been noticing how businesses use these platforms as well.  Naturally I think of Facebook, Pinterest,YouTube and even unfamiliar sites such as Instagram, Twitter and Google + as places where friends and family hang out to share pictures and political junk.  While I learn more about the business uses, some of these seem a bit more geared towards personal use.  However, I see them as critical tools for both personal and business alike.  

The social media platforms I think are more for personal use, or at least they originally were designed for that purpose are Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.  From its roots, Facebook to me always seemed like a place to share personal things with others.  Pinterest has given me the impression that lots of women are sharing designs and cooking secrets, while Instagram is another place to share photos with again, friends and family.  As these outlets mature, I am less likely seeing any of these as strictly for, or more geared towards personal use.  

Hands down, the website geared more towards businesses is LinkedIn.  As Dave Kerpen, the author of Likeable Social Media states, "LinkedIn is the largest social network that's "strictly" professional".  It is a place to house business information, like a business card on steroids.  It is not a place to post pictures of your kids, or share your thoughts about the election.  LinkedIn is where businesses can make connections and make deals.  In addition to LinkedIn, many other platforms are growing as must have places to focus business marketing and social connections to customers.   I now see Facebook as critical for businesses as it can act as the hub for all the other social media platforms.  For my business, I also see a lot of potential for Pinterest, and Instagram, all places I thought were more for personal use.  Facebook I see as a must have where I can build like another website that allows me to connect with customers and make posts of projects, while offering critical information that points directly back at my website.  Since my work is visual, Pinterest and Instagram will allow images of my work to be posted and shared to others.

All the social media platforms seem to work well for both personal and business use.  Many examples are given in the book Likeable Social Media of major companies that successfully use each of the sites for business use.  While Facebook allows personal use with a personal page, they also offer company pages where links to different categories provide information about the company.  A header graphic and links back to the company website are provided.  The conversation is different in that businesses have a one way communication.  Besides business focused LinkedIn, other social media platforms seem to work the same for both personal and business use, but the tactics may differ somewhat.  An example is that with Twitter, a business can provide some customer service and consumer insight, something that a personal user would have no use for.  With Pinterest and YouTube, businesses can post images and video of products and services, to get a click-through to the company website.  With personal use, this may not be needed.