Social Networking

Social Networking has exploded in recent years. As the fastest growing form of mass media it can provide a powerful and very cost effective way to increase your online presence

Garden.ie features an active online community utilising social networking functionality developed by KCO

Today´s businesses are taking advantage of the substantial opportunities that these social networking platforms provide. Be it communicating company news, products and promotions or receiving invaluable feedback, the link with these enormous and ever growing online communities is a integral aspect of any online presence.

Build your own Social Network

With the popularity of social network websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter it can seem like a daunting task to begin a rival service. However, while it’s true that the development of a website on the scale of Facebook would require substantial resources, there still exists the opportunity to develop social networks targeting specific interests and groups.

As an example, KCO introduced Social Networking functionality to the popular Garden.ie website allowing gardening enthusiasts to share their gardening tips, stories and pictures. While it may not have the 500 million users of Facebook, the feedback from Garden.ie members has been extremely positive and provides Garden.ie with an excellent relationship building platform.

Facebook

Facebook allows companies to create their very own company profile. Not only can you upload details such as your logo, address and other contact details but you can also share press releases, presentations, promotions, events, surveys and lots more.

Build up your friends list from your personal and business contacts and receive valuable feedback from customers and industry peers.

Did you know that the sweet Skittles (sweets) has over 4 millions fans on Facebook?

Twitter

Relatively speaking Twitter represents the new kid on the social networking block becoming an overnight sensation and receiving world wide press coverage with everyone from celebrities to politicians posting their every day thoughts to the world.

Twitter allows you to write and read short messages (maximum 140 characters). As well as contributing to your own Twitter account you can follow anyone else’s twitter account by becoming what is termed a follower. The more followers you have the more popular on Twitter you are.

The fact that messages are kept short has led to Twitter becoming an ideal tool to send out concise, informal messages and receive feedback from your followers.

For example a hotel chain may submit a message (tweet) “€99 Bed & Breakfast Deal – This Weekend Only” allowing them to get the offer out quickly to their followers but also receive valuable feedback such as “great I was looking for an excuse for a weekend away” or “how about bed and dinner?”.

Click here to visit the KCO on Twitter

Blogs

What is a blog? Wikipedia define a blog as “a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Put simply a blog can be viewed as your very own online diary. Like other social networking phenomenon Blogs first became popular as the general public used them to share their views and experiences on everything from physics to their new cat. Only later did businesses pick up on the opportunities blogs provide.

Blogs provide an excellent channel to share a company’s expertise, news, build additional web traffic, and connect with potential customers.

Traditionally company communication would take the form of paid advertisements or press releases and while both these avenues are as valid today as they ever where social networking platforms allow companies to communicate in a quick, efficient and crucially (in our opinion) informal manner.

For example if you’re a film company and you put out a press release with the title “Technology Update” it may not immediately grab the attention of your audience however if you add a blog entry “3D will blow your mind!” your far more likely to get your target markets attention.

When it comes to starting a blog you can use one of the many free online tools such as Blogger or alternatively KCO can build your very own custom blog which can be integrated with your main website.

YouTube

Founded in February 2005, YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community, allowing millions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos.

YouTube now allow users to create their very own channel allowing you to showcase all your video content in a single location. Whether it be a series of videos demonstrating your product range, conference facilities, advertisements, viral orpress events you can now place them in one location with a potential audience of millions.

KCO can setup and customise the appearance of your YouTube channel.

Examples of YouTube channels include http://www.youtube.com/user/WaltDisneyStudiosIE and http://www.youtube.com/user/concernworldwide