Social Media. Let's know the basics

You must have heard a lot about Social Media but are still in a quest of understanding, what it actually means? If yes, then this write up is there to help you learn about social media completely. Social Media is constituted by two words, one is Social and other is Media. Media is an instrument or a vehicle of communication like radio, newspaper, etc. And, social means society. So, Social Media stands as a social instrument of communication. Social media is a very powerful tool that not just gives you information, but also interacts with you. Unlike regular media, which can also be referred as one way street where one cannot give a feedback, Social Media gives a person liberty to share his views & opinions.

What are Social Media Websites?

A Social media website offers a common platform to the users where they can share their views, opinions and can directly communicate with each other. One can also be overwhelmed with the availability of plethora of social networking sites available these days. Some of the social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter,MySpace, etc.

What Does Social Media Comprises Of?

• Online forums (e.g., DigitalPoint)
• Social networking sites (e.g., Twitter)
• Blogs (e.g., WordPress)
• Social bookmarking sites (e.g., Digg)
• Photo sharing sites (e.g. Flickr)
• User reviews (e.g., Amazon)
• Content aggregators (e.g., FriendFeed)
• Video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube)
• Streaming sites (e.g., Ustream)
• Crowd sourcing (e.g., Wikipedia)

The Main Factors For Using Social Media Websites Are : ? Web traffic ? Regular readers ? Subscribers ? Money ? Links and exposure.

How To Maximize Social Media Impact?

Large organizations appoint social media specialists for maintaining their company's social media presence online. The best ways in which one can capitalize social media impact in minimum investment are:

• Focusing on not more than three social media sites at a time
• Scheduling timely interactions for each social media everyday
• Don't advertise your business, rather interact with target audience
• Efficiently manage your social media tool

Downfalls of Social Media :

• Availability of too many options
• Scarcity of time
• Too many users

Today, every big and small firm is rushing towards establishing its identity on the social media platform. The only thing that the companies need is, to set manageable and measureable goals. Start with the targets that are likely to be achieved by your company. Your ultimate aim is to build customer trust and loyalty.
So, social media is basically the user generated content and a compilation of websites, which allows people to interact and communicate online. Hope this article has helped you in drawing a clearer picture of what actually social media is all about.