The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media

A Quick, Reliable Guide to Getting Social

Social Media has become a hugely important factor in our day-to-day lives. From posting stories of our recreational activities on Snapchat or Instagram to holding an important conference call on Skype, there’s no denying we are always surrounded by Social Media.

While these platforms hold a key role in our lives, they are also freely accessible and help us reach a larger audience. Choosing the right social media platform for the right purpose is really important. If you have to raise your voice against a social issue, for example, then Facebook might be the right choice for you depending on the target audience in question.

You need to select the platform carefully. Imagine if you try doing such a deed on Twitter where you will have just 140 characters to give out your opinion. It would be next to impossible for you to explain yourself there…

While social media has been around for a long time, it has only become such an important part of us in recent years. Gone are the days when people were crazy about MySpace and Orkut merely for fun; now people are obsessed with free platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp as a means to improve our lives.

For instance, the younger generation claims to use Snapchat the most, which suggests that Snapchat is destined to be the future of social networking. Social media is also important for business use as platforms like Skype and Twitter are ideal for important business calls and giving out official announcements respectively.

Let’s look at some social media basics and see which might be the best one for you.

Facebook

Facebook is easily one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. With more than 2 billion users using Facebook every month, it is quite commendable how efficiently and smoothly the venue works.

Not only does it connect friends and family efficiently, but it can help you in marketing and other business-related tasks.

Features:

• • Get in touch with your old friends and family

  • Meet new people and make friends online

  • Chat with your friends and family via messages

  • Like pages, join groups and share relevant posts

  • Post a status and let the world know how you feel

  • Use Facebook Live and show the world what you are up to

  • Post and manage ads to assist your marketing efforts

  • Connect with prospective customers and increase the fan base of your firm

Twitter

Twitter is an entirely different concept from a social media platform like Facebook, as you don’t chat and share media in such a traditional manner. On Twitter, you are given the option to tweet your thoughts but the interesting thing is that you need to share what you want within 140 characters.

This is ideal for freelancers and solopreneurs who wish to make a quick announcement (such as a new contest) or simply to gather a valuable opinion.

Features

• Follow celebrities, sports stars, and other famous figures

• Get to know the day-to-day activities of the people whom you are following

• If you like a post, share it or retweet it to make it go viral

• The more you follow and retweet, the more followers you will get

• Use Hashtags to gain momentum for your posts to get viral

• Post anything you want and let others retweet it

Instagram

Instagram is another really famous social media platform where you get to share all the important events happening in your life. Share images, quotes, and more with your followers and gain likes and comments for higher exposure.

You can also check out the profiles and posts of people you are following to build stronger, long-lasting connections. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are thought to lead the next generation of social media platforms.

Is your blog heavy on beautiful imagery? Think travel, food recipes, fashion, fitness, and general lifestyle. If so, then Instagram may be just what you’re looking for.

Features

• Share quotes, images, videos, and selfies with your followers

• View posts from those that matter to you

• Like, comment, and share important posts and updates

• Share your day-to-day activities via the Instagram Story feature

• Get some amazing filters to edit your images

• Chat with your followers via the messaging option

• Share your company or firm on Instagram to connect with a larger audience

• Participate and claim free giveaways or raffles hosted by different companies

YouTube

YouTube is undoubtedly one of the most popular social media platforms on the internet. Millions of users use YouTube every day to catch videos related to genres varying from educational, entertainment, sports, movies, news, and more, which makes it quite a versatile search engine. Even though it is owned by Google, it is still viewed as a separate social network.

Features

• All videos are absolutely free (with the exception of those requiring prior subscription)

• It has a huge library of content to suit your needs

• Videos are uploaded on a daily basis so you can easily get the latest action within minutes

• Can be used as a medium for business via Vlogging and releasing independent films

• Create a profile, post a video, and potentially get paid 

• YouTube Red is a service which, when subscribed, removes all the advertisements from the videos you view

Which One is Your Favorite?

All in all, these social platforms are ideal for every type of marketer and freelancer out there. Picking a particular network depends on the nature of your work and the type of audience you wish to engage with.

That said, you should refrain from using every single network merely because it’s available; stretching yourself too thin will do more harm than good in the long-run.

Which of these is your go-to social network?