With the rapid evolution of technology, information is flowing through a massive variety of media. In this day and age businesses and individuals are communicating more and more through social media, so the question is, have you adapted your online marketing plan? Have you left any room for social media?

Let me first explain why social media is a ?must have?. Did you know that YouTube is the 2^nd most used search engine after Google? This then leads to my next question: do you have any videos to appear for these searches? YouTube is a fantastic social media platform because not only do you get to upload videos onto your account all for free, you also get to embed the videos onto your own website. Videos are a great way of distributing information and advice, as well as subtle selling.  You can also use YouTube Analytics to measure your marketing through this medium.

Twitter is personally one of my favourite social media platforms. You have to be clever with the information you put out with Twitter, as you are limited by the word restriction of 140 characters.  The information you post has to be short and snappy. The information you can find in tweets can often be actually very useful. If a user likes what you have tweeted, they can re-tweet your post, this post will then been seen by all of the re-tweeters contact ? what?s known as ?going viral?. If you?re going to get onto Twitter, post useful information, and business tips ? these are well received. Do not use Twitter as a platform to hard sell ? your tweets will not be deemed interesting and you will not gain a following.

Blogs.  Google likes seeing refreshed websites. If you regularly upload a blog to your website this will count as website update. Blogs more importantly show people that you know what you?re talking about; this installs confidence to your potential clients. How about showing you care? By writing a blog you are imparting wisdom, you are sharing your knowledge with a mass audience that are learning from you. People will start to follow your blog and pay more attention to your website and the services you offer.

These are just some of the social media platforms that you can use; there are plenty of more to choose from, in another addition of my blog we?ll cover LinkedIn and email newsletters. All of the social media platforms that listed here are especially good for SEO (search engine optimisation). If you link these social media sites to your website then your website shall climb through the Google rankings and emerge victorious. When you instigate your online marketing plan with your new arsenal of social media weapons, you should see the impact quickly. Be wary ? in order for it to be effective, your social media activity needs to be constant, keep at it and you will notice the improvement.