Social Media & Its Use for Marketing

With all the different Social Media websites out there it is easy to feel overwhelmed with what to use, or trying to use a mix of all that's available.  When in doubt a small survey to family and friends to find out who has accounts with what can assist you in making a good selection of what sites to use, but you may also want to consider any features that Social Media sites may have to aid you in your Social Media Marketing Campaign.  When you have decided on what to use you then need to figure out what your campaign will be, and how you will roll it out.  For our purposes we will look at 3 Organizations pages that are using Facebook for their Social Media Marketing.

Facebook Pages For Social Media Marketing

The following pages are a few examples of Facebook Marketing pages by Organizations.  I've listed these in order of what I perceive to be their effectiveness, both by design and activity.  The first listing will be the most effective, the second the next most effective, etc., etc., etc.  

1. Lorain County Community College - The Facebook Page for Lorain County Community College.  This page is well maintained and includes lots of photos of different happenings and going ons around their campus.
    
2.  FreshHops - A facebook page for FreshHops.com, a Hops website that sells Hops Rhizomes, Merchandise and Homebrewing gear.  Most of the activity on this page is seasonal and happens more in the Hops Growing Season, opposed to the off season.
   
3. Flight Of Dragons Live Action Movie - Normally I wouldn't really consider this, however I'm intrigued by the cause and the involvement of different parties.  This is a Social Media Campaign that has a short lifespan that will probably only last a year or two at most, if the studios do not shut it down.  Aside from the short span of the project, it is almost solely going to be based on awareness and donation, most of which I imagine will be garnered from social media.  I know that this campaign is going back and fourth with Copyright fights with the Studio, and if it is truly a labor of love I wish them luck, however I do believe that this could probably be managed better than what it has thus far.  There appears to be less news and awareness on this page with what is going on with the project than we would expect, but with their website being recently redone only time will tell if they manage their page better going forward.

Google + Vs. FaceBook

The gloves are off and we are in a judging mood.  So which ones the best?  Well lets take a look at our competitors.

In  the Blue Shorts we have our Reigning Champion....

Facebook:  The social Media Giant that toppled MySpace, to a near death fall from grace.  One of the most popular services that is offered, Facebook offers a free service that many have flocked to as a way to connect, express and communicate.  Facebook offers its users Games to play, photo and video sharing and check in services that allow people to stay in the "know."  With this type of allure its not wonder Facebook has the usage and popularity it has.  Facebook also allows pages that can be created for Organizations, People and Businesses.  One can then "Like" this page and view the content on this page, which when managed properly may contain photos, information and other various media potentially including a web address for their official website. 

And in the Red Shorts we have our new comer.....

Google +:  Google, we all use it to some degree, and Gmail is probably one of the most popular services that is available.  To top that, with the introduction of Android and its popularity, Google just appears to be more and more integrated in our lifestyle, but has Google joined the Social Media game too late?  With the introduction of Google+ Google is looking at the very least to join the Social Media Game, if not head it.  One nice feature about Google+ is that even though it is another Social Media site it is one that incorporates all of their free service offerings, including their web blog and their e-mail.   Aside from these free services, Google+ also offers Google+ Pages, which works in a similar fashion to Facebook Pages, allowing entities to create pages.  

With similar features it really does beg the question as to which one is better?  I'd like to say time will tell, but I rather think that we may be at somewhat of a stand still.  With Facebook slaying Myspace, many are tired of the jumping game, from one Social Media Network to another, and many new users are almost more likely to join Google+ over Facebook because of its centrality with its email and Android account services.  Yet we still see a draw to Facebook with the Draw of its Active users.  Sadly Time will tell who is the better overall, at the moment a safe bet is the use of both.