| Kippreport.com

Social Media 101

February 14, 2011 12:47 by Sidra Tariq

‘@Kipp_Report: Kipp ate falafel and it isn’t settling well.’ You wouldn’t see that on Kipp’s Twitter page, would you? (Unless we were using it as an excuse for not putting up news, so yeah, maybe you would.)

Kipp knows a few things. We know that online social media tools can be a nice mouthpiece for a brand, for instance, but when used as such it is definitely not a personal playground. But there is probably a lot we don’t know about social media and its tools.

Kipp recently went to a social media workshop on how businesses can use social media effectively. While the workshop took a random turn of its own and got a bit lost, Kipp got a hold of host Alexander Rauser— CEO of full service interactive agency Prototype—to find out what brands should and should not do with social media. Okay so you may have some tips at the back of your mind, but we’ll spell it out for you here in Kipp’s Social Media 101.

When we think of social media, we think Facebook, Twitter, etc. Rauser, however, stresses that these platforms should not be confused with the broader term. “A social network like Facebook is not social media; it is enabling social media. It is a tool.”

He adds that there are four pillars that would define how people communicate on social media: Communication, Collaboration, Education and Entertainment.

Communication: Using online channels such as You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums to build a communication platform.

Collaboration: Bringing people together for interaction such as posting comments.

Education: Using the tools to educate customers about the brand. This could range from product information—what it is and how it works— to communicating brand values, social responsibilities and activities.

Entertainment: Trying to engage the audience by posting content that is interesting and relevant to them.

Pages: 1 2 3

Tags: basic social media, basics of social media, how to use social media, rules of social media, social media, social media 101, social media brand building, social media brand management, social media brands, social media guide, social media marketing, social media rules