EBE Opinions

They're all the rage. Facebook and Twitter. The term used to describe these methods of sharing information is 'Social Media', a means of sending information to friends, and receiving information from them. It does pay to share information, but only if one has information worth sharing.

Benefits

As so many people use it, the likelihood of somebody becoming interested in your company via social media is far greater than through search engines. If a friend of a friend discovers you then they're more likely to become your customer. It's similar to the word of mouth effect, where recommendations are the best form of marketing. Most people will bypass the most enticing Website if a friend recommends another company.

Is it beneficial to share your information?

First of all one has to find time to send a message, and secondly one has to find time to read the messages of others. Tasks such as tweeting can be time consuming. Rather than sitting down and thinking of something important or beneficial to say, many spout out the first thing that comes to their mind, such as "Just sitting down with a cup of coffee and tweeting". While somebody famous making such a statement may cause excitement, receiving this from the people at your local delicatessen doesn't really have the same effect. Many companies use Twitter to inform their customers of special deals, new items, and other information that is of benefit. Then there are the companies who post drivel such as where they're going at the weekend, the fact that they've just bought a new iPad, and that they don't like Kellogg's All Bran.

Losing friends

According to the University of Colorado Denver Business School, the number 1 reason why friends dump friends on Facebook is because they are fed up with too many useless posts. As a Web design company, although we keep in contact with our clients and like them to know they are still important to us, the service provided is mostly a one-off. Perhaps some of our clients will come back to us years later for a re-design of their Website, or perhaps they'll ask for new functionality; but does this justify tweeting them a load of drivel every day or so? Do they really want to hear us proudly proclaiming that we've just created another spectacular Website? What benefit is it to them? If the site looks better than theirs they'll probably hate us. Many people don't use Facebook or Twitter, but almost everybody has an email address. Sometimes emailing customers once in a while is a far better means of communication. It's easier to send a personal email to a customer, asking if there's anything you can do for them, and inviting them to get in touch. People are more likely to pay attention to an email than they are to weed out important tweets from the inane waffle in their twitter account.

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