Social Media Made Simple

A quick guide to the networks that matter.

There are dozens of social media networks out there. They all have their own idiosyncrasies and each can be used for a particular style of corporate communications.

Use our handy guide to the eight core channels for corporate social media.

twitter

Micro-blogging platform used for general communications – multiple accounts can be activated for different stakeholder groups

  • What it is

    • Send and read text-based posts (tweets) of up to 140 characters via SMS, website and 3rd party apps
    • Tweets can be grouped by topic, allowing users to follow specific conversations
    • Pages can be branded and display basic profile information

  • Stats

    • 200 million registered users
    • 40 million unique visitors each month
    • 460,000 new accounts added each day
    • One and a half billion tweets sent each week

  • How It's Used

    • Suitable for a range of communications needs
    • Lets companies interact with stakeholders in real time
    • Multiple accounts can be activated for different stakeholder groups
  • Follow us
facebook

The biggest social network – ideal for recruitment and employee relations, CSR and local community engagement

  • What it is

    • Create a profile (for individuals, groups or companies) and build a network of ‘friends’
    • Branded display of profile and contact information, photos, videos and customised apps
    • Private and public messaging and commenting

  • Stats

    • 50% of Facebook’s 800 million users log in each day – spending 55 minutes per day
    • 1.3 million years spent on Facebook every month
    • Half of the UK are active on Facebook
    • 7.5% of all UK Internet visits (Google gets 9%)

  • How It's Used

    • Ideal for recruitment and employee relations, CSR and local community engagement
    • If there is no official company page, Facebook creates a community page, with content from Wikipedia
  • Like us
LinkedIn

Professional social network used for recruitment and employee relations but also for thought leadership and supplier/partner networking

  • What it is

    • Lets users maintain a profile and build a network of business contacts, search for jobs and find potential clients
    • Users can be introduced via mutual connections
    • Employees can follow their company’s profile

  • Stats

    • 116 million professionals in over 200 countries: 24m in Europe; 6m in the UK
    • 70% of the Fortune 100 use it for recruitment
    • 1 million members join each week
    • 20 million unique visitors each week
    • 2 billion people searched in 2010

  • How It's Used

    • Ideal for recruitment / employee relations and for supplier/partner networking
    • If there is no official company page, LinkedIn creates a community page, with content from Wikipedia, Bloomberg Businessweek and Capital IQ
  • Join us
YouTube

Video publishing platform used for recruitment, investor relations and CSR

  • What it is

    • Lets users post, view, search, share, rate and comment on videos up to 15 minutes in length
    • Videos can be embedded into external sites

  • Stats

    • The second-biggest search engine in the world
    • 133 million unique visitors each month
    • 3 billion videos (150 years) viewed each day
    • 48 hours of video uploaded every minute
    • Receives 2% of all UK internet visits

  • How It's Used

    • Lets companies share video content with a wider audience: ideal for recruitment, investor relations and CSR
    • Channels can be branded and include basic profile and contact information
  • Watch us
Google+

The new kid on the block – could become a more professional alternative to Facebook: the link to Google’s other services will enhance SEO and bring other major advantages

  • What it is

    • Similar to Facebook, but allows for asymmetrical ‘friending’ model, where ‘friendships’ do not need to be reciprocated
    • Friends can be grouped into ‘circles’ so that content distribution can be tightly controlled
    • Offers online conferencing (through ‘huddles’ and ‘hangouts’)

  • Stats

    • Launched June 2011
    • Fastest-growing user numbers ever
    • 25 million users in the first month

  • How It's Used

    • Business accounts have only been allowed since November 2011
    • The most appropriate use of Google+ for corporate comms is not yet clear
    • As Google+ evolves, the link to Google’s other services will bring major advantages
Flickr

Image publishing platform used for CSR, image crowd-sourcing and content discovery for social networkers

  • What it is

    • Upload, explore, share and comment on images and videos
    • Host images for embedding in other social media
    • Images can be stored privately (20%) or publicly (80%)

  • Stats

    • Hosts over 6 billion images
    • 3000 images uploaded a minute
    • Over 20 million unique visitors each month
    • The number of uploads increasing by 20% year-on-year

  • How It's Used

    • Lets companies share image content with a wider audience
    • Ideal for content discovery for social networkers, CSR and image crowd sourcing
SlideShare

Presentation publishing platform used for investor relations, thought leadership and internal communications

  • What it is

    • Post, view, rate and comment on business presentations, documents and videos
    • Compatible with PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote and OpenOffice
    • Presentations can be downloaded or embedded into external sites

  • Stats

    • 16 million registered users
    • 90 million monthly pageviews
    • 60 million unique visitors a month
    • 3 billion slide views a month

  • How It's Used

    • Lets companies share presentations with a wider audience
    • Ideal for investor relations, CSR and internal communications
StockTwits

Twitter for the investor community: currently focused on US and Canadian listed companies (including ADRs), with full development in Europe coming soon

  • What it is

    • Lets investors share ideas and news around specific stocks and sectors
    • Lets companies communicate directly with an investor audience through a verified company IR page
    • Distribution through Reuters, Yahoo and CNN, offers access to a potential audience of 6 million monthly users

  • Stats

    • Visitor count growing by 40% p.a.
    • Over 400,000 unique visitors each month
    • 80-90,000 messages each week
    • Over 3,000 different companies discussed each month

  • How It's Used

    • Users follow US and Canadian tickers ($TICKER) including ADRs
    • Full integration with the UK & Europe coming soon
  • Follow us
    • As StockTwits's European partner, read how we can help your company get involved simply and securely
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