When I
first joined the conferencing team at the University of Leeds in 2009 there
were two social platforms that we knew we had to be a part of if we wanted to
communicate with our customers online.
The
social space has been shaken up over the past few years creating a much broader
market share and a new approach to sharing content online. For a long time marketing via social media
began and ended with Twitter and Facebook but as more and more social platforms
have gained ground, and members, it’s become impossible to ignore the places
where our customers are spending their time online.
Facebook
and Twitter are now the veterans of the social media world as an endlessly
growing number of social networks provide new spaces for people to hang out,
pin photos, create videos, share experiences and make buying decisions.
Pinterest
was launched just 3 years ago but already has over 70 million users and gets
over 2.5 billion page views each month.
It’s also been reported that it drives more traffic to websites than Twitter and LinkedIn combined – and who doesn't want their customers to end up
on their website?! These figures alone
are enough for us to realise that it’s a social space that we’d like to be part
of but what really drew our attention to the network was that it seemed an
ideal place to showcase the breadth of facilities that we can offer. Our Pinterest board is still very much in its infancy but it’s a fun
place to be and we see a lot of potential in it.
Google is
going to incredible lengths to make sure that its social network, Google+, is a
success. Recently they've replaced
YouTube’s comments with G+ comments, given G+ more impact for local businesses
and a G+ presence will even mean a higher placement in Google search results.
So far all of this seems to be working - a study last year showed that G+ has
over 343 million monthly users and 34% of all social logins; that surpasses
both LinkedIn and Twitter.
We started using Google+ a while ago and love its clean interface and easy to use
experience. The fact that it helps
people find our facilities online too is, of course, a great bonus! Add YouTube and the importance of Google Maps
to online search and Google are certainly doing plenty to keep us busy.
It’s not
just social media that’s changed at such a pace either. Email marketing is still as important as ever,
websites are crucial hubs that should collate all of your online activity,
responsive websites are expected by anybody visiting your site on a mobile
device and 2014 is apparently the year that content marketing will fully mature.
Thankfully,
Meet in Leeds have always enjoyed being ahead of the game and so we’re growing
our team to make the most of what’s to come.
We look forward to seeing you on the next big thing!
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