MarkB
New Member
Staff member
I would be interested to hear about which social media channels you use to promote your business.
Businessman
New Member
Why! SBF of course! - You mean there are others? 
At one time or another I've tried most of them...
Facebook I found to be overrun with the worst type of excuses for human beings in existence; I'll have nothing to do with it - to the point where if a business is substituting a FaceBook page for a webpage, they've lost me! I'm not even going to look at it!
- LinkedIn isn't much better. I had an account which I dumped due to the number of spammers/snake-oil sellers they were tolerating/promoting. I went back to it for a short while the Brexit referendum campaign was running, and found myself being grossly offended by paid-for political claptrap! - Couldn't even block it via ABP! - So took myself out of there! Permanently...
I think my biggest problem with 'social media' is not just the idiots... But the fact that the companies that run most of it - FaceBook, Google, Twitter etc. really don't give a flying f**k about the personal safety of people - including vulnerable people; and will basically support any old S**t in the name of traffic... Curiously enough I find WordPress (not quite social media I know) among the worst in terms of their rancid irresponsibility... When somebody finally sues the ass of Matt Mullenweg I shall buy myself a truckload of popcorn and make a point of sitting in on the trial!
I should also perhaps mention KILTR which once had great potential in my view... Alas it is lost in a sea of SPAM and nobody seems to be giving a monkey's about it now; shame.
At one time or another I've tried most of them...
Facebook I found to be overrun with the worst type of excuses for human beings in existence; I'll have nothing to do with it - to the point where if a business is substituting a FaceBook page for a webpage, they've lost me! I'm not even going to look at it!
- LinkedIn isn't much better. I had an account which I dumped due to the number of spammers/snake-oil sellers they were tolerating/promoting. I went back to it for a short while the Brexit referendum campaign was running, and found myself being grossly offended by paid-for political claptrap! - Couldn't even block it via ABP! - So took myself out of there! Permanently...
I think my biggest problem with 'social media' is not just the idiots... But the fact that the companies that run most of it - FaceBook, Google, Twitter etc. really don't give a flying f**k about the personal safety of people - including vulnerable people; and will basically support any old S**t in the name of traffic... Curiously enough I find WordPress (not quite social media I know) among the worst in terms of their rancid irresponsibility... When somebody finally sues the ass of Matt Mullenweg I shall buy myself a truckload of popcorn and make a point of sitting in on the trial!
I should also perhaps mention KILTR which once had great potential in my view... Alas it is lost in a sea of SPAM and nobody seems to be giving a monkey's about it now; shame.
MarkB
New Member
Staff member
The problem I see is that while the social media arena was very fickle in the way young adults went from one to another, the main players in the shape of FB, etc will now just buy up or copy any competitors. There was even talk of FB bidding for the UK Premier League TV rights but this has not materialised yet. They basically buy or kill anything that gets in their way leading to less and less choice - Snap Chat is prime example, too expensive to be taken over but a prime target to be copied, step forward FB 
Businessman
New Member
What worries me about FB, Google and Wordpress is that they will - for the sake of traffic - support some very dangerous things. - For example, there was one nutcase prosecuted for stalking the family of Lee Rigby. Just after the Manchester Bombing there were cranks claiming it was all a 'false flag' operation and posting the most rancid abuse against pictures of grieving parents; this sort of thing occurs with every tragedy. Another hoax story surfaced a year or two back about claims of a baby-eating cannibal cult operating out of Hampstead - this included Google/YouTube supporting the illegal posting of videos of children 'recounting' lurid (hoax) tales of sexual abuse... Against a UK court order in which the judge noted that such 'stories' were likely to be found titillating by paedophiles; this material can still be found. Wordpress hides behind U.S. law, and facilitates the most appalling abuse even to the extent of supporting stalking and physical threats/harm.
This is all, by any measure, utterly toxic; and really is what some of the big player in advertising are beginning to rail against now; but it's been going on and a problem for at least 5-8 years.
The mercenary/predatory nature of their takeover practices is the least of the 'problems' with them.
This is all, by any measure, utterly toxic; and really is what some of the big player in advertising are beginning to rail against now; but it's been going on and a problem for at least 5-8 years.
The mercenary/predatory nature of their takeover practices is the least of the 'problems' with them.
selfemployed
Active Member
In many ways I feel pressured to try the likes of Facebook and Twitter but in reality I have had little in the way of business from any of these “leading social media sites”. The amount of people who ask if I have a Facebook or a Twitter account but never seem to follow me is a little bizarre. Why bother asking?
Businessman
New Member
I'd suggest that there is a reason for this...
In some cases these days, when people ask that question, it is actually loaded! - Are you a leader or a follower? Do you work by rote or by method? Established and confident, or wannabe and desperate? - Or are you a manipulator of the ignorant and the rudderless?
Cynical? moi?
Again, this comes down to how appropriate (or irrelevant) these platforms are to your particular business. FaceBook and Twitter are both (infantilised and infantilising) channels that direct at the general public - and, if we're brutally honest about it, a particular set of demographics which do not really include the cutting edge; except insofar as it might be hacking pounds of flesh from the great unwashed!
These are both platforms that provide 'computing' for the computer illiterate... And basically they're there to shift the technology that supports them to consumers, who would otherwise have no use for such machines. There is precedent for this...
I often find myself repeating the point, but one of the very first uses ever found for a personal computer with a modem was 'social media' in the form of dial-up bulletin boards. History even takes us much further back than that! Think (or google if you must) PLATO, Talkomatic, Usenet and - particularly - the old Compuserve Forum structure... At that point 'the wheel was invented' in terms of reasonable ease of access and usability. And at that point, some say, the rot set in! ...Because you then saw the rollout of dumbed-down consumer-oriented platforms such as AOL.
Take a quick look at this American ad from almost 20 years ago...
...Six Degrees anyone? - Who's heard of this mid-90s effort that platform built an audience with immense potential for profits but, in the process of capitalizing on that potential, alienated the audience that made it popular in the first place? A very common pattern! Livejournal? - Its ghost still walks in chains they tell me! Meetup? Friendster? MySpace? Bebo? - It's not so many years since all my students communicated with each other via MSN. And what about Orkut?
...It's all a bit 'CNN'! Clearly Nothing New!
If I was irritated ten years ago by all the self-appointed 'so-shall meeja' experts selling snake oil (most of whom could barely switch on a computer) I think much of the world has caught onto it now. - I say these platforms - particularly the large ones - always have an end-game in mind. And that users caught up in this tide are at various stages, flotsam, jetsam, lagan, and increasingly these days derelict.
Tides flow, tides turn... If you're visiting Venice by all means take a boat trip and enjoy the view, but it's rarely necessary and not desirable to jump in and swim with Le feci! Especially when you're close to the time the canals are due to be flushed out!
In some cases these days, when people ask that question, it is actually loaded! - Are you a leader or a follower? Do you work by rote or by method? Established and confident, or wannabe and desperate? - Or are you a manipulator of the ignorant and the rudderless?
Cynical? moi?
Again, this comes down to how appropriate (or irrelevant) these platforms are to your particular business. FaceBook and Twitter are both (infantilised and infantilising) channels that direct at the general public - and, if we're brutally honest about it, a particular set of demographics which do not really include the cutting edge; except insofar as it might be hacking pounds of flesh from the great unwashed!
These are both platforms that provide 'computing' for the computer illiterate... And basically they're there to shift the technology that supports them to consumers, who would otherwise have no use for such machines. There is precedent for this...
I often find myself repeating the point, but one of the very first uses ever found for a personal computer with a modem was 'social media' in the form of dial-up bulletin boards. History even takes us much further back than that! Think (or google if you must) PLATO, Talkomatic, Usenet and - particularly - the old Compuserve Forum structure... At that point 'the wheel was invented' in terms of reasonable ease of access and usability. And at that point, some say, the rot set in! ...Because you then saw the rollout of dumbed-down consumer-oriented platforms such as AOL.
Take a quick look at this American ad from almost 20 years ago...
...Six Degrees anyone? - Who's heard of this mid-90s effort that platform built an audience with immense potential for profits but, in the process of capitalizing on that potential, alienated the audience that made it popular in the first place? A very common pattern! Livejournal? - Its ghost still walks in chains they tell me! Meetup? Friendster? MySpace? Bebo? - It's not so many years since all my students communicated with each other via MSN. And what about Orkut?
...It's all a bit 'CNN'! Clearly Nothing New!
If I was irritated ten years ago by all the self-appointed 'so-shall meeja' experts selling snake oil (most of whom could barely switch on a computer) I think much of the world has caught onto it now. - I say these platforms - particularly the large ones - always have an end-game in mind. And that users caught up in this tide are at various stages, flotsam, jetsam, lagan, and increasingly these days derelict.
Tides flow, tides turn... If you're visiting Venice by all means take a boat trip and enjoy the view, but it's rarely necessary and not desirable to jump in and swim with Le feci! Especially when you're close to the time the canals are due to be flushed out!
selfemployed
Active Member
Hands up who has ever bought a thing by clicking ANY social media advert? Not me - and I would guess I am not alone.
Wills
Member
Instagram - I have been successful in acquiring new clients through this platform but it is focused on my skills
Facebook - I only have a presence for local interest and rarely have any enquiries or business connections
Twitter - waste of time unless you are a career twitter
Forums - these used to be my main are now its a wasteland with social media taking over
Youtube - this is an area I'm exploring with the limited free business time I have
Have I ever purchased from adverts No have I ever purchased through connections Yes
Will
Facebook - I only have a presence for local interest and rarely have any enquiries or business connections
Twitter - waste of time unless you are a career twitter
Forums - these used to be my main are now its a wasteland with social media taking over
Youtube - this is an area I'm exploring with the limited free business time I have
Have I ever purchased from adverts No have I ever purchased through connections Yes
Will
MarkB
New Member
Staff member
I think there is still life in forums but they are more for information gathering and chatting to like minded people than actually attracting business. The one problem I find with the likes of FB is wading through the 99.99% of rubbish posts to find one useful one.
Wills
Member
Definitely agree on forums being helpful in a lot of areas
A
aishley
New Member
Hi, social media is a great way to reach a new audience and promote your brand and products. People love to use various social media platforms and this is why businesses should use social media marketing to grow themself. Below are the top social media channels you should use-
- Facebook
- Instagram
- TikTok
- LinkedIn
- Twitter
- WhatsApp
- TikTok
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I
integral
New Member
P
pmorris
New Member
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
But I'm thinking of using Pinterest, what do you think? Is it worth it?
But I'm thinking of using Pinterest, what do you think? Is it worth it?
zwilliam
New Member
It Depends on Business we are doing well facebook, Linkedin and twitter are more beneficial for your business.
Business Upside
Member
Since we are a news analysis website, we prefer LinkedIn because of its professionalism, Facebook for posting heavy content and Twitter for microblogging and repurposing our blog contents. We have a blog that explores the best social media platform to market to each generation. Hope it helps.
Koler
New Member
not may, I use Facebook ads mostly
Maryko
New Member
I prefer to use social media channels Facebook and Instagram to promote clients' businesses. Instagram is particularly well-suited to small business owners who don’t have the time or budget for expensive marketing campaigns. Unpaid social media marketing lets you grow your customer base without a dedicated marketing team or a big budget — just a free account and a smartphone camera are all you need to get started. I work with Instagram promotion and help people to get more instagram views and more potential clients.
kassyy
Member
only instagram and facebook
C
Chloe25
New Member
I use Linkedin, Facebook, myBridge.me, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Tumblr to promote Business online.