Social media can help you engage with your prospects, customers, suppliers, and industry colleagues.
The key to leveraging the opportunity that social media represents is understanding that engagement is two-way and, most often, public. So tread (post) with care. The other key point is that most social media platforms offer company and individual accounts, and in general, they should be treated differently.
LinkedIn is a good case in point. Many people have personal profiles on LinkedIn where they list their work and education achievements and where they post primarily about their professional lives. Likewise, LinkedIn offers company pages where a company can list products and services, post about events or product updates, and seek and receive feedback.
Some social media platforms are more B2B oriented, some are B2C, and others are C2C - the lines are fuzzy. LinkedIn is the best-known B2B platform; Facebook plays both worlds, as does Twitter. Whether you can effectively reach your desired audience via a platform matters.
Social Media platforms are increasingly becoming cost-effective advertising or promotional channels relative to traditional promotional activities like paid advertisements in a magazine.
Many resources are available to help you get started using social media.