Facebook and Twitter For Beginners

Facebook: How Does it Work?

Getting Started

To set up your business on Facebook, go to the bottom of the home page (www.facebook.com) and click “Create a Page”.

Choose Your Category

Create an Account

To set up a Business Account, you need to provide an email, password, birthday, and complete their security check.

You can create a page through your personal Facebook account.

What’s on Your Page?

The top of your company’s Facebook page has a Profile Picture (1), Cover Photo (2), Description (3), photos (4), Likes (5), and Location (6).

(1)

(2)

(3) (4) (5) (6)

What Is It?

●  A “Profile Picture” is the main image that appears when you interact with people

●  A “Cover Photo” is a background image on your page that adds visual interest

●  “Likes” are people who are following your page’s updates ○  People can follow you by clicking a big “like” button

that appears on your page

Your Timeline

Your timeline is the list of all your updates that is shown on your company’s page. It is arranged chronologically, moving in an upward zigzag with the most recent post at the top (shown in red).

News Feed

Your News Feed is a list of all updates from your network. In addition to seeing your own posts, you will see the updates of people and companies that you follow.

The News Feed gives you quick access to your own page, messages, and more

You can share updates on the News Feed by clicking the box at the top. You can share text, links, and photos.

Posting

●  Posts show up on your company page and on the News Feed of your followers

●  Just like with your company’s

page, people can “like” individual posts, which gives your page more exposure

●  People can also leave comments

on individual posts ●  Finally, people can share your

post with their friends ●  People can also share posts with

you by putting them on your timeline

As the administrator of your page, you can see how many people are viewing individual posts.

Twitter: How Does it Work?

Getting Started

To sign up for Twitter, go to its home page (www.twitter.com) and provide your full name, email, and password.

Setting up an Account

Twitter will ask you to create a username, also known as a “Twitter Handle”. This is a unique name that will appear when people see your activity.

Your Twitter Page

You can customize the images on your Twitter page. Similar to Facebook, there is a profile picture (1) and cover photo (2). Your page has a description (3) and a list of all your tweets (4). It will also show pictures you’ve posted (5). It lists how many tweets you’ve sent (6), how many people you follow (7), and how many people are following you (8).

(1) (2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6) (7) (8)

How Does Twitter Work? ●  Twitter is a fast-moving platform that allows you to send mini

updates (tweets) to followers

●  Each tweet must be 140 characters or less

●  Users follow different accounts. Once they are following they see all the tweets sent from that account

●  Users can Retweet (RT) messages, which means they are sending another user’s message to their followers

●  Users can like tweets by marking them as Favourite

●  Users who follow each other can send each other Direct Messages (DM), which are private

How To See Updates

The home page shows all tweets being sent by the accounts you follow. By hovering your mouse over these tweets, you will get the option to reply or retweet. Replying allows you to send a public message to the user in response to their post. Retweeting will send their original message to your followers.

Interacting with Users

The Connect page on Twitter shows all interactions between you and other Twitter users. It shows you who new followers, tweets you were mentioned in, replies, and your tweets that have been retweeted

Initiating Interactions on Twitter ●  Go to the page of the user

you want to interact with ●  Click on the person

symbol and choose the option you want

●  “Tweet to…” will allow you

to compose a tweet that they will be tagged in ○  They will receive a

notification that you have done so

●  “Send a Direct Message”

is only available if you are following the user and they are following you. It is a private message that only the two of you will see

#Hashtags ●  Hashtags are words or

phrases that begin with the “#” symbol

●  Hashtagging a word or

phrase makes it easy for people to find tweets on a certain topic

●  People can search by

hashtag and see all tweets using it

●  Phrases that are

hashtagged must be written without spaces

●  Hashtags are also used

on Facebook

How are companies using social media?

A Few Examples

Engaging with Community ●  Not traditional advertising

●  Establishes personal relationship with customers

●  Promotes sense of community among consumers of brand

●  Builds brand loyalty

●  Promotes sharing on social media (a growing form of word-of-mouth advertising)

Social media sharing = “word-of-mouth” advertising

Brand Development

“The Coca-Cola Facebook Page is a collection of your stories showing how people from around the world have helped make coke into what it is today.”

Companies such as Coca-Cola are using social media to influence public perception of their brands. Here, they are associating their brand with

international development and humanitarian initiatives.

This is an example of how companies can effectively tailor their communications around a given theme which may have nothing to do with their core product or services. The take-away message here is that social

media can be a powerful tool for developing (or modifying) public perception of your brand.

Twitter: Additional Uses of Social Media

In our previous presentation, we described how social media is becoming increasingly important in customer service. Here, we see three additional uses of social media: ●  Human Resources ●  News Releases (formal and informal) ●  Marketing Campaigns and Promotions

Human Resources and News Releases

Marketing and Promotions

The Message Social media is here to stay, and is as diverse as it is powerful. Getting started with social media can be daunting at first, but it is well worth the effort in

the long run.

Stay in Touch!

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Have questions or comments? Send us your

feedback using the hashtag #LATSocial