Disclaimer: Wow, I drafted this post in 2013 and with a few tweaks finished it tonight. It is most def not an all encompassing guide to social media, that game is vast, but it’s a good start for people that are dormant in this arena.
Although I’m not a qualified social media consultant by any stretch of the imagination, I’ve been involved in setting up, running and expanding a couple of company’s and community’s social media presences online. With that being said, herewith some of the basics I use when setting an entity up from scratch (circa 2013).
I’ll focus on the 4 big ticket items – Email, Facebook, Twitter and WordPress.
Note: Depending on what you are trying to achieve, an Instagram account could also be very useful.
As Microsoft homer, I’m definitely going to recommend going to www.outlook.com and registering an email address. I find the email functionality, coupled with Office Online, Onedrive and Calendar functions a charm to use.
Once you have your email sorted, example my_company@live.com, it’s time to move onto your twitter feed.
You may also want to consider Gmail here.
So step one is to register your new twitter account by using the email address you have just created. Try your best to keep your twitter username short, but descriptive. Remember you only have 140 characters to tweet with, so having a loooooooonnnnnnnnnnggg twitter handle, will make tweeting difficult. So I suggest a little abbreviation for example @my_comp considering your full company name is my_company.
So, once you’ve registered the account, you can customise your page via settings (stick to the basic themes, don’t bezerk with too many add-ons.) After you’ve done this, its important to follow accounts or people relevant to what you are doing and in the same industry. This will expose your account to them and also give you insight into what is going on.
You might also want to consider Snapchat.
Twitter – Super Important
Don’t go live with your twitter account unless you intend to use it. A dormant twitter account won’t win you any followers.
I have to confess, I probably utilise about 20% of Facebook’s true power, but herewith some basics. When starting off, register your account and then create a page.
The account is used to interact with facebook in terms of posting comments, making friend requests and spreading word on your brand throughout the network.
The page is there to advertise your brand & notify people that ‘like’ your page of what the latest happenings of your brand or cause.
WordPress is the daddy of all blogging platforms. It’s easy to get going, very powerful, but also basic enough for someone without web background to get going.
I recommend starting a blog to support your social media initiatives and share as much media as you can. Video and images really get people interested and too much text can get users to drop off.
You may also want to consider Medium or Exposure (great for images).
Francois Pienaar 
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