Businesses urged to use social media
Allison Markin of All She Wrote marketing and media explains how Facebook and similar tools can promote and enhance businesses.
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Updated: November 25, 2009 3:54 PM
It’s time for businesses to develop a strong online presence, members of the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism were told last week.
Speaking at the monthly chamber luncheon, Allison Markin of All She Wrote marketing and media, discussed the benefits of social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter.
“Technology shifts, and it is shifting to meet our needs,” she said. “It’s time to embrace the social culture.”
At present, there are more than 100 million Facebook users — more than the population of every country except China, India and the United States.
Canadians are embracing the social networking tool, with 25 per cent of the population now on Facebook.
The fastest growing demographic is people 35 and older.
Unlike a conventional website presence, social media sites provide a higher level of interaction.
“Social media is indeed right here, right now,” she said.
Scott Boswell, economic development officer for the municipality, agrees.
“You really do need to look at Web 2.0 because it’s very popular,” he said.
There is a recently formed Facebook group for Summerland Economic Development.
The chamber has also started working with social media. Last week, the chamber launched its own Twitter account to keep people informed of chamber happenings. A Facebook page has also been set up.
“It hasn’t been as hard as we thought, or as scary,” said chamber manager Lisa Jaager.
She said the benefits are already becoming evident.
“It’s opening up a lot of people who aren’t our chamber members,” she said.
