Vassilis Goulielmos
The virtual space offers thousands of possibilities, not all of which offer a solution that would help you reach your goal. A lot depends on what devices you start using and how much effort you make to get to know them. It’s time to see what to use of the ever-changing, unfailing and growing selection of the internet and why.
A lot of needles in the haystack
The internet is enormous. Both regarding the number of users and that of the available possibilities. There are a lot of ways for you to be present, but you should only appear in a way that makes your pet shop popular.
Continuous, efficient presence and its regular use needs time. You must acquire the usage of website services, you must make sure to post new pieces of information, as the crowd you want to reach do not sit in front of the computer waiting for you to post something. They recognise you if something appears that is important or interesting for them. And not only once.
Devices on the internet that are chosen consciously and well are more important if you spend money on advertising on these websites. Love yourself and do not spend money on something you can’t make a profit from because it can’t work effectively or you don’t know how to make it work effectively.
Just like any other device, the possibilities of the internet have their traits. You don’t just use them, you need to know how they are to be used. It’s inevitable that we take a closer look at a few more important possibilities to see what they are good for.
Where everyone is someone’s acquaintance
Social networks are thriving. Things might change in the future but I doubt that: these have become a part of our lives and daily routine. Developers realise the changes of users’ habits skillfully and alter the programmes accordingly. Moreover, to be honest, they create new habits without us realising it.
It’s typical of social websites that we create our profile, get in touch with acquaintances and we can make new virtual friends, or join people who have similar interests. Dozens of devices and possibilities are bulit upon that.
It’s evident that the daredevil of the social media is Facebook. There are more than a billion users. It’s not a question that you absolutely must use Facebook when advertising your kennel. Later we’ll look into the possibilities and pitfalls this site might have.
The utmost power of virtual space
The other important social website is Google+, which is not nearly as popular as Facebook. According to recent data, it only has three million users a month as compared to the one billion users of Facebook. This might be just a fraction but three million people are not few. Is it a question to be present in such a huge virtual environment?
For the first sight, Google+ is almost like Facebook: it just has different names for things. This is true on the surface.Yet there is an important difference regarding the basic function of the two sites, and this makes the usage of the sites differ accordingly. Facebook focuses on your acquaintances whose life you can follow. Google+ has been made to bring people of similar interests together in the virtual space. It’s perfect for making connections.
There’s another crucial reason for Google+. Some might remember that Google started off as a search engine. It blew the market and has been used ever since. Then came its e-mail service, the translator, the map, the search engine called Chrome, which is becoming more and more widespread. Then they bought a lot of things like YouTube and Picasa and so on. Smartphones and tablets mostly use android operation systems, and the virtual shop of Google contains applications, books and games.
More people might use Facebook than those who use Google+. Yet, no one knows more about internet users’ habits than Google. Facebook knows who you like on Facebook or who you are in touch with, yet Google has more exact information regarding what kind of music you listen to, what you search for on the net, what games you are interested in: it knows all your internet habits. If you ever use AdWords, which offers paid, targeted ads, you’ll be extremely efficient, as targeted appearance is possible based on internet users’ habits.
Your ad will appear in front of a small group of billions of internet users who might be interested in you.
Tweet-tweet
Twitter is the breaking news section of the internet. Basically, it’s for sharing important things with the world then and there. If you are able to write short messages that are to the point and sensational, go ahead.Pictures and videos can also be placed in the tweets as well as a link of a website. It’s advisable to shorten the address of the website because of the limited length of the messages.
Pictures here
The most important characters of the web world are pictures. There are social websites that are built on users uploading pictures. The most popular one is Instagram now, which could be considered as a social network with pictures. If you have a lot of photos in albums, it’s sensible to use Picasa, as you can easily share contact with people who you are not in virtual contact with, unlike on Facebook. In this case you have the chance to edit the uploaded pictures.
Movies
If you have a machine to make videos of good quality – a camera, a camcorder, a tablet, a smartphone – and you find an interesting topic, make videos for YouTube.
As YouTube is already a product of Google, it uses the same account as Picasa or Google+. Videos uploaded to Google+ will appear with a simple setting. If you start filming, upload interesting, short and concise clips. And of course upload clips that are connected to the life of your pet shop.
It’s important to know that Facebook does not really like it if you share outside contents.
In this case, few of your acquaintances will see a YouTube video. This tendency will get stronger, as Facebook has apparently started to develop its video devices. So even if you start making videos, it’s better not to share your videos from YouTube, but upload them separately.
The basic website
We’ve seen how easy it is to reach people simply and quickly, especially via social websites. However, we mustn’t forget about the matusalem of the world of the internet: websites. Social websites are suitable for publishing quick, short pieces of information, especially to raise interest.Do you think if someone is interested in you they will look at your complete Facebook page to know who you are and what you’ve achieved?
Oh no! That’s what a website is for. It offers structured, constant information, so if someone is interested and they want to get to know your pet shop’s story, they will get enough information. And vice versa. If you write a lengthy post about your pet shop’s past and how you got here, no one will read it, because Facebook is not for that.
And this is not the end
You must make sure that you use different tools and connect them too. You have the chance to show which sites you are on.
It’s impossible to say what kind of services will appear and the use of which ones will be trendy. Before you start to use a new platform, chart the functions it has and to what extent your target group use it. To what extent it supports that it recommends you to others, and what functions it has with which you can make your pet shop popular.
Always remember that it’s not enough to register: you must use the given site continuously. If you spend your time doing things that make no sense, it’s a waste of time. In the remaining time you could do different things that would serve your interests.
This quick description was just good for looking at the main possibilities of internet use and their use. If you want to use any of them efficiently and professionally, you must gain a deeper knowledge.