The Internet has changed our lives both personally and commercially. The boundaries between personal and business communication are now much less defined. Three-quarters of us in the developed world use the internet and Social media has become a serious business marketing technique with over 90% of businesses with an in‐house marketing department using social media for marketing and committing up to 20% of marketers' time in that direction. So far as your social media audience is concerned, 43% of people aged 20‐29 spend more than 10 hours a week on social media sites.

The starting point in any social media activity for business is your website or microsite and your social media activities will invariably be referencing this site so the first measurement of success in your social media activity will be the traffic you’re generating for your site through social media channels.

This course is designed to assist people in business to understand how social media techniques can be used as an effective business marketing tool. The object is to provide sufficient information to enable you to develop a social media strategy for a business and implement that strategy personally or through the informed engagement of third-party specialists.