I’ve been using the promoted page posts function on Facebook for some clients’ pages recently. From my experience, is it worth it?

Some top app suggestions for PR professionals and to help firms enhance their PR.

OK, here’s my list of 10 things I see people doing on Twitter that they really shouldn’t.

I attended the Ulster Bank and Small Business Can event on marketing earlier this week in The Mac Belfast. It was a great gig. Fantastic audience participation. Much of the discussion was on social media, and it struck me how much some of the audience were stuck in the trap of chasing follows and likes. There was a feeling that to be credible on social media, you have to be seen to have lots of followers.

It’s about two-way communication – PR at its best has always been about listening and not just transmitting; about a relationship between an organisation and its publics (be they consumers, investors, politicians, employees or other publics); about engaging with them. So too social media. As the Public Relations Society of America said in 2011: “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations (sic) and their publics”.

Social media can be a powerful tool for many businesses, enabling them to engage directly with their customers and other stakeholders in an immediate, personal and targeted way. This is to be welcomed and encouraged. But employers also need to be conscious of the risks that social media can present.

If you want a good spread of NI news, views, business and politics, you could do worse than follow this lot. There are, of course, lots of other good journalist tweeters. Let me know who you think should be on the list.

Just some of the accessible ways your small business can enhance its profile in 2013.