Social Media are interactive social technologies which allow the generation or sharing/ exchange/aggregating of information, thoughts, opinions, interests, and so on through virtual online communities and networks. Social media are used by individuals and companies to enhance the business or project marketing. They provide the ability to create a platform for interaction between people and allows for social interaction such as forums, blogs, message boards, group calendars etc. These have many advantages over traditional means of communication such as emails, phones calls, faxes and voice mail. The main advantage of social media is that it creates a friendly, casual environment for two or more people to easily and immediately get to know one another.
The most important benefit of social media advertising is the generation of consistent sales leads. The reason for this is because of the way these engines work. When someone searches for a word or phrase and comes across an ad for something that fits what he/she is looking for then they are most likely to click on that ad, join the conversation and see what is being offered. This is the same way an individual or company advertises itself on social media platforms.
When a company creates an ad campaign on a social media website such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn, the company is targeting the potential customers who are already logged on to that site or are actively using it. Most people prefer to interact with those they know, but some others will log on to social networks just for the sheer excitement of it. Regardless of who the social media users are, if they are interested in what a company has to offer, they are more than likely going to check out the advertisement and at least look at the information provided on the website.
This is the main benefit of the use of social media to advertise. However, one must realize that this only works for those advertisements that target the right demographic of users. It’s not as if every user on the internet is the exact person that will be interested in your product or service. If you created an advertisement on instagram for example, then you would want to target individuals who use instagram to take pictures. You wouldn’t advertise on facebook or twitter because those demographics don’t typically use those websites to take pictures.
When companies use social media platforms to share information, they are taking the active approach to marketing their products and services. In addition to creating a profile that allows users to post pictures and articles that are relevant to the product or service, the company should also develop a fan page on each social networking site that can allow users to share information about the company, their products and services. These pages should not be solely maintained, but should be used to post links and trailers about new products, specials and new services. When a company takes this approach to social networking, they are providing a useful service to potential customers and giving them a chance to meet someone who could become a future customer.
The biggest challenge for many small businesses is whether or not they should be using social media to promote their products and services. There are several factors that should be considered before making the decision, the first being that every social media platform has its own drawbacks and advantages. Facebook is currently the largest social media platform, but there are definitely other platforms available to the small business owner. If a company can find a niche on one of the platforms and make the necessary changes to their website and their business, it would be much more cost efficient than investing a significant amount of money into advertising.
