Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Introduction

In this era of rapid growth and development where businesses are going global, the competition among the businesses has become intense. In order to maintain the market share and remain competitive in the industry it is immensely important that the businesses reach the customers in the most appropriate manner. Several methods are there to reach the customers but with the advent of information technology and growing popularity of social media more businesses are using the social media to market their products. Social media has many forms including blogs, social networks, video, podcasts, RSS feeds, discussion forums, and photo sharing.

Social Media Marketing in Businesses

Increasing popularity of Social Media Marketing in Businesses

As the world is progressing apart from a shift in consumer tastes and preferences for various products, a shift in the way they interact and socialize has also been observed. This has opened avenues for the businesses who now have less expensive, more speedy and innovative methods to reach the customers and market their products. Evidence has shown that the social media has gained considerable repute over the last decade and is used for various purposes such as business networking, crafting meet-ups and online scrapbooking. According to a study in 2012, More than 1.2 billion people have used Face book in the year; nearly 22% of teens using Face book have logged into the website at a minimum of 10 times in a day; an average of 190 tweets have been posted on Twitter each day; users of Flickr uploaded on average 3,000 pictures per minute; YouTube had on an average in a month 92 billion page views ;and Wikipedia hosted17 million articles. Thus, social media has become a common place in this era than ever before. Therefore more business are moving forward to utilize it to engage the customers. (Press release, 2013)

Social Media Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages for Business Entrepreneurs

As with everything, social media also has some advantages and disadvantages for business entrepreneurs. The increased use of social media by the consumers has enabled the businesses to engage the customers and better obtain their feedback. It enables the businesses to know what the customers are talking about them and gain an insight about the customer's sentiments about their brands. It helps them to figure out how influential a customer is in spreading word of mouth. It also enables them to compare different brand messages and commercials and obtain a quick response to them. Social media helps the businesses to lear4n about their customers, gain knowledge of customer needs, and induce the customers to try the product. (Harvard Business Review, 2010). Social media also improves reputation of a business and client base with lesser use of advertising saving expenses. (Official website SHRM, 2012). Use of social media enables businesses to position the product as they want by building reputation for the brand around company's values. It helps a company to gain instant access to its customers as they become followers and form a ...