What is the purpose of social media ?
Social media can be defined as a platform for sharing and discussing information amongst others. Popular social networks include Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+. In recent years, social media has had a big influence on the internet, creating new communities, technologies and evolving into a great marketing tool for businesses. social media has become a term synonymous with business marketing. Although still in its early stage, there is much to social media that businesses have yet to discover. As more businesses launch successful social media campaigns, it’s becoming clear that opting out of the social revolution can put companies at a competitive disadvantage. Social media offers the immediacy and interactivity consumers want and anticipate. It can intensify customer engagement, drive quality leads.One thing that any social media web community needs is members. Members are the commodity of social media websites. The more members, the more value–not just to the site owners, but to the community itself. In fact there is a critical mass to a social media site. Without enough members the site has virtually no value. But as the community grows, its value increases exponentially. Well populated social networks are have all the characteristics of a wise crowd. Delicious pulls together the collaborative judgment of millions of people thus categorizing and ranking the sites among billions.
The future of social media offers many exciting, new opportunities for businesses to interact with their customers. Going forward, it’s paramount for your business to integrate social media into your overall customer service experience.When your business is focused on creating positive brand experiences, it can lead to insights that have an impact on all of your customers. And most importantly, it builds trust. Your customers will see that you have their best interest in mind, and that added value for your business. Social media can be appealing to all types of people including busy professionals who use it to stay in touch with close friends and families who live far apart from each other. There are a whole host of reasons why people may find social networks useful.
If your company isn’t fully taking advantage of social media, it might be missing out on opportunities to connect with customers, gain market share and bring needed talent into the organization.Experts say virtually every type of business can benefit from using social media as a business tool.
Connecting with Customer.
Social media allows businesses to interact and engage with customers in ways that were not possible before. Whether they are Facebook fans or Twitter followers, users have a direct line of communication with their favorite brands and businesses. Social media allows you to get personal with your customers and form a bond of trust with them. By making yourself available through social media, reaching out to customers and sharing content, you can strengthen your online community and attract potential new clients. The more likes, circles and +’s you receive the more positive ratings your online business will receive. People like to see positive signs and the more positive ratings and followers you are getting the trustworthier you and your business will appear on the Internet.
Awareness of Brand.
This marketing platform is constantly updating in real time which makes it possible for your brand to stay top of mind with your consumers by posting on a daily basis. Most social networking sites focus on users that have chosen to hear from your business either by liking your Facebook page or following you on Twitter, but they also offer options to extend the reach of your content beyond your current audience,In addition, it also adds a bit of personality to a business, allowing a company’s voice to shine through. As such, businesses need to be sure that whoever is in charge of updating their social networks conveys the right tone and is consistent with the company’s brand messaging. According to a recent study, 75% of marketers saw an increase in traffic to their website after they implemented a social media strategy.
Social Media Campaign reach.
Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business’ goals. Starting a social media marketing campaign without a plan in mind is like wandering through a forest without a map—you’ll only end up lost.
Create a social media marketing plan and brainstorm about your goals: what are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing? Who is your target audience? Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media? What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?
Focus on a social media campaign that will benefit your existing distributors and generate a social strategy that will build demand for your products. You’ll not only help your existing distributors, but you’ll create market demand and get the attention of new ones.
And it doesn’t require an advanced campaign strategy or cost anything. But simply asking fans and followers to share your Facebook posts and retweet your messages can result in increased reach. Normal users’ posts are seen in a relatively high percentage of friends’ news feeds — between 29 percent and 35 percent, according to one study. Be careful not to ask every time you post, but, when appropriate, you’ll be amazed how far a simple, polite “Please RT!” to the end of your tweet can help spread the word about your brand or business.
Website traffic is More from social media.
So, you finally have your business site up and going, but you’re still not getting any traffic. Well, for one thing, you need to promote your site in order to spread the work about it. If not, your site’s content will never obtain its maximum reach. Many successful business site owners use the powers of Facebook and Twitter in order to help increase site traffic.And These days, it seems as though every single business has a Facebook page and Twitter feed. The Facebook and Twitter icons appear everywhere . Almost 20% of visits to company sites are prompted by social media, whereas less than 1% come via direct links, according to recent study by ForeSee . Social media platforms offer an additional channel to market your products and services in a friendly and informal way. You can also use Facebook social ads which are same as Google Adwords. It’s not expensive. Your page’s name will be displayed in other user’s page as ad. You can get massive traffic in this way. Like Twitter, Facebook is just one of the many ways to get some traffic to your site. Many marketers believe that it is just a matter of time for the traffic from Facebook, Twitter and the other major social networking sites to surpass the traffic their sites get from Google.
Build your social network.
As with other social networking sites, your network is your major capital. That is why you need to invite your friends, acquaintances, and partners and ask them to join as your supporter. You should also search for people with interests similar to yours. However, don’t be pushy and don’t spam because this is not the way to convince people to join your network.No matter how interesting the stuff in your Facebook profile is, if you don’t publish new content regularly, the traffic to your Facebook profile (and respectively the Facebook traffic to your site) will slow down. If you can post daily, it is fine but even if you don’t post that regularly, try to do it as frequently as you can. If nothing else, updating your status regularly is more than nothing, so do it and be active.Don’t underestimate the value of social media within your overall marketing strategy. Give it the respect it deserves. Think outside of your market and you’ll no doubt blaze your own trail to social media success. Social media is transforming not only the way we communicate each other but also the way the companies make business.
