Social media is fast becoming one of the most important aspects of digital marketing, offering incredible benefits reaching millions of customers around the world. And if you don’t take advantage of this profitable resource, you are missing out on an incredible marketing opportunity because it makes it easy for you to get your product and mission known.
Creating and developing a website is important to any business. In addition to having a website, you need to expand your online reach to social media platforms. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are essential to get a competitive advantage. If you have active social media accounts, you are likely to miss out on a lot of marketing opportunities.
What are social networks?
Social networks are interactive platforms on which content is created, distributed, and shared by people on the web. Social media websites and applications allow users to create and share user-generated content in which people talk, share, participate, and interact using technologies such as blogs and websites social networks. Over the past decade, social media has become one of the most powerful sources of updates, online collaboration, networking, viral marketing, and entertainment.
Types of Social Media:
Some of the most popular forms of social media today are social media sites like Facebook, which had more than 1 billion monthly active users as of October 2012. There are different types of platforms classified online under the broad umbrella of social networks. These categories include:
Social Media: Social media websites allow users to create websites with portfolios and personal interests. These pages are used to connect with friends, colleagues, and other users to share media, content, and messages. Examples of social networks are Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and Bebo.
Web Blogs – Some of the oldest and most popular forms of social media are blogs. Blogs are often viewed as electronic magazines that classify content chronologically or by date, month, year, and category. Users can also maintain “vlogs” or video blogs of shared or home videos. Blogging sites include WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr.
Microblogs: Microblogs are blogging tools that, unlike magazine articles, contain short articles. Users are usually limited to posting a few lines of text or uploading individual images and videos. Microblogging is particularly popular for posting patches and distributing content via mobile devices. Notable microblogging sites are Twitter and Tumblr. But social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Linked In, and Myspace also have their microblogging functions.
Content Communities: Content community users organize, share, and comment on various types of content, including images and videos. YouTube, Flickr, and Scribd are examples of content communities.
Wiki: Wiki websites allow a community of people to add and edit content in a community database. One of the most popular wikis is Wikipedia.
Podcasts: Podcasts are audio and video files available through subscription services such as Apple iTunes. The term “podcast” is a word creation derived from “broadcast” and “pod” (as in “iPod”) since podcasts are often played on portable media players.
Social Media Marketing
One of the main advantages of social media for businesses is that you can interact with your customers. Browsing through your customers’ tweets and Facebook updates will give you an idea of what they need. This is useful to help your company formulate marketing strategies that will suit your needs.
Effective Marketing
The nature of social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter piques the interest of subscribers who are more sensitive to them than an open marketing approach. You can use social media creatively to promote your products and services without overwhelming your customers with your marketing campaigns.
Strategically placed ads in news publications are an effective way to promote your business. Social media boosts your business and allows you to constantly remind them of the products and services you are offering.
The Importance of going social.
Social networking sites let you know what is popular. They also provide a platform for people to talk about relevant topics and their preferences. Social media was originally personal but has expanded to include business. They play an important role in marketing strategies. Increase traffic and be part of your SEO strategy. Companies need to work on their soft skills and how they interact with their customers online to get the best results. Success in social media marketing means being strategic and innovative. Social media encourages referral traffic and the added benefit of spending a lot of time online. Marketers are increasingly aware of the need to devote time and resources to social media.
