| Social Media Marketing is a product of numerous social | | | | measurable results. |
| networks, online communities, blogs, social news sites | | | | 3. Measurable Results |
| and other social media channels utilized for marketing, | | | | A company is not able to learn precisely how many |
| sales, advertising, public relations, branding and | | | | people have watched their commercial, or actually |
| customer service. It is essentially a category of online | | | | read their magazine advertisement. Obtaining |
| media where people are interacting by talking, | | | | measurable results with traditional media is difficult and |
| participating, sharing, networking, and bookmarking | | | | time consuming. Social media and internet marketing |
| (saving websites or pages they like) online. | | | | offers a plethora of tracking tools to determine how |
| Most social networking services encourage discussion, | | | | many people viewed a particular ad or website, and |
| feedback, voting, comments, and/or sharing of | | | | how long that person stayed on the webpage. The |
| information from all interested parties. The growth of | | | | majority of these tracking tools are free, such as |
| social media has impacted the way organizations | | | | Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics, etc. and are |
| communicate with their customers. Traditional media is | | | | available to all businesses. |
| a one-way broadcast; where as social media offers a | | | | 4. Customer Retention |
| conversation or interaction of some sort. With the | | | | This type of marketing offers businesses the ability to |
| emergence of Web 2.0, social marketing provides a | | | | engage with the target audience to better understand |
| set of tools which allow people to build social and | | | | their needs, wants and desires. Once this has been |
| business connections, network, share information and | | | | accomplished businesses can cater to the target |
| collaborate on projects online. | | | | audience and market benefits to increase sales and |
| Although social marketing is a relatively new form of | | | | services. Social media allows businesses to build |
| branding and marketing, the desired outcome for | | | | positive client relationships through networking and |
| businesses remains the same: increase return on | | | | convenient customer interaction. This form of online |
| investment and generate more revenue. Similar to | | | | marketing becomes more effective due to the |
| traditional media, social marketing has its unique | | | | personal factor, as consumers are more likely to |
| advantages: | | | | believe and trust the recommendations, information, |
| Advantages in Social Media Marketing: | | | | reviews, and personal experiences given by |
| 1. Increase Brand Exposure | | | | co-consumers rather than by clever advertisements or |
| People are watching less television and reading fewer | | | | television commercials. |
| books and magazines while the internet is gaining more | | | | Successful campaigns create content which attracts |
| popularity and users. Soon the internet will be the main | | | | attention, generate positive online conversations, and |
| source of information and entertainment. Businesses | | | | encourages users to share it with their social networks |
| are using social media sites such as Facebook and | | | | and on their social profiles. The message should |
| Twitter to advertise their brand, product or services, in | | | | spread from user to user and increases in credibility |
| a cost effective manner. | | | | because it is coming from a trusted source, rather than |
| 2. Low Cost | | | | the company itself. |
| Traditional media can cost hundreds of thousands of | | | | Organizations must realize that in order to effectively |
| dollars per month, and usually includes television | | | | establish a social media marketing campaign, the |
| commercials, radio advertisements, newspaper flyers, | | | | emerging social media platforms should not replace |
| magazine ads and promotional activities such as | | | | current marketing strategies, but must work in |
| events and contests. Social advertising is a fraction of | | | | conjunction with them. |
| the cost of traditional media advertising and offers | | | | |