"The Importance of Social Media"

In my previous post, I talked about the concept of Social Media and will like to continue my discussion this time by focusing on its importance. I have been involved in social media from the last 6 months and as far as my understanding and opinions are concerned, I was able to analyze its importance on the community to some extent which I will like to share with all of you.

I believe that by using the different platforms one can start to brand themselves as somebody different from the rest of the crowd. By doing so, it provides an identity to who we are and the products or services that we offer. This itself can create a niche for a brand in this competitive market and result in a win-win situation. 

We can create relationships using social media with people who might not otherwise know about our products or service or what our companies represent resulting in the expansion of relationship building. From the marketer's point of view, it gives them a voice and a way to communicate with peers, customers and potential consumers. One can share valuable content in many different formats, like blog posts, articles and videos which is very powerful. It also enables to showcase you, product or company using fan pages or groups that you will find on social media sites.

The importance of social media has really made the world a smaller place; we can now do business with people from all over the world so much easier and quicker than ever before. The communication platform has been made so easy by involving direct interaction amongst the people, companies that constitute the community. Social media is here to stay.

Social Media

What is Social Media? It is one of the most discussed topics everywhere around the world. In my opinion, I feel it is the "Voice of People". It is the people who call the shots.

A brand is no longer what a company says; it is the customers what they say about it. One can influence a brand by encouraging people associated with it. It’s all about understanding human psychology.

The trend in social media is changing from customer relationship management to customer managed relationships. So, the focus should be in developing relationships first, and then selling. Currency in social media is relationships and quality content. One should communicate the brand to consumers by making it consumer-centric instead of brand-centric.

There has been a tectonic shift in marketing from old traditional ways to the new technological ways. The fundamentals of marketing are still the same but what has changed is the pattern and way of communicating it to the consumers. Instead of relying heavily on TV commercials, print advertisements, now the way of marketing a brand has become more social. What I mean by this is, marketing and promoting it on platforms where people are present and engaging all the time. This is where social web platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube come in play. The main idea behind all these platforms is to educate, engage and empower the people, where it is them who make a choice, create the brand positioning, and ensure the success or failure of the brand. They are the ones who are constantly making a difference.