Social Media Marketing

Social media are media for social interaction. Examples of social media are facebook, twitter etc. Social media has become an extremely appealing marketing tool for small and medium businesses. With Twitter expanding to Japan, Indonesia and Mexico it has become a very effective social media marketing medium to reach different corners of the world. Advertisments can be put out in multiple languages reaching a much wider range of customers.

Social media can take different forms – Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, podcasts… the list goes on. Examples of social media include –

Blogs

Microblogging – Twitter, FMylife…

Social networking – Facebook, Myspace, Orkut….

What started out as a medium for individuals to exchange information, has now metamorphosed into a powerful social marketing tool.

Why should I use social media, you may ask. Here are a few reasons –

Website exposure

Website exposure happens spontaneously, without any commercial overtones. Given our inherent dislike to be bombarded with advertisements, this is a very natural way to get visibility.

Web Traffic

Social communities can greatly complement other traffic you get from search engines, banner campaigns etc. Social Media traffic can be increased by strategic marketing.

Costs

There is hardly any cost in Social media marketing. Costs are limited largely to your time. Benefits exceed costs. Social media marketing will give you links for free, which would otherwise cost an arm and a leg.

Sits over other initiatives

It sits over other methods you could have to drive traffic to your website. It doesn’t interfere with other methods you have of increasing traffic.

Bottom line is that social media marketing is a very non-threat, non-intrusive way of getting mind space. Like other methods of online marketing, it doesn’t have its own two legs to stand on. But supported by other online marketing methods like banner advertising etc, social media marketing can be very effective. And certainly can’t be ignored.