How important is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media has become a part of our daily lives today. What was once considered a part of the business houses, organisations, etc. has become an integral part of our lives. We get up everyday and the first thing we do is check our phones for Facebook updates, Instagram feeds, Direct Messages from whatsapp or google hangout, Emails, LinkedIn profiles, etc.  What was once a big thing has now become a norm in our lives.

Today, Various business houses, budding entrepreneurs, organisations, NGO’s and even celebrities are using various social medias for their publicity. Through social networking websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ , YouTube, etc. people and not only the entrepreneurs or business organisations,  share ideas, thoughts, their talents, anything and everything to become successful. We have a lot of people who are a result of these activities only. To name a few – Poonam Pandey, Kim Kardashian, Shraddha ( the school girl who sang and became popular through YouTube), etc.

Social Media and social networking website allow individuals to interact with one another and build relationships.Today we can directly interact with various celebrities and as a consumer we can also contact the companies directly. As compared to other methods of advertising and contact, this method is more personal, interactive and direct.

Social Media websites allow users to Retweet or Repost various posts, and thereby generating promotion of a particular idea, thought or even a product. By repeating this process, user’s connections can also view the same post and the information thus is promoted to the masses, generating traffic which is brought to the company.

In order to promote their products companies thus make use of social networking website in order to reach the masses. They integrate social media marketing as a marketing and advertising technique into their marketing strategies. There are various tools for social media marketing :

1. Social networking websites.

2. Social Bookmarks

3. Blogs

4. Brand Ambassadors

Other than the promotion of products, there can also be seen the promotion of various campaigns and causes which target a particular audience who would want to be a part of it. For example, In 2012, Lays created a social media platform that allowed fans to create their own flavors for potato chips. 2008saw Brack Obama using twitter for his US Presidential Campaing and also similarly in 2014 India saw Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal using the same techniques to reach out to the masses through social media.

Thus, social media can be used as public relations and direct marketing tool. Social media can be an important source of deriving market information. Products, Ideas, thoughts, everything can reach out to the masses or the target consumers in an instant. One of the main purpose of social media for a company  is therefore the communication that makes companies accessible to those interested in their products. Companies hire personnel to specifically handle these social media interactions in a proper way which can give rise to customer satisfaction and building of trust.

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