A lot has been said about social media in the last few years, more of which has been negative branding than praise. But despite its drawbacks which have largely been due to its privacy shortfalls and its misuse, social media has changed life for the better in several ways, and has opened new doors for humanity. It has enabled positive activism for human rights, keeps people up to date with news, and of course, allows many to remain in touch where other connection channels may fail. It has also marked the beginning of new era for marketing and advertising, and has become a definitive platform for businesses.
Despite being a target of heavy scrutiny, Facebook leads with a whopping 2.89 billion active monthly users and Twitter with a steady 206 million active monthly users, making social networking one of the most prevalent activities on smartphones and Spy on Android. It seems to have altered the marketing landscape completely and permanently. Any marketing strategy that hasn’t incorporated social media yet, is on its way to becoming obsolete, and no business or organization should miss out on the golden opportunity to take advantage of a diverse and vast availability of easily accessible customers.
Whether selling a service or product, crusading a cause, or promoting a brand, harnessing the power of social networking apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are not only guaranteed to get a business noticed, but also to flourish.
Going “Viral” and self-sustainment:
Social marketing employs different social networks to educate and start the spread of information about a business or brand. Content marketing plays a special part in it and involves using existing content used by your business or about it, to boost your social media profile. For example, an artist or a writer may share productions from their portfolio online and on their social media accounts for promotion and if the work is good enough, it will be shared repeatedly and travel from account to account. Using social media this way can have unprecedented gains, because once a campaign kicks off, it can be completely free, unlike other forms of marketing and advertising that charge per air time or print. While in some cases, an initial rise in popularity eventually fizzles out, other cases have witnessed remarkable and dramatic growth which becomes self-sustaining and indefinite.
A lot of well-aimed campaigns garner sensationalism and even make it to ‘viral’ fame, making an image, video or concept enough to propel a new business, not only into being, but into overpowering its competition. Efficiently understanding a target audience and but still keeping a broad vision, is key in reaping the benefits of pitching via social media. This is usually achieved with social engineering, or learning more about your audience through a Facebook spy app. It is important to remember that content quality matters as much as the amount of coverage it receives and one should never be neglected in favor of the other.
Using story-telling to raise funds:
Stories aren’t just for children, and that’s the reason we can’t live without books, movies and television shows. They do form a huge chunk of our entertainment, but also play vital roles in driving human empathy, connection and even desire, which is a major piece of commercialism. Social media platforms are a haven for storytelling through video sharing and a lot of startups have used it to their advantage for fund raising. Many businesses and brands have used narrative power and creative articulation to introduce their brand or service in a nutshell, and have been able to generate large amounts of funding, once their content makes it to being shared.
Accurate measure of campaign efficiency:
Unlike traditional websites and pages, social media marketing doesn’t measure success by metrics or numbers, but uses accurate analytics that help clarify techniques that a business is using, so it knows what is working and what isn’t. Every social network has its own analytics system; Facebook lets you see how many times your post has been shared and by whom, and Twitter narrows down views on tweets by location. With direct insight in to potential and actual customer base, a business can understand how fruitful a strategy is and can formulate strategies more efficaciously for the future.
Direct and instant feedback:
Representation on social media can package a lot of things into one platform for a company, including customer and client feedback. Having well trained, responsible, and knowledgeable representatives is essential to maintaining good customer support because most conversations with customers are public and direct. There have been cases of feedback going awry when reps took on negative customer reviews with personal wit, and in some cases sparked serious offense. Use an app that monitors social media to keep a check on your employees’ responses to customers. So a business must thoroughly train assigned staff in accordance with company image and goals.