In the business world, marketing is essential. However, in our new digital age, traditional marketing is becoming increasingly ineffective and a new form of marketing is emerging. Due to its many advantages, social media marketing has become an almost essential part of any company’s attempt to establish a foothold in today’s competitive marketplace. When considering the pros and cons of different marketing methods, think about all the time and money that was traditionally spent marketing your products or services, and compare that to what it now costs to market your business on social sites.
Originally, companies paid out-of-pocket for advertisements on television, billboards, or newspapers. Eventually, these strategies got to the point where they weren’t profitable at all. Of all viewers of the ads, only one to two percent contacted the distributor and became interested in their product. Why was this? One of the most interesting benefits of social media marketing is that while watching TV, the ads often irritate and interrupt viewers, resulting in most of them not being interested in the advertised product. With social media, the target audience not only sees the ad, but also participates in it.
Engagement is a key benefit of social media marketing. Online, people willingly participate in activities and blogs that market your business for you. When customers engage with your business or company, they not only care about your products, they care about your business as well. Social engagement with customers often leads to increased clientele and customer satisfaction.
Another advantage that comes with social media marketing is that online advertising with sites like Facebook is one hundred percent free. You no longer have to rent a billboard or airtime on TV or radio. You don’t have to pay for ink and paper and distribute brochures about your business. You can do everything electronically and be much more productive. Almost every human being, at least in the United States, has heard of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Most of them have profiles. By marketing your business online, a whole new world of advertising opens up.
With all these advantages, a business can hardly survive in our world without internet marketing. The best thing about this though is that it is affordable, effective, and can work for anyone. Any business, no matter how small, can market itself effectively online.