Social media marketing has changed everything
Social media marketing has changed the traditional way that marketers promote their products and services.
As business owners or marketers, they know that exposure is the key to success.
In old days, marketers faced various hard decisions to get exposure. They had to decide the distribution channels, how much to spend on marketing, and how to divide their resources among advertising, sales forces and other promotion tools, such as TV. Radio. Print. etc. They even hired sales persons to walk on the street and knock on every door to gain attention and to make a sale.
All these decisions required a lot of money to guarantee the implementation of their strategies.
However, the rise of social media on the web has changed almost everything! Social media websites has uncovered a whole new world of potentials for online marketers and provided a huge opportunity for marketers looking for an audience, but it works in an entirely different way.
How social media works?
Sharing or Like
Many social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Google+ have explored new methods for users to share content or indicate that they like it.
For example, for Facebook users they can post their preferred contents in their news feed or decide to share it with their friends. Moreover, if they find a specific content interesting, they can use Facebook Like button to indicate that they value this content and like it. Similarly, for Google+ users they can use +1 button that works in a manner similar to the Facebook Like button.
As a result, content shared on these social media websites can attract and earn more peoples attention, therefore, bring more traffic to your website. This is not something you can buy in a traditional way.
Influence
People’s level of influence plays an important role in social media.
For example, if a well-known professional shares a piece of content, this may be treated as a more powerful vote in its favor than a less well-known person does. This means that if a famous expert in your field shares a piece of content you posted, you can get more attentions by being perceived as having the good content because that expert values.
Communication and interaction
The main thing that the social media has changed our life is the flow of communication and interaction.
For example, sometimes when a commercial advertisement shows up in the middle of an exciting movie on TV, I might either remember it or forget about it. However now if the same company places the same advertisement on Facebook, I might click Like button underneath the ad, indicating my acceptance of that brand and all my friends can see it now. Later I might get updates on that brand. As I get more information and knowledge on that brand, I might become its potential customer in the end.
Impact on search results
Social media can influence search rankings in a number of different ways. Some of the most important ones are:
- Links on Facebook pages
- Facebook Shares and Likes
- Links shared in Google+
- Links in tweets
- Google +1s
For example, if you post a link to a video you took of your training course on a specific topic and it is favored and shared by your friends, who will share it with their friends, and so on. As a result, your website can get links rapidly, which, of course, search engines like.
In summery
Social media marketing is growing at an incredible speed. There is no denying the power of it and its impacts on small businesses. In my article, “strategies of using social media marketing” explores the techniques and strategies when implementing social media marketing for your business.
