Why is social media marketing so important?

The speed at which social media has grown in popularity is nothing short of incredible.

Facebook has gained 800 million active users since its creation in 2004. Google+ is expected to gain half of that in little under a year.

The reasons why social media has become so popular are obvious.
Millions of people across the world have fallen in love with the ease at which they can communicate and share content with friends or colleagues across the world. Others love to use social media websites as a platform for gaming.

What is less obvious, but arguably just as important as the social usefulness of these websites, is how they have benefited businesses.

Social media marketing has helped thousands of businesses boost their brand awareness and communicate with new customers. It costs nothing but can help expose a brand to a potential audience of billions.

Word of mouth is regarded by many as the most powerful form of marketing in the world. Now, with a click of a button, individuals can publicly announce that they ‘like’ a brand on Facebook. What’s more, every single one of that person’s friends receive a notification of this announcement on their news feed. This is the sort of publicity that brands would beg for.  

Brands can build a solid relationship with consumers by starting conversations via social media marketing. As well as being a medium to share good news, it can also be used to help customers with any queries or complaints that they might have about the brand.

In the past, business owners would be terrified of having bad press posted on the internet for the whole world to see. Whilst this is still a real fear for brands, they now at least have a channel appropriate for responding to any complaints aimed at them.

Ten years ago, most marketing experts would think you were crazy if you predicted there would be a channel available where you could reach billions of people for free.

Well, this is now a reality – and that’s why social media marketing is set to be a big deal for some time to come.