Social media is revolutionizing the way
individuals/companies do business on an everyday basis.
- build brand awareness
- attract new customers/clients
- increase sales
- engage and interact with customers
- research their competition
- influence product development
- better their customer experience
- better the management and employee experience of the company
Here is a rather informal interview with Brian Solis on how social media works for business in relation to traditional marketing strategy:
I would have to say that the most deciding factor of the success of social media for business is the level of interaction with the potential customer/client base. Businesses have been able to join in online discussions and provide valuable information or promotions to individuals, which in turn increases brand awareness, sales, and returning customers. A online article providing great examples of businesses utilizing social media states, "A recent survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey found 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from or recommend a brand they follow."
One such growing and effective strategy for using social media is video:
A great example of utilizing video (and social media in general) for business is Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV which is a daily wine video blog. I have been following Gary for some time now and he is considered by many to be a social media trailblazer who saw the potential of these platforms before many other businesses started taking advantage of them. He has almost 1 million followers on Twitter.
I believe social media is effective for business because so many people (consumers) are a part of one or more platform, largely due to the fact that most are free to use. If more of the social media sites begin charging for use, I believe that the statement at the start of this post would prove not to be true.
