Most business are apprehensive about using social media as a marketing strategy because they have been used to using traditional marketing plans for their, well, marketing.
To most old school entrepreneurs, social media appears to be shaking things up all too violently. It’s changing the way people treat marketing and advertising as a whole.
How is that so?
Well, for one thing, results don’t always mean money anymore. Although it is your ultimate goal to generate profit from the strategy, you look at the broader scope and target better customer experience and brand loyalty too.
Another change social media marketing has brought to advertising industry is that it eliminates the need for a long testing period before you can actually track for results and decide on whether the plan is feasible or not.
Thanks to the many tools available in social media, strategies can be tested and tracked in real time. Results can be obtained as the trial period is in process, therefore, no or go signals can be given before a full-scale campaign is launched. It saves businesses the time and the effort.
Another good thing about social media marketing is that it’s easier to target who you want to reach. Knowing who your target demographic is and where they usually hang out at makes producing marketing materials much easier. Well, it’s better than blindly posting an ad hoping it reaches who you want it to reach, right?
Also, the most important reason why social media marketing is shaking things up is because the consumers themselves have changed the way they perceive businesses. They want businesses to reach out, relate, and talk to them. Traditional marketing can’t do that, but through social media, businesses can.
These are my thoughts, now I want to hear yours. What do you think, how is social media changing the way marketing is done?
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