Peter Wilkinson Panther Social Media
The power of viral marketing has become much greater in recent years, with ads becoming internet phenomena and gaining a great deal of inexpensive publicity when videos are shared online. The ability to target specific customers groups by advertising on the right websites is also a huge advantage the internet provides. Search engine optimisation, which boosts the presence of a company’s website in search engine results, has also become a powerful tool.
In general, the importance of digital advertising has grown rapidly, but within that there is one sector that is becoming particularly powerful – social media marketing. Its value lies in its unique ability to enable businesses to engage with their customers in a more personal and interactive way than ever before. This is why social media advertising is not just there supporting traditional campaigns or other digital advertising. Increasingly, it is becoming the means through which companies create their identity in customers’ minds.
Social media enables companies to go beyond the passive nature of traditional advertising and become truly interactive. It gives a company a real voice in the online world and enables it to not only listen to, but also participate in the conversations its customers are having online. This kind of personal interaction is what customers want, and no other forms of advertising can achieve it.
B2C social media marketing has become the main driver of the marketing mix of many large consumer brands, and its importance is only likely to keep growing in the years ahead. Consumers enjoy the fact that they can be heard in the social media space by the companies they buy from, and businesses can get a much better understanding of what their customers want. Advertising can be targeted and more effective, but business can also limit negative publicity as well as promoting positive messages.
The direct, intimate and personal effects of conversations with consumers in the social media space are unrivalled by any other kind of advertising. So, while the TV commercial and newspaper ads are still important, social media marketing is carving out a bigger role for itself every day.
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