Is Social Media A Component Of Your Marketing Mix?

Marketing and PR experts are advocating the use of social media as this is now a days the only medium to reach out to customers and stake holders at the speed of light. Brands are investing heavily on social media marketing taking into consideration the growing Internet usage in households as well as in rural areas. Although, experts are still in the process of finding out a way on how to measure the ROI for such a form of marketing, the advantage of reaching out to their target customers and spreading the message with the blink of an eye keeps them motivated to invest in social media. I have tried to cover a few points on how brands are being benefited by choosing social media as a platform for marketing purposes.

- Reaching out to target audiences and creating brand awareness
- Track and analyze competitors as well as market development
- Introduce new products in an innovative way
- Build brand loyalty and increase customer confidence
- Direct interaction with the end user
- Social media acts as a platform for conducting market research
- Getting feedback and improving customer satisfaction
- Post job vacancies and find the right candidate
- Increasing business contacts and establishing partnerships
- Identify like minded social media users to further promote their product and services:
There are some people who are termed as “Influencers” in social media. These are individuals with rich experience in their respective domains. Influencers are generally bloggers who blog about a particular subject and create an impact on others decision making. Interested online audience reach out to them for suggestions and referrals. A lot of brands have started identifying such influencers to hire them to act as a medium to advertise their brand and products.

All the above mentioned points are self explanatory. I have explained some points in detail where I found the marketing concept fairly innovative. I have kept the rest open for discussion. Let me know your thoughts on these.