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Social Media and Marketing in business

This research set out to know how business personnel and IT specialists use the social media platform to develop and market their business. The main focus in this study is the “who, what, where, when and why” of this marketing strategy.

Social media marketing is a developing strategy. It brings to the table new ideas every day and every user of the social media marketing has something new to learn regardless of their prowess or their frequent use of this strategy. For someone who intends to start using social media marketing, they should focus on the time commitment, the tools used by their peers and the benefits this platform will bring them. For marketers who have been long in this game, they should compare their results to other marketers, compare the tools your using and the see if you are getting the same benefits as these marketers.

A survey of this study released that at least 22 out of 25 marketers use social media as a marketing ground for their businesses, but 18 out of this have been on this for a few or less months(Tuten,Tracy & Micheal,pg.113). When marketers were asked if they use social media for marketing purposes, a greater part of them said that they were using social media to market. It is also clear from this study that more business owners than employees were likely to use this marketing strategy.Netmark, a worldwide interactive marketing firm, has been able to twist and change marketing campaigns for their clients using this data to obtain better results.

Different marketers have been using this strategy for different periods of time and this co relates with how much time they put into social media marketing per week. For amateurs of this programmed, their weekly commitment time is approximately two hours per week. For marketers who have been in this system for a few weeks, their commitment is approximately ten hours a week and for those who have used the strategy for years commit themselves to it for at least twenty hours a week(Falls, Jason & Erik,pg.162).

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs are by far the most used tools by marketers with twitter taking the lead position. An interesting study shows that men are most likely to use YouTube or video marketing compared to women. Twitter is a more common tool for marketers who own large business and have been using this data for a long time. Facebook is more familiar to marketers who have been using the strategy for a few months while LinkedIn is associated to small business owners.

Advantages/ Benefits of social media marketing.

This strategy has been a adopted by many business practioners and they in turn have realized some benefits of this system.

Business exposure.

The major benefit of using social media as a marketing platform for many marketers is that they gain exposure(Hettler, Uwe & Mark,pg.98). Social media is quickly becoming a ‘daily bread’ today. Many people use social media for their own personal use and when marketers use it for marketing, they expose their businesses to the social media users.

Marketers found new business partners

Just like the biblical saying of those who give more shall receive more, marketers who put in more time into this strategy find new partners. During the time of using the social media they meet other marketers who, if interested in their ideas, partner up with them

Increase the number of subscribers or traffic list

Out of 3 marketers who use this strategy, 2 of them found out that they record an increase in the number of their subscribers even with as little time investment as six hours a week. For those who have done it over a longer period of time, the results are even better.

Disadvantages of social media marketing.

Social media marketing just like any other strategy that has benefits, kit also has its own disadvantages. It requires trained and capable personnel in the IT industry. This personnel require monetary backing which may be expensive to the marketers. Social media marketing also depends on whether people are online to see your advert or whether those who see it at that time are interested in that line of business.

A majority of those who are more interested in learning how to use this strategy are owners of small business. This is due to the fact that owners of big businesses have been doing this for longer and are more familiar with it. It is clear that a lot of business practioners want to learn how to use the social media marketing and even implement it. I suppose that as this pattern becomes a more primary business practice, marketers and companies will have to find a way to manage it. As I have noted before, it’s a growing and developing practice and if not managed now, it will become difficult to manage in the near future.

Tuten, Tracy L, and Michael R. Solomon. Social Media Marketing. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print.

Falls, Jason, and Erik Deckers. No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing. Indianapolis, Ind: Que, 2012. Print.

Hettler, Uwe, and Mark Ziener. Social Media Marketing. München: Oldenbourg, R/CVK, 2010. Print.