What is social media & why should I care?

This is my attempt at a quick 2 minute elevator pitch for social media marketing. An attempt to answer the question, “what is it and why should I care?”

Social Media can be defined as “…content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that are intended to facilitate communications and influence interaction with peers…”

Social media platforms can increase:

•    Brand awareness
•    Brand enthusiasm (turning customers/ consumers into fans, driving repeat business)
•    Sales (social media can be used to create first time customers or to introduce your brand)
•    Loyalty (decrease customer migration and improve customer service)

Social media marketing is not like traditional marketing, which put simply, often relies on ‘bought’ marketing activities. The value of social media marketing, when undertaken successfully, is that it is gives ‘earned media value’ to brands. This results in higher levels of engagement, recommendation, sales and ongoing customer loyalty.