social-mediaSocial media, social networking, social web sites – we hear of these things practically all the time now. Employees from all sorts of industries have various social networking accounts that they use, even at work! Many employers are quite concerned, especially since these sites may eat up bandwidth that could be used for more “productive” purposes.

The question remains, however, of whether these social media platforms can be made useful for business purposes. The truth of the matter is that IF you want your business to stay competitive, you NEED to engage in social media activities. What are the reasons for this? There are several, but the main thing that I can think of is the fact that social media platforms serve as an alternative means of communicating to the outside world; a means which is practically free; a means which reaches out to a much wider audience.

Let’s look the reaching out part. I don’t have hard numbers, but I can say without doubt that a huge majority of people in the WHOLE WORLD are engaged in social media activities. Facebook and Twitter are only a couple of the most popular platforms today, and a lot of businesses have already set up their own accounts. Why? Because they know that they can communicate with existing and potential customers through these sites; customers which they may not reach otherwise.

Of course, there is the FREE part. No need to pay consultant fees. No need to pay for the account – unless you want to upgrade. You can have someone in your staff to maintain the account, or you can even do it yourself!

So yes, social media should be an important part of marketing your business.

Originally posted on October 31, 2009 @ 2:07 pm

Business, Marketing, New Media

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