Why is Social Media Marketing important?

From the days of product centric marketing, and then "customer is the King" marketing, the time has come for "relationship marketing," also known as Marketing 3.0. Nowadays companies seldom have any control over how the word is spread about them. There has been a complete shift in power in the marketing world. Consumers, instead of companies, now have power in their hands.

For companies to make a mark in this scenario, it is important to build direct one-to-one relations with their consumers. Consumers now make buying decisions based on the recommendations of people whom they trust, their friends and relatives. What company advertises does not matter much in this new scheme of things. With the advent of social media, this power of recommendation of trusted people, power of word of mouth, has grown exponentially.

Anything negative about a company or brand can spread like wildfire. A swift and honest response is the only thing which can save a company from such potential disasters. It is imperative, that they respect the sentiments of their consumers, and never underestimate their strength. At the same time, any positive comment from a consumer can become viral in no time, thanks to the exponential power of social media. In other words, Social Media is a double edged sword.

Social media is the buzzword. But it is important to enter into any social media initiative with a clear cut strategy in place.

Some of the points that need to be considered are:-

1. What objective we hope to achieve with our social media efforts? Does it include creating brand awareness or driving sales is also part of the equation?
2. Who exactly our clients are? On which networks are they active?
3. Do we just need to listen to their conversations for valuable insights, or do we need to engage them in meaningful conversations as well?
4. What kind of resources do we have? Will we outsource the social media efforts or do it in-house?
5. If we start a blog or a social media profile, what sort of content will be shared? Will our target audience find it relevant?
6. There are a huge number of social networks online. Which of them will we target?
7. What return on investment is justifiable for a social media initiative?
8. How such efforts will be backed by offline activities?

Use of social media is easy at first look. But by considering the above mentioned points, a long term social media strategy can be devised.