See also: Social Media – What is it?
Social media is the online ability to have instantaneous communications, interactions, and allows for content-sharing and collaboration. Social media is interactive, rapid and easily accessible. The collaborative and online nature allows for various mediums whereby companies can reach out to new and existing clients.
Social media marketing (SSM) allows companies to use social media to access new markets and expose their brand on a potentially unlimited horizon. Platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram amongst others, allow companies to develop and maintain a relationship with consumers that traditional print, air and television media ads cannot access.
Most companies understand that getting their brand name out into the public sphere and increasing their visibility to current and prospective clients, can be valuable and pay dividends. Through the use of social media, companies can communicate directly with their consumers. Platforms such as Twitter can instantaneously allow a company to advertise current products in a cost effective manner: a simple 140 character tweet or targeted ad could potentially reach a larger audience than a full blown 30 second TV advertisement. Once that tweet is out there, word of mouth can pass that product info around the world and back.