What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social media and social media marketing are big buzzwords. Lots of people are using the expression, but what exactly is social media marketing?

What is social media marketing?

In short, social media marketing is an addition to a business' integrated marketing plan. Before understanding social media marketing, you must first understand what social media is. Everyone thinks immediately of sites like Facebook and Twitter, but what makes these social media websites? Social media is generally defined as a group of internet-based applications that allow users to generate and share content. They differ from other styles of websites in that the content is almost all user generated, rather than created by a website administrator. Social media marketing is a very powerful tool for businesses because it allows them to communicate directly with customers and potential customers. Many social media platforms, such as Facebook, also allow for customer feedback. Users can promote favorite posts to their friends by "retweeting" or "reposting" the initial content. This allows businesses to stretch their advertising dollar and reach more potential customers while saving money when compared to print, radio and television advertising. While social media networks are popular, not everyone uses them. Because of this, social media marketing is an important part of a company's marketing plan, but the company cannot forgo traditional forms of marketing.

Social media marketing allows businesses to have immediate contact with a large number of customers and potential customers, potentially at little or no cost. Additionally, users can re-post the content, greatly increasing its visibility. Social media marketing is a necessary part of most business' integrated marketing plan.