The popular social networks and sites are providing the businesses with cost-effective ways to reach out to their customers and to accelerate the information flow. Growth in its usage is rapidly changing the whole media landscape across the globe. It has become an important channel for advertisers.
Astute marketers obviously realize the importance of listening to their potential consumers on social media and initiating conversations with them. In this context, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, NM, Incite’s study highlights that social media is clearly here to stay. “It’s beyond doubt that social media must be taken seriously by the broader business community – from the CMO to the CEO.
And with nearly three quarters of the Internet population globally now taking part in some form of social media, today’s businesses can not any longer afford to simply observe the phenomenon. They must embrace it,” notes Megan Clarken, Managing Director of Nielsen’s online business in Asia Pacific in one of the allied observations. In essence, social media indeed is no more just a ‘shiny new toy’, rather a vital cog in a broader marketing campaign strategy. Its richness and vastness is only increasing with new avenues and new uses, thus further empowering today’s marketers to interact with their consumers.
Moving forward, among the key research challenges would be to understand implications of the information flow from a host of multi-platform campaigns. Company researchers and marketers must be in a position to deal with complex consumer-media engagement challenges. Of course, smart leaders will learn to successfully make of use these social media channels and their continuous evolution as a communication catalyst.
Importance of social media interactions
A majority of the conversation on social media related to brands is derived from customers’ service experiences, nullifying or magnifying a brand image. The business success and failure is thus largely decided by the social media interaction. It can leave a stark digital trail. Thankfully, the same can be easily measured and effectively combined with other relevant inputs to detail the individual consumer’s progress – from initial brand exposure right through post-usage feedback.
While the popular social networks initially drew their strength from the younger audience, these channels have gradually become more ‘mainstream’, so to say, with the passage of time. It is noteworthy that their audience base has become more matured and broader. The shift in this user profile has been driven by sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
The networking platforms drive their growth largely from people in the age group of 30 to 50. And these are the people with the highest purchasing power, a fact that marketers simply cannot afford to ignore! In essence, social media has emerged as a vital cog in the online marketing campaigns wheels that simply cannot be overlooked.
