When it started the purpose of social media might have been, for name sake, social engagement. Later its commercial value became evident when it became the marketer’s new best friend . Marketers have had to seriously alter their game plan as the reach of social media was very wide and deep in public. The industry is finding that conventional strategies have had to be re-written and the basic structure of any campaign transformed. How is it that a platform once devoid of any commercial content has had such a significant impact on the marketing industry?

More and more companies are trying to advertise over the internet, and more precisely on social networking websites like facebook or twitter. It is because there is a large audience of people who spend a large chunk of their day on those websites, and the advertisement is able to be seen again and again rather than only 30 seconds a day. Many television ads are now asking people to join their facebook or twitter pages so they can be in front of the consumer as well. If they are interesting, or funny or a company that they user wants to be affiliated with, then that company will have a greater chance of getting \'added\' on one of the social networking sites. An example of a company that did well was Old Spice. The videos that they posted on YouTube became viral hits, and hit a huge demographic, and made their company very well known in a positive way for a relatively low cost.

social platforms not only offer customers a direct line to the brand but also an appealing consumer experience. Eventually the role of the marketer is changing . Marketer is managing the additional responsibility of customer services adviser. Various branches in the industry are overlapping and perhaps what might once have been the area of the PR agency, has now been infiltrated by the ad exec or marketer. So when social networks are used by people to voice their inquiries, grievances and praise to a brand it is often marketers who are given responsibility to deal with it. It is providing a wonderful opportunity to the company to know the views of the public about its product. This feedback gives a chance for companies to react and address the issues immediately.

Of course with every silver lining, there usually comes a cloud. Because of its immediacy, instant responses might not be always strategically correct. The immediacy with which comments and tweets are posted can and has often infamously led to some marketing disasters that can tarnish reputation of both the client and agencies. the moment a customer feels a brands social networking activity is intrusive or annoying, then the customer is lost. This system is also abused by some of the irresponsible employees of a brand posting fake comments. As marketers are on the front line dealing directly with the public, they have become much more accountable for the brand.

Despite many drawbacks of social media , it is easy to find why it became more popular overtaking traditional forms of marketing. Commercials in television channels are very expensive costing millions of rupees but won\'t grab the attention of viewers. Online virals promoted through socila media are far cheeper and costs are negligible, but it has a far greater reach targetting the audience. Thats why social media is marketer’s new best friend.

Marketing sector was completely transformed by the social media and there is no turning back. The divide between marketers and consumers has been revolutionised. Gone are the days of catchy punch lines and striking images. It is about a continual dialogue, building trust and interacting with the right audience in the right way, as fast as possible.

People want to know the personal side of the company, and not the business side. Businesses are becoming less like businesses, and more like friendships. This is done by becoming more honest, open and social with their customers. The companies that will survive in this new way of advertisement will be those that are socially \'cool\' and not focused on being overly flashy and witty.

Below are the top four broad shifts that social media is causing in business.

From \"Trying to Sell\" to \"Making Connections\"- In order to get engaged and connected with the customers companies need to use various means, including sites like Facebook and Twitter, to socially interact with people. The most popular brands in social media post less about their products and post information to its consumers which help them.

Their goal is more engaging and less selling as a result, people feel more comfortable doing business with those companies.

Jeff Swartz, who is the President and CEO of the Timberland Company, best example of this. Swartz uses his Twitter account to project his personality by tweeting about his life and the social issues rather than the shoes his company make.

Lesson: Release fewer \"official statements\" and more personal ones that help you make a connection to your customers and audience


From \"Large Campaigns\" to \"Small Acts\"- Rather than spending millions of dollars on traditional ad campaigns, small acts can be more valuable because people will inevitably share such experiences through the social web. Facebook and Twitter helps in this aspect a lot.

Today, in a matter of minutes, we can let all our friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter know your disappointment about a company.

Loic Le Meur, CEO of startup software company Seesmic opines that one of the most importatnt job of CEO is to know the opinion of people about his company through networking sites.

Bigger companies, such as Southwest Airlines and Comcast are using Twitter to address customers concerns. Because bad experiences are broadcast just as fast and just as easily as the good.

Lesson: Instead of only relying on big campaigns, make authentic, one to one ,helpful relationships and communication the new campaign.

From \"Controlling Our Image\" to \"Being Ourselves\"- Most popular companies in the era of social media give their employees freedom to be themselves in online spaces.

Give employees the means necessary to be human beings that can put a friendly face on the corporation.John Nack, the Principal Product Manager for Photoshop at Adobe, offers a great example. Adobe is a company that smartly encourages and provides the means for their employees to blog, and anyone who reads Nack\'s blog will notice that Adobe doesn\'t put many restrictions on what people write about.


From \"Hard to Reach\" to \"Available Everywhere\"- Engage with customers as people wanted to interact with and engage businesses via their chosen means of communication through Twitter, Facebook, discussion forums, or a feedback.

Companies like Dell, have multiple channels of support. Customers can connect with them through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, forums, blogs, email, and more. Dell wants people to be able to connect with them through whatever channel they feel comfortable.

Lesson: Rather than expect customers to communicate through your chosen means, allow them to do so through their chosen mean.

Companies are asked to be increasingly transparent and personal, in this new era of social media. Traditional advertising and press releases are going to stay but a whole new type of communication is going to take place through social sites such as Twitter and Facebook which are unknown to most businesses. Their main focus is to get an opportunity to forge more genuine and direct connections with their customers than getting a large number of followers on social media sites.

Businesses who ingnore these developments will be at loss , as their customers slowly build personal rapport with their competitors. As we are in the age of open communication, engaged dialogue, success in business lies in the quality of interactions with customers, not with the size of ad budgets.

More and more businesses are trying to reach out on a social platform in order to stay competitive. One company that has done this successfully is NASA. Originally they chose the create a twitter account, and from there they have also made a tumblr, posterous, facebook and other social media sites. Over a thousand people follow NASA on twitter, and they keep their followers happy by posting interesting tweets. They were even the first to tweet from space; Jan 22, 2010.

Social networking is not only used for promoting business but also for recruiting employees. LInkedin is connecting people with uptdate data base of skills. when Avi Pollock, head of innovation and planning at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) need someone with professional skills he searches in Linkedin.

Social networking has made the targetted marketing easier. Brands such as Adidas who are looking to market not only shoes, but also cricket gear finds Facebook an ideal resource to look for youth who likes cricket very much. It is also important for businesses to select suitable social networks which suits them perfectly. Twitter is better for realtime marketing and Facebook is the best for targeted marketing. You tube\'s strength lies in marketing content with videos, for photographs flickr tops the charts. In social networking too, every website has captured a niche and it is good to find out which one of them suist your company and its marketing needs better.

Ajaay Gupta, Managing Director of Capital Foods, brand owners of Ching’s Secret and Smith & Jones, says one should be sharing who he is and what is he doing in the world all the time. Social can’t be done in one day. Social is 365days and all waking hours. The consumer talks about you on Facebook, Twitter, etc., whether you get online or not so best get going and proactively participate.”

Social media, like facebook, twitter, and youtube are making it possible for companies to make more money than before. The companies that are successful on the new platform of advertisement are those who are making a serious effort online.

Marketing is very dynamic with the rise and fall of SEO and the guys at the hubspot leading the revolution of inbound marketing. Social media became an integral part in any successful business influencing the marketing in a big way.

Facebook and Twitter use \'likes\', \'shares\' and \'retweets\', and if a advertisement can capitalize on that, then their image is going to be in the face of many more users than the traditional television way of marketing for a fraction of the cost. They make ad revenue as well as exposure for their company.

Companies are also try to become more friendly with the customer and not always trying to sell a product. A friendly company is cool, and that produces loyal customers. Loyal customers are going to buy that company\'s product because they genuinely like them, not because of some catchy jingle.

Products are more effectively sold when they are talked up by your friends and family. When one or two people in a group think something is cool, more and more people are going to want it as well. Companies who can successfully get a buzz going around their product without pushing it down on their customer\'s will be more successful in selling.


Thanks to the new advent of social media, marketers and advertisers have to take a hard look at the way they conduct business. Marketers looking to promote their businesses online have recently begun to adapt themselves to the growing trend of using social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. This new trend of social networking websites such as Facebook and Youtube has proven to be a goldmine of opportunity for businesses looking to maintain and expand their clientele. Online sponsorship is just one of the many options companies have discovered for being successful online. While a lot of companies were leery of social media at first, they ultimately realized that by navigating this new road, they could better serve their customers.

Branding is a vital key for a business to garner the upmost benefits of social media. One important aspect of branding involves establishing personable relationships with people. To be effective in branding also requires that businesses share information and include others in potential business opportunities when relevant.

The best method for attracting people into a business is magnetic sponsoring. Instead of businesses limiting themselves to one site, they should use multiple sites (e.g. Facebook, Myspace, Foursquare, Twitter, etc.)

Social network marketing tends to succeed when one can attract people; a fun , lighthearted , unimposing, hard-working personality incites a sense of curiosity in others to familiarize themselves more with a company. The famous social networking sites Better Networker and Warrior Forums are popular with network marketers on the Internet. If proper rules of engagement on websites such as Better Networker and Warrior Forum are followed, then congenial relationships can foster and generate some solid business contacts. Adding some value while on these sites also helps foster growth in businesses.

Keeping in touch- The advent of social networking sites makes the Internet very popular as a mode of communication. Common people post personal profiles, pictures, videos, music and messages in these proprietary websites. Users of these social networking sites can invite other \"friends\" to join their network so they can view and share personal information with each other.
By creating a profile on these social networking websites and adding friends, business partners can constantly keep in touch with one another. Posting and messaging the latest information allows business to promote various business developments without paying anything.

Social Networking has incorporated marketing strategies into sites like Facebook. When a Facebook user likes a certain movie or food product, advertisements will appear on the right side of the User\'s Facebook page pertaining to whatever the person likes. The advertisements that appear on the right side are all things that may interest him/her. The advertiser (working in collaboration with Facebook) uses certain demographics from the user to know when and where to place their product advertisement. This has, in turn, changed marketing and reshaped it.

Job hunting- Social networking sites also allow many companies in the US and Europe to search for competent employees. Jobs applicants are posting their resumes and credentials everyday on these job-hunting websites. Using these sites as a tool facilitates the process of selecting employees applicable to certain aspects of a business.

Emergency- In addition to helping with keeping in touch and finding employees, social network sites also help in times of tragedy. Websites such as Twitter help to pass messages to thousands of concerned citizens or business relations in a snap. In conclusion, social networking sites continue to transform the world and remain a powerful tool for marketing and advertising.