“If Facebook were a country, it would have the third largest population in the world”, says the statistics. Following China and India, Facebook has around a billion users, and some 526 million are active daily users. 300 million users upload photos daily and another 488 million use mobile devices to access their accounts. It is not surprising that at this day and age, information is so easily accessed and communications around the globe is just as simple as using the telephone. It is also not unexpected that the influence of social media is so great, and in effect, has proved to be beneficial for a lot of industries across the globe. 1-Viral Contents – Who needs to fly all over to NYC to catch the Fashion Week? No need to buy every issue of your favorite tech-magazine to be in the know of the latest in gadgets. Facebook likes, Re-Tweets, and Re-Pins on Pinterest serve as social signals for companies, organizations or industries. These serve as recommendation for the “authorities” to know what people want and what possible products will sell in the market.2. Social Media’s influence – Facebook and Twitter can undoubtedly change people’s mindset. It can make people like what they did not like before, or hate what they actually liked before. Likes and Re-Tweets influence other people’s thoughts, which is in a way a form of conformity or joining the bandwagon among people. People tend to like something when the people around them like that thing, too. Social media, together with the said signals, can persuade many people’s thoughts and feelings through different ways like attractive marketing tools. Studies have also been conducted to reveal subliminal meanings from marketing tools, which are printed in the form of posters before. Nowadays, subliminal images have grown with the development of technology.3. Interaction made easy – Feedbacks and researches that are manually done before through brief questionnaires while customers are in the store are now replaced by online questionnaires or even though tallying likes and Re-Tweets, or even using tools like TweetReach and the likes. Companies can even identify the gender, age range, and nationality of the people who frequent their site.4. Brand familiarity – In a few years time, the saying that proximity increases the attractiveness of a person or a thing might become obsolete. The need to see a certain product physically has diminished especially if a buyer is pretty much familiar with the product. Being to see the brand frequently by not limiting it to posters or logos from the store or at the mall, but also being able to place your logos at the sidebar of a Facebook page or find a small portion in the net to place a small advertisement about your nearing sale may mean reaching out to more people.5. Closer client relationship – Keep finding yourself in the store trying to accommodate everyone at 2 PM of a random sunny Tuesday? Wanting to have a little chat with everyone to thank them for dropping by? Now that you have connected with them through Facebook or Twitter, you might want to drop them a little message by their wall. (Free advertisement, too!) Now you wouldn’t be limited to 3 minutes. You might want to ask them how their last visit was? Did they have a good time? Any comments and suggestions about your customer relations or your other services? Now is your chance to have — nope, not a little chat, but a deeper client relationship. You can even make a little research about your company through your conversations with your clients. Having a close client relationship, even though done virtually, can bridge the gap and fill the loopholes that you may have.6. Ease marketing funds – Have much do you have to shell out to produce posters, flyers, and brochures? How much is a 15-second TV ad, not to mention Angelina Jolie’s talent fee? Facebook wall posts, Tweets, and Pins are some of the cheapest marketing tools nowadays. There are other tools such as TweetReach and Pay per click, but they are still relatively cheaper compared to printing flyers. Mama Nature will be happy, too!The growth of social media and its influence and benefits to people is unstoppable. It has bridged many gaps in the way people do things before and has created such commendable improvements in people’s lives that were never thought possible. Having Facebook as the third biggest “country” in the world says something — social media is exists (and is growing) for a reason. #ath { background:#f8f8f8; margin:0 0 40px 0; padding:10px; border: 3px outset #e8e8e8; -moz-border-radius: 10px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden; font-size: 14px; } .pro { background:#FFF; float:left; margin:0 10px 0 0; padding:4px; border: 2px inset #e8e8e8; } .social { float:right; } About the Author:Alexis Thompson is an alumna from Martin College Australia, a former Mountain Backpacker and a 26 year old mother of 2 daughters, Sophie and Rhian. She is into almost all types of Music especially The Fray and Hillsong. She also has a passion in Singing and Scrap Booking. Find Me On GooglePlus Twitter
