Social media refers to the means of communications among
people made in virtual communities and networks. Social media allows us to create
and exchange user-generated content. Think of regular media as a one-way street
where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on television, but you
have very narrow facility to give your thoughts on the matter. On the other
hand, Social Media is a two-way street that gives you the ability to
communicate too.
Where it is used?
Platforms like MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn have created
online communities where people can share thoughts, ask for help or as little
personal information with other members. The result is an enormous amount of
information that can be easily shared, searched, promoted, disputed, and
created.
Social Bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious, Mixx, and many
others make finding specific websites increasingly simple by assigning or
tagging individual sites with searchable key words.
Advantages of Social
Media
While there are risks inherent in online social networking
but there are also many potential benefits.
1. Target Audience – Social Media helps to attract
the attention of your targeted audience. Now a day’s businesses are now jumping
on the social media bandwagon at a rapid pace.
2. Rapid Sharing - Social media enables more rapid
sharing of information instead of traditional press releases where a editor
proof read before it is published.
3. Branding – With including Blogs social media can
be a highly important tool for enhancing your brand. Social media can enable
executives to collect input and feedback directly from their target audience. It
will also give the insights about why people like or hate our brand.
4. SEO – Social Media is a key component today in
Search Engine Optimization. Where SEO relies on a handful of popular search
engines to drive target audience here social media expands the potential
audience by creating alternate channels.
