What is Social Media Marketing?

Social marketing has become an important part of many a marketer's tool kit. Its metamorphosis into the choice buzzword for today's marketing specialist as they find that social bookmarking and social media websites are valuable sources for their needs. Wilkipedia defines social marketing as the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals. Social marketing actually began as a way of promoting social good, for example, trying to promote exercise for a growing population of obese citizens. However, its commercial use roots began around the 1970's and has matured into an integrated customer relationship management platform. Social marketing's vast expansion may be contributed to factors such as technological advances, growing market competition, and its relative low cost. The market place has met the demand for our world's increasing need for social outlets with a hybrid of technology/social platforms such as facebook, flicker, twitter, and several others.

These websites have reunited friends, family members, and classmates. I once heard that a dead beat dad was tracked down by his kids on myspace.com. Social media advertising has become a trusted way of learning about a product or service before you actually purchase it. If everybody raves about the product then you tend to think it may be something you want or a

atleast want to know more about. This creates the buzz and buzz is a key concept to social marketing. The bigger the buzz the bigger the views and that means the more impressions for advertisers. Social media marketing gives marketers a chance to interact with their customers/potential customers. This helps to add to the whole experience for the customer, consequently adding value. Social media marketing seems to be the new way of marketing. It should not be feared or underestimated. We should embrace it. It is an extraordinary and relatively low priced multi-channel marketing tool that will continue to flourish as technology advances and people continue to want to be a part of communities and groups.