Social media network today, is so powerful, even the Pentagon felt that. In 2010 US military personnel were allowed to use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media websites. Earlier there was a policy that restricted the social media but now military personnel can use them as long as it does not affect their operational security.
Over the last decade the social media network has grown rapidly and brought chaos that stretch like the wild fire. Social media can be accessed easily by anyone, which is the root cause for the most issues. Social media help us connect with like-mined people, analyze their history, traits and interests. But the huge number of fake profiles in social media sites has demonstrated unethical conduct. It is a known fact that social media need to focus on verifying identities of its users.
LinkedIn has brought a professional perspective to social media, offering access to career opportunities through professional networking. Placing the initial step in the corporate world is perhaps the hardest task, but through LinkedIn it is easy. In fact many students have got great opportunities through their LinkedIn profiles. A LinkedIn profile lets you display info of projects, honors and awards, courses and test courses and past employees. If you are lucky, a potential employer might run into your profile through your professional network.
Nielsen’s social media network report of 2012, proves that social media has become a key platform for communication. In other words it is a rich resource for marketers. The social media report says Facebook is on top, Twitter and Blogger are almost there, while Pinterest got the greatest enhancement of number of users. Facebook ads and fan pages have won marketers attention because some have already achieved their sales targets thanks to Facebook marketing.
Considering all these, marketers have started adhering to social media to boost brand awareness. 70% of social media users said they get others opinions about products through social media. 65% said by posting questions (comments) they get answers to their concerns about products. By analyzing the customer behavioral patterns on social media, a marketer can distinguish what the customers are really thinking about their products. Furthermore social media help marketers to build a long term relationship with buyers.
The evolving technology has brought the social media into our hands in the form of a tablet or a smart phone, but PCs are still standing strong. With latest mobile devices we can access Internet on the go and the social media sites are one-click away. As long as people choose to spend time on social media it is an added benefit to the marketers. Hopefully social media will stay as the hottest topic, because logging into Facebook is the first thing to do in the morning for the younger generation.
