More and more people are becoming involved with social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs with every break of the day (Zarrella 3). To most business organizations, the increased number of social media users can only be viewed as an opening for the business organizations to advertise their goods and services. This is statement is underscored by Wright’s assertion when he writes that the social media, due its large and accessible audience, is attracting more business organizations who find inevitable to advertise on the social media as one of the means of promoting their products (126). Inherently, advertising in social media is utilitarian in helping business organizations to advertise their products hence boosting the sales of their products. In most cases, more sales means more profit, hence it can be asserted that the social media is an important instrument for business organizations in terms of making profit which is by all means the most important reason why businesses are created.
Indubitably, brand awareness graces the list of some of the overly important factors that determines the extent of sales that a product receives. Since it is the responsibility of a business organization producing a product or offering a service to ensure that consumers are aware of their product (service), business organizations can make use of the social media to enhance brand awareness by posting adverts of their products on the social media majorly due to its global reach and the large number of users. This can be done through posting short descriptions of the product on the social media, and as Trattner and Kappe asserts, this will enable the consumer to be aware of whatever he or she wants hence accessing the product will be much easier (26).
Additionally, the social media is instrumental in advertising in that it permits the use of photos and videos that can be watched by consumers. The pertinence and effectiveness of videos can be enhanced further when the videos patched on the social media are made very captivating to attract the attention of the social media users. As Silverblatt documents, the videos for use in advertising a product can be customized with aspects that are appealing to the target audience (32). For a business organization producing a product that is targeted at the youths, for instance, the videos advertising the product can be designed in such a way that a music that is liked by the youth plays in the background as the video is being watched; this statement underscores the fact that youths extensively love music hence such adverts might appeal to a majority of them.
In most cases, consumers have to be convinced to buy or try a product. In its basic form, motivating to action refers the act of persuading a consumer to buy or give a try to a product. The potential of the social media in helping business organizations convince consumers to try or buy their products cannot be understated. The social media, unlike most other promotional methods, allows one to advertise while giving a very detailed description of the product regardless of the number of words that are needed to enable consumers extensively discern the importance of using a given product as conveyed in writing (Evans 56). Since motivating to action majorly depends on the ability of a business organization to convince the consumers that a particular product has the potential of meeting their needs, the social media presents an avenue through which business organizations can sway consumers into buying their products by making known to them the benefits that they stand to get from using the product. Quite eminent is the fact that the photos and videos whose use as permitted on the social media can be made so convincing to consumers. This practice, besides enhancing the competitiveness of a product with regards to other similar products is essential in convincing consumers to by a given product of its close substitutes (mostly competing products) (Evans 56).
Besides allowing advertisers the give full description of their products (and services) social media enables sellers target a specific group compared to several other forms of advertising methods. In exemplar, while signing up in most social sites, one is required to proving information such as their date of birth, home town, current town, and educational background. This information is overly utile in enabling advertisers target a specific group of people. Facebook, through what is famously known as Facebook Ads, enables advertisers to place adverts at a cost. One key feature of Facebook ads is that one can specify the demographics of the target group intended for the product (Zarrella and Zarrella 231). For instance, if ones want to market product to people under the age of 18 year from Asia, it is possible to place a Facebook ad that can only be seen by consumers under the age of 18 living in Asia. This feature is also available in several other social sites. One of the main advantages of the social media with regards targeting, is that one can only reach out to the intended group rather than posting adverts that are not discriminatory.
Social media are interactive hence the need to have an interactive advertisement is achievable through advertising in the social media (Tuten 34). Through social media advertisements, consumers can communicate their needs directly to businesses; this is extensively critical if a business wants to provide products and services that efficaciously satisfy the needs of the consumers. With in mind that businesses are served with a plethora of social responsibilities that range from environmental conversation to providing social amenities to communities, social responsibilities go a long way in creating a good public image of a business organization. The likelihood that consumers will prefer to use the products produced by the business organization is greatly dependent on the public image possessed by a business organization (Silverblatt 266; Kim and Kahle 251). Businesses can further enlighten their clients about their social responsibilities in a bid to encourage them to take part in the various initiatives launched by the business to help accomplish some of its social responsibility.
Concisely, the social media presents a platform that is to a fault very useful in product promotion. The interactive nature of the social media enables business organizations to communicate directly with their clients in what can be perceived as a desperate attempt by business organizations to ameliorates its public image though directly involving their consumers in initiatives that are utile in enabling them achieve their social responsibilities (Hilliard 124). Besides, since most social cites ask for profile information when one wants to sign up with them, it becomes easier to target a specific group of consumers on the social media compared to other methods of advertisements. The importance of social media in advertising a product is further heightened by its global reach.
Work Cited
Hilliard, Robert L. Writing for Television, Radio, and New Media. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2011. Print.
Kim, Chung-Hyun , and Lynn R Kahle. Creating Images and the Psychology of Marketing Communication. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., 2006. Print.
Tuten, Tracy L. Advertising 2.0: Social Media Marketing in a Web 2.0 World. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2008. Print.
Zarrella, Dan, and Alison Zarrella. The Facebook Marketing Book. Beijing: O'Reilly, 2011. Print.
Zarrella, Dan. The Social Media Marketing Book. Beijing: O'Reilly, 2010. Print.
