The rise of Social Media in the business world

We thought it was a fad, but now Social Media is King…and it’s here to stay!

Not so many years back, maybe 7 or so, businesses of all shapes and sizes, from all sectors of industry, were desperate to show that they too were embracing this ‘thing’ called ‘Social Media’. Links to business profile pages on Facebook and Twitter were rapidly popping up on website home pages. It really was the ‘in’ thing to do.

At the time I really believe that the majority of businesses didn’t really see the point of it, buy hey if their competitors were doing it, then they had to too! So there were your business profile page on Facebook and Twitter, but what actually did you have to do with them? And what on earth was a ‘tweet’? More importantly did anyone really want to read the news about the latest widget that you were manufacturing?

Back then I believe that most of us thought Social Media was just a flash in the pan, but of course businesses had to be seen to be getting involved. No one really understood if Social Media could assist in promoting businesses and possibly generate sales. So of course many businesses quickly lost interest in it and their Social Media profiles rapidly became neglected.

Lets’ fast forward to today where Social Media seems to reign supreme in the business world. Everyone seems to be fervently embracing it and desperate to get onboard. We are now swamped in business profile pages on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and many more! These profile pages offer up a plethora of information for us to take in and digest. Everything and more that you want to know about a business and what’s it’s up to.

Then there’s the advertising. The never-ending product or service adverts that appear within Social Media profile pages that want us to click on them and be lured way. Sometimes those adverts seem to be cleverly targeted at us to appeal to our sex and age range. Even adverts appear for products and services that we may have previously been researching for on-line!

Social Media management is also now serious stuff! Businesses now actively recruit people to manage and maintain their multiple Social Media profiles. These people make sure that the latest news, events, products, promotions etc are immediately out there to be seen. They also often provide a friendly ‘touchy feely’ hands on approach to replying to customer questions and complaints that hugely assist in customer care.

There’s no doubting it that many businesses are reaping the benefits of actively using Social Media. Yes it can be great in promoting some businesses and help generate sales, but at the same time it can be incredibly time consuming to manage and keep ahead of the game. In my next Blog we’ll look a little more carefully at the pros and cons of using Social Media to promote a business. Will it be right for you?

Let’s just see….

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