Social Media is the "New Marketing Tool"

I have been fortunate to work with various marketing tools so far in my life. I enjoyed the results I achieved with print advertising campaigns I used to run for clients in weekly and daily papers and also magazines. Direct mail was challenging as well once you knew how to target effectively. Those two mediums are similar to radio and TV ad’s in the way you “cast a line” and hope to catch a customer. Radio, TV and newspaper are all taking a beating financially because the public is starting to realize that "hoping" a potential customer sees or hears my ad is not the way to get the message out anymore.

I first used social media, like everyone else, I found old friends, played games, etc…then I realized the power it has over traditional media. Instead of casting a line and hoping a fish takes the bait, social media marketing is like having someone put the fish on the line for you. People are connecting to business on their own, they also take time to voice their opinions and post reviews about their favorite or new found places…it’s the new word of mouth advertising that used to take time to build and now it virtually happens overnight.

I have been seeing that companies are slow to embrace this new medium and it is due to not knowing what it is and what it can do for them. There once was a time when no one had a websites but now everyone has one. This new medium is in its infancy and will continue to grow as the younger generations have at their fingertips the ability to retrieve your information, a place where they get validation about you from their piers.