I’m here to talk plain and frankly from my approach about Social Media with ease, so everybody will be able to understand the essential role Social Media is playing in today’s business world.
What is Social Media about?
I’m sure we can find thousands of different definitions on the Web and all very valid and even more accurate than mine, but that is what Social Media is about, sharing and interacting for a common enrichment. As I said above, here I leave my view…
Social Media is about giving value, being social and communicative with everybody who crosses your path, all that is moving from traditional communication “you to all” (press, television, billboards, etc.) to a communication “all to all”.
Recently, it was about providing information to the folks, so the communication was going only in a one-way street. On the other hand, Social media concerns about the people, giving them a voice and granting them a power to change things and make decisions that can affect very straight our brand, either in a profitable or harmful way. Therefore, communication becomes a two-way street, where public and brands interact, storing and distributing content created by all different natures, for instance. Its content allows to take part, collaborate and distribute information “to all, from all”. What’s more, influencing Social Media takes profit of the “social” phenomena to strengthen the emotional ties that bind people together, creating fans instead of customers.
Social Media is not only about creating and sharing content, but the best experiences achieving when we’re listening, reading, discussing, blogging, commenting, or giving feedback to the rest of the crowd.
In short, social media is about building an effective communication between brands and their environment, helping them to merge a strategy in each social working area
Why Social Media?
Using Social Media for our companies is accept the reality, which today’s environment demands. We’re tired, we need change, we need to have 
fun, we need to love but above all we need brands, which be authentic, reliable and truly inspiring – not to mention BELIEVE in – We live in an over-communicated society, where tones of messages try to gain a little of space in our minds, but now the wheel has changed hands. Those traditional advertising methods “I communicate – you receive“ are no longer valid, that’s water under the bridge – or it’s not as efficient as they were before (for being tender to those who think the conventional communication still has a place in this scenario where we are living just now).
If we intend to innovate, we’d better speak customer’s language, which means we should melt down with, listen, understand them and offer the content that best meets their needs.
Advantages of using Social Media
- Stays closer to the younger audience, so makes easier predict trends
- Strengthen relationships between folks and brands
- Builds loyalty, turning a customer into a fan – they’re the ones who are going to cross the street to buy only from you –
- Differs from other media reaching the audience in a less intrusive and in a more original way.
- Connects the brand with a more immediate environment
- Makes your brand be seen more sociable, familiar and therefore, popular
- Goes viral: the brand will reach more people in less time – the more you use Social Media, the more spreads –
- Trustworthy and efficient research tool
- Continuous Feedback
Social Media Tools
Communication: Blogs, microblogs, social networks, and events.
Sharing content: wikis, google reader, social news, and opinion sites.
Multimedia: photo-sharing sites, videos and music sharing, and Live casting.
Opinions and reviews: Review of products/services, communities of FAQs and Wiki-questions
Entertainment: Advertainment, virtual world, and game sharing.
Others: Information aggregators
As a sample…
One fact that illustrates the great benefits of Social Media is the landslide victory that achieved Barack Obama during the 2008 cycle in the U.S. election, where Obama elected president, it was clearly Social Media, which was one of the several key factors that gave Obama the differential advantage. The Obama’s organization used Social Media and its tools for spread the word in and connect to his potential audience – also known as fans – It allowed the awareness campaign’s organization, creating an expanded social consciousness and let the people were more closer to Obama in a more intimate setting.
In fact, the White House continues using Social Media to connect citizens with the president and for many more purposes…
What is your take? What do you think about Social Media? I’d like to hear from you.