The Importance Of The Social Media In Internet Marketing

The social media is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm in the recent years. Various social media sites are some of the most popular and most frequented online sites today.  More and more people are finding their way to different social media sites to connect with one another, especially with the advent of portable computers and smartphones that made connecting to the Internet a lot easier.  Consequently, more and more business organizations are also maintaining their presence on these sites because these are where their target markets are.

Aside from attracting millions of people from all over the world to its folds, the social media has also changed the way many things are done.  This is especially true as far as internet marketing is concerned.  After all, the social media provides low cost, even free, marketing tools that are very effective.  

The importance of the social media in internet marketing can never be underestimated.  In fact, the use of the many marketing opportunities given by the social media is an important component of every online marketing plan.  So, how can the social media benefit any organization’s internet marketing efforts?  Let us count the ways:

Branding.  Having social media presence and improving it can greatly help the branding efforts of any business organization.  These sites give voice to a company so that it can communicate with others, specifically with its target market.  There are many tools made available on these sites that can be used by a company to establish its unique brand and for it communicate its message in a conversational and relaxed way. 

Build Relationship With Target Market.  With the help of the social media, a company becomes “real” to its target market since the mode of communication on these sites is on a very personal level.  Engaging the prospective customers and interacting with them will certainly do wonders for any business.  When done right, a business can make new customers while retaining its existing consumer base. This way, a company can build it reputation, improve its brand credibility, and enjoy brisk business.

Traffic.  A company can also increase the traffic to its business website with the help of social media sites.  Links can be included in social media content like articles, pictures, posts, tweets, status updates, and the like.  These links can generate organic and quality traffic to any business website.

Lead Generation.  As we all know, lead generation is very important in the success of any business.  The social media is a great way to generate leads for a company.  After all, these sites are where a business’ target market can be found and easily tapped.  Remember, it is a lot easier to gather important market data and to reach out to prospective clients if they congregate en masse in a single place.

Customer Feedback.  A business can also readily get feedback from its consumers via the various social media sites.  After all, consumers can easily post comments on these sites and companies can readily read them.  This way, a company can get the pulse of its target market and can act accordingly at the right time. 

Return Of Investment.  Aside from letting a business reach, tap, and interact with its prospective clients, the social media also offers free marketing and advertising potentials that can greatly lower marketing costs. 

In traditional advertising, serious money needs to be spent on ad placements but these ads may not reach its intended audience.  On the other hand, most of the advertising that can be done via the various social media sites are free and are more effective.  Many companies have reaped great benefits when their social media marketing and advertising campaigns went viral.  For them, lower marketing and advertising costs meant higher return of investments.   

The Art Of Proofreading

After all the research and the actual writing, next comes the need to proofread what you have written.  Proofreading lets you see and correct the errors you may have overlooked while writing.  You need to do this to ensure that your written work is accurate and flawless.  However thorough your research was and however good your writing style is, all these will be overshadowed by the errors you failed to correct just because you were not able to proofread your work.

In this era of computer technology, many of us are complacent regarding the need to proofread everything we write.  For one, Microsoft Word and other similar programs are equipped with spelling and grammar check functions that automatically flag certain grammatical and spelling errors as we type.  There are also many sites on the Internet that electronically check articles and other written work for any spelling or grammar issues.

Since computers have the said feature, many of us forego proofreading our written work.  More often than not, we just look for the red and green underlines to see if we misspelled a word or if there were any grammatical mistakes in our work.  Using online grammar and spell checking sites also have similar mechanisms.  We can just then right-click on the underlined or highlighted word or phrase and select from the correction suggestions of the computer in order to correct the error.  Voila, we are set to go.  This is one reason why many experts posit that the art of proofreading is dying.

However, there are many errors that can not be recognized by computers or by any software.  If we don’t proofread our work after having the computer check its grammar and spelling, we could be overlooking serious mistakes or errors in our written work.  When your work gets published, it could be very embarrassing.  Worse, it could even hurt your reputation as a writer.  Whatever convenience technology brings, there is still no beating the age-old art of proofreading.

Reading your written work once and correcting the errors as you go is not enough.  You need to read it again until you are satisfied with your work.  If you need to use certain citations styles for your work, you can double check them to see if you did it right.  You can also try reading your work aloud to check whether it sounds good.  There are times when you recognize certain errors, which you have not recognized before while reading it, because they don’t sound right when you read them aloud. 

If you have enough time, try sleeping on your work.  You can then proofread it again after you wake up.  After sleeping, you can see your work in a fresh and new perspective.  After being refreshed by sleep, you are then in a better position to be more objective.  Your mind has rested so it can see your work in another light.  This way, you can spot more errors that you have committed.  Only then can you make your work water tight and flawless.