SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR MODERN MARKETING

Abstract

It is in people’s nature to be social and collect or share information that is important to them. In an era
dominated by technology, entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone who plays a role in today’s business world either
find it necessary to keep up with the rapid pace of change or risk being obsolete. The days when the "pure-bricks"
business model would thrive well are gone in the current market scenario. Today, with the continuous rising of
Internet and digital marketing, it is virtually impossible to design a marketing strategy without taking digital
marketing tools into consideration. Among the most used digital marketing tools in today’s business market are
content marketing, SEO, PPC, social media, e-mail, video marketing, and website. All those marketing media tools
are used for many reasons including increase in sales, increase in revenue, building brand, improving SEO,
streaming new leads, managing online reputation, becoming influencer, and increasing traffic. The focus of this
paper is the use of social media as a marketing tool. Even though the definition of social media is still a debatable
one, it has become an important gradient in today's marketing mix not just in general, but as a part of the promotion
mix too. Adapting a certain form of marketing, online through social media is a key node for all businesses,
especially in an industry where trends are constantly changing such as consumer electronics, fashion, retail, service
industries, handmade products and so on. Social media gives organizations opportunities to spread profile-based or
content-based messages, and further making them customized or broadcasted. Social media offers the opportunities
to be present on already existing channels, and therefore organizations have quick and easy connection with
potential, existing and future customers. Targeting very specific audience segment is just one of the numerous
advantages social media offers to organizations. Organizations prefer social media because it is cost-effective, helps
SEO optimizations, compliments advertising, provides authenticity, fosters creative voice, builds engaged
communities and provides a forum for customer care. The paper aim is to give a brief definition of the social media,
its usage, advantages, and opportunities it offers to organizations. It is about understanding the effectiveness of
social media as marketing tool. Furthermore, an effort has been made to analyze the extent to which social media
assists consumers in making purchase decisions since today’s customer have vast posting and purchasing power.
They get inspired by social media, informed, influenced, referred. With customers who spend more than 2,5 hours
per day on social platforms, it is inevitable for organizations not to make it priority on the marketing list.