For a long time brand advertising relied almost solely on broadcasting messages to consumers and no actual communication with these consumers – a.k.a. one way communication. Today this traditional model  does not work anymore. Now more and more people ask, talk, look for advices and reviews, give feedback and buy… online. And the best part is that you, as a brand or marketer, can talk with (not to, but with) them . This is the new era of advertising – the social media era.

People talk about your brand! No matter if you are happy with it or not, no matter if you are a big brand such as Apple, Starbucks or Sony, or if you are a small brand such as the coffee shop round the corner. Even the people you work with talk about your brand, and there are companies, such as Intel, which have already considered this: Intel Social Media Guidelines.

Social media works and is important today , because it gives a human aspect and authenticity to your brand. More and more are people trusting their human nature to be engaged in and be influenced by a person-to-person communication rather than to engage on a one-way broadcasted message from an  unknown source. This is why brands that act on their customers’ behalf get 44% more brand advocates. And if you are not present in the online conversation and do not consider actions based on this communication – you lose opportunities and be sure that your competitors will exploit them.

So… what can you do with social media?

Many tools exist for endless possibilities.

social-media

(and these are just very few of them)

These possibilities can be – to create a community, to promote and inform, to get to know more about your customers, to improve your product or service, to deal with complaints, to give support; all of which providing you with a long-term customer relationship!

And what is even more important – all of this is coming to mobile NOW! Via smartphones, notebooks, and God knows what other type of e-mobile devices, people can share their experience, ask, talk, look for advice and reviews online even as they are in your store and are about to buy!

Today people search with Google, but tomorrow people may start searching with Facebook or with any other social network where their friends are!