The Advantages of Social Media

In today's world, people are online. Everything we do, whether it be watching a new movie, using a product, visiting a store, or learning something new, we like to be able to interact with it online.

Think about the last thing you shared online. Maybe it was the recipe that you tried for dinner, a new website that you discovered with Stumble-upon, a blog post that you found particularly useful, or a hilarious video on YouTube.

Did you share it on Facebook or twitter? Did you email it to family and friends or bookmark it with your favorite social bookmarking site?

Even if you don't share that much, think of all the avenues of social media that you use to find the things you are interested in.

If you use a search engine, chances are you've come across a link to an interesting article that was posted on Digg or Delicious. This is helpful to you; You may not have found that awesome article otherwise, but because it was so awesome, others took the liberty of improving it's rankings by saying to the world, “Hey, I think this link is cool.” In the same manner, other people came along and said, “Hey, I think this link is cool, too.”

The advantages of social media to advertisers and businesses is simple.

Today, people are using social media to interact with products, brands, and businesses in a way that was previously unheard of. You and I can “like” a brand on Facebook or “follow” a business on twitter with the click of a button. It's the equivalent of subscribing to a newsletter without the hassle of giving an address, email, or even forking over some money.

There are some downsides to this. The first that comes to mind is that it's easier to attract less serious prospects.

This problem is countered by the fact that more individuals have access to you and your products; Those who are not quality prospects, but hop on board now, may stick with you and prove to be excellent prospects in the future.

Social media gives the ability to warm up your prospects to the realization that what you have to offer might be exactly what they need.

The main advantage to social media is the ability to connect with your prospects on the platform that they are most comfortable with. Instead of visiting your blog/website and being out of their element, you can interact with them in their environment first.