MC536 Music Online

Social media marketing refers to the use of social networks, online communities, blogs, or any other collaborative internet form of media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. It is a form of internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through the participations in various social media networks.

It has three very important aspects, these being;
a) Creating a news worthy event/ video/ tweet, something that could become viral in nature.
b) Creating ways that fans of certain companies or brands can promote it themselves.
c) Being controversial. Social media marketing is not fully controlled by an organisation.

According to a 2009 CMO survey, 3.5% of marketing budgets is spent on social media marketing, this figure is predicted to grow to 6.1% within a year, and more then double that in five years. It was found that social networking sites such as facebook were favoured in marketing, followed by video sharing sites such as youtube., then image sharing sites and blogs.

The number one 'hot' new social media marketing tool of this year is Twitter.
Others include:
www.facebook.com- a social networking website
www.linkedin.com- a business oriented social network for professionals
www.youtube- a video sharing website,

It can be a useful and  effective method when used correctly, as it can reach a mass audience, it is quick easy and usually pretty cheap. However, social media marketing can be quite pushy and annoying, or often viewed as spam. This is an issue that is in a way holding this form of marketing back from achieving its potential.

However, when used in the right way social media marketing can help increase
website traffic
sales tracking
page views, ad exposure
growing brand awareness
positive brand association
business development.