Promote Your Brand With Social Media

Social Media is a tool that business and individuals use for multiple reasons. The first reason, obviously, is to communicate and be in the loop within social circles.The second reason, however, is to promote a brand socially and connect with consumers in today's instantaneous and demanding society.

Earlier this week I was talking to a sweet friend of mine who is being handed a million dollar company straight out of college, and he was letting me know how much he detests social media and how it does nothing for users. I tried my best to explain to him that while personally he may see no reason to have social media accounts that there are many reasons a business would have social media, and if he was going to be a business owner he needed to understand the importance of it. he wanted to hear nothing about it.

I wanted to write my blog this week about how social media can change the way people see, interact, or associate with your brand. If you want other opinions than mine, I've researched a few good sites that detail why or how to use social media to expand brand awareness and interaction. Here they are: Forbes on measuring social media impact, TopRankingBlog on social media and business and finally, the Houston Chronicle on High-level business social media.

Here are my reasons to promote your brand with social media:

Interaction in key in todays society. When people have a question they want to look up or receive an instant response to, they turn to online resources. It is better to have a website, social media accounts, or other applications where people can have their questions answered, or receive other information at their discretion. It is better for all information and answered questions to come from the source itself, in an effort to keep key messages and other info from being misunderstood or misrepresented.

Businesses and consumers having an understanding of each other is a huge factor when it comes to success of a brand or business. Organizations need to understand their target market in order to sell to them, understand what does and doesn't work, understand what they want and need, etc. When businesses have social media accounts they are connecting themselves to individuals. A business social media account that takes the time to respond to concerns and questions as well as share information is a business that shows consumers it cares.

Finally, sending key messages is an important part of any organization. Key messages include business information, product information and changes, product releases, organization goals and campaigns, etc. These key messages not only need to be spread, but in order to understand consumer responses, they need to be recorded and researched as well. Online accounts offer an opportunity for research, as well as simple feedback that might help with future company endeavors.

There are many other reasons for brands to use and measure social media, as outlined in other resources provided. But if I could give any advice to a brand wondering about getting involved with social media: do it, it's worth it.