Social Media Marketing is not free as many think it is.

  It takes an investment of your time, a strategy and consistency to see results. One of the best benefits of using social media is to engage with your customers in real time. (This is what Web 2.0 is all about!) Social media uses the core element of the Internet as a way to connect and engage.

  Be authentic! Facebook and Twitter - let your hair down and show your personal side; not so much on Linked In. This professional site should be reserved for B2B posts. Set up your business page on Facebook and it can really help to establish the real people behind your business brand. Don't push your products, but be a source of information, an expert.

  Reputation management. The axiom of "talk about me good, talk about me bad, just talk about me," is not true on the web. Bad comments can go viral quickly and become a marketing disaster. Monitoring the overall online reputation of your business is important, especially if it becomes necessary to do damage control. Genius! Advertising and Marketing can do this for you for a minimal monthly fee. We can present you with the opportunity to respond quickly or we can handle initial responses for you to keep your customers happy.

Advantages

• Low budget compared to traditional media.
• It's easy to get your message to your customers. You can use social media to gather a lot of information about your clients and prospects and you can also use it to build customer relations.

Disadvantages

• Difficult to "unring the bell," when something goes wrong. For example when you break the golden rule of using it for "in-your-face" advertising. It's possible to interact without being commercial and to pitch your brand as being interesting.
• It takes a lot of time to do it right, updating your audience on all the relevant issues. You need to be ready to respond in a timely manner.
• Security can be a concern for many. Lots of personal information is out there. There's a lot of trust for many sites because of measures they take, but there are cases of harassment, cyber-stalking, online scams, and identity theft.