Is Social Media Necessary? Digital marketing has become more than just a common trend in the global marketplace. People are connected to each other more than ever before. Many people could even be considered addicted to social medial. There are articles online that describe how people can become depressed and overweight by investing too much time in social media. Some people stand accused of spending more time and energy on their online profiles than they do on person‐to‐person interactions which can lead to social isolation and declining social skills (Hosale). What does this mean for business? There is a huge demographic using social media that should be capitalized on. In this world of increasingly mobile and online communication, the only way to remain competitive as a business is to conduct marketing through social media. Before we dive into social media, let’s quickly go over marketing. Marketing is defined by Merriam Webster as the process or technique of promoting, selling and distributing a product or service. Marketers use advertising as a way to promote their goods and services and we are confronted with advertising in almost every direction we turn. There are physical advertisements on our drive to work, in elevators or as we walk through the mall. We also see advertisements on television and in print. As we are all becoming more plugged in with our smart phones, we can receive promotional emails, see banner ads and pop ups at any time. In fact, the average person who uses the internet is exposed to 5,000 ads per day (Johnson).
Social media is defined by Merriam Webster as forms of electronic communication where information, ideas, personal message and other content is shared through online communities. Facebook is by far the most widely used social media with 1.15 billion total users while Twitter and Google+ each have 500 million total users. Of the Facebook users, 751 million people access their account using mobile devices (Visual.ly). Americans are using social media at an increasing rate. Social media was first introduced close to 10 years ago where the primary users were teens and college age students. Today, 56% of all Americans and 55% of 45‐54 year olds have a profile on a social media site (Baer). We also have 22% of Americans using social media several times per day (Baer). This means that not only are a wider variety of people using social media but they are most likely using it more than once per day. People are accessing social media primarily through mobile devices. The amount of people using mobile phones exceeded 4 billion in 2009 and is estimated to exceed 6 billion by 2013 while 1.7 billion people have access to the internet (IBM). This evolution of mobile and online technology has dramatically increased how people buy and sell products. With the increase in the usage of mobile devices and the increased use in social media, we can now see how they work together. Today, 4.2 million people access social media through mobile devices, 46% of web users turn to a company’s visual presence before making a purchase and 60% of consumers are more likely to share a product or service through social media integration (Visual.ly). Social media generates nearly double the amount of marketing leads from trade shows, telemarketing or direct mail
(Visual.ly). These numbers prove that social media is has the potential to reach a large range of potential consumers through advertisements and having a social media presence. Besides just reaching consumers, there are many benefits of social media for a company. Jayson DeMers outlines the benefits of social media as follows: improved social signals (this involves the algorithm that is used when someone searches for a company and what companies show up at the top of the list), company branding, improved brand awareness, word‐of‐mouth advertising, increased
