Social networking applications are getting their way to everyone’s heart. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are only few of dozens of these types of social networking applications available today. To gather enough visitors to websites or promote online services and products, webmasters and entrepreneur take advantage of these free applications. Social Media Marketing is a collective term for promotions being done through these applications.

How are they taking advantage of it? First of all, most of these applications are free. This allows anyone to open an account and be part of the network in an instant. Now for entrepreneurs and webmasters, they join these networks and start promoting their products. They create signatures and offer help to other members of the network for free. What they get in return is recognition for their organization. It’s the fastest and easiest way to promote something without spending.

Why should you choose social media marketing to promote? There are several reasons why it is better to use these applications to promote your products or services. Let’s elaborate some good reasons:

It is free. As mentioned earlier, most social media applications are free. No need to pay for promotions done except when a company desires to have an exclusive portion of the page. The rest is free (e.g. posting, comments, response) which is a cost effective approach.

Hitting the right market. Forums and blogs are targeted to specific group of individual who are passionate with the theme. A webmaster promoting his technology related website will find possible clients and buyers by joining forums related to technology. No need to broadcast to a wider audience whom are not interested with the product, but directly to the ones interested.

Free Videos. Social media applications such as Youtube can offer a company free advertisements through video. The best way to market your product is by providing videos. Customers are encouraged to purchase a product when they see some images of it that can captivate them.

Discussions and Testimonials. Satisfied customers are taking advantage of these social media applications by providing a company with good reviews, testimonials, and sometimes discussions about the company. This is one way of promoting your products and services with the support of satisfied customers. New possible clients who can read those posted testimonials will build confidence with the company.

Affiliate Programs. Most users of these social media applications are getting something in return. They incorporate some affiliate programs to there personal space to show visitors updates of products and earn when visitors check it.

These are just some of the reasons why social media marketing is a good solution when looking for an alternative advertisement. It’s cost effective and will surely hit vast number of audience. Since the Internet runs throughout the globe, possible clients are unlimited.

ROI for networking – a perspective

If you’ve ever placed an ad in any magazine or newspaper, what do the magazine or newspapers promise? Do they promise “x” leads and “y” calls leading to “z” number of clients? Or do they talk about “a 2 million circulation” which means that the ad will be viewed by many but there are no guarantees of new business?

Also, when you answer the phone, respond to emails, make cold calls, and attend networking events, how do you measure your ROI?

Or how many events have you attended where you’ve passed out 50 business cards, come back to the office with 100 business cards, sent out 10 follow-up emails and heard back from ZERO?

So you spent $25 to attend the event, $5 in gas money, 3 hours of your time that is worth say $150, and in the end what did you get? A bunch of business cards and a few people writing or calling to sell their services to you! So did you sit down and measure the ROI for that? I think not.

And how many events can you attend in a given day? What reach can you have, meaning how many people can you reach out to at any given event? And how do you build a relationship with someone in brief encounters where everyone is hurrying to meet one more person before the event is over?

The SMM ROI

By participating in Social Media Marketing (SMM), what we are doing is leveraging conversations and discussions to begin building relationships. Building relationships and networking online takes time and therefore it requires time and investment. Since you have a business to run, you can do this by retaining professionals like us (had to get a plug in).

And so to summarize, I leave you with this thought.

The evolution of online marketing and especially social media marketing requires a paradigm shift in how businesses view ROI. Social Media Marketing allows us to form relationships. These relationships may eventually lead to business.

But ROI for Social Media Marketing doesn’t apply nor does it make sense because how can we measuring ROI of human interactions?