The internet invasion in our lives, once feared as a distraction from studies, learning, business, has become our best pal, be it conveying our feelings, boosting our business sales, meeting our life partners, or speaking to people (on Skype), who stay a few continents away from us! Internet, specially the social media, has been adapted in the mainstream of our lives, over the last decade.
The erstwhile virtual time is now real time for the users.
Facebook has made a planet of its own with millions of inhabitants.
Newspaper classifieds are passé now - welcome to Linked in, where seeking your suitable employees, or employers, takes only a few clicks, and the right connections made.
People no longer take the time to purchase a bunch of products and crib about the worst buts made.
Social media marketing is slick and straightforward - the consumer rates the brand on the degree of the social media presence and the ability of the marketer to connect the product to the consumer's specified needs.
It is as though the customers have finally found a platform to voice their concerns and interact with the company on a personal level.
A little ignorance or misinformation posted by the company and off goes the customer to a competing website.
There are a number of social media marketing companies which help businesses promote their services online in order to gain customers' attention.
Thus, essentially, social media has bestowed power in the fingertips of the common people.
It is a democracy in itself, playing its own game of business politics, image portrayal, alluring consumers with rewards and discounts, as if a leader is asking for a vote of confidence from the electorate; the common people constituting this electorate is wise, at times brutal, but supportive too, choosing for themselves whether to stand by a company or look for personal, or mutual gains elsewhere.
People have never been sought for, heeded to, appreciated, advised, or rejected in the virtual world before, in way they have been, with the emergence of social media.
So choose your community tailoring your needs - do you wish to connect to the world on Facebook, or break quick business deals on your website, do you want to write your own web content, or hire services online; are you an avid writer, or do you "tweet" it short and simple in 140 characters on Twitter? Choose one of these, or have the cake and eat it too - it's your call, and no one can stop you.