Empowering brand awareness through social media

I am just sharing a very useful article I read about brand awareness written
By Kukil Bora, SiliconIndia

Monday, 24 January 2011, 17:25 Hrs

Bangalore: The days are gone when the newspapers paired with a cup of tea in the morning were the only source of information about any kind of newly launched product or brand. Even the days of television doing the same job are fading away. There are too many distribution channels today, and hence increase in choice, coupled with a decrease in time has brought in tough time for creating brand loyalty and awareness. No doubt that everyone is fighting for consumers' attention, but those consumers are not paying attention. What is the way out then? Here comes the role of new media aka Internet, that provides the popular platform of social media.

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Social media has enormous potential as a weapon to create awareness about a particular brand and get more customers. Now-a-days, finding the right combination of services is very important to expose your brand and your finding will come to an end when you'll approach social media. Even for those companies that can't afford large marketing and advertising budgets, social media can be an useful choice as most of the social media marketing 'tools' are free to use and can provide the same amount of marketing exposure whether you are just starting out or are a giant conglomerate.

Companies like Sony and Dell have experienced direct increase in sales through social media. In February last year, Sony announced that through Twitter they had earned an extra $1.6 million in sales. Later in June, Dell made the announcement that their presence on Twitter accounted for $3 million dollars increase in sales. Somebody may question, "It's all about biggies that already have a brand reputation, what about smaller ones?" Here is the answer - in 2009, a small shoe making company in Canada named John Fluevog Boots & Shoes reported a 40 percent increase in sales, after it started social media marketing the same year.

Creating awareness about a brand through social media is an excellent way to get in touch with your consumer base. It makes your customers feel comfortable and empowered, knowing that your company cares about their input. In social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, people can give you positive reviews, recommend your product and tweet about your company. These social media platforms allow your company's name and brand to be viewed by a significant amount of people. Hence, a continuous use of social media over time creates brand awareness and thus helps to increase sales.

According to a recent Nielson report, in the past year, there was a rise of 43 percent in social network usage. With this rise of social networking, coupled with the growing dominance of mobile computing, it has become extremely easy for people to seek advice online whenever and wherever they choose. These online inputs like conversations, reviews and articles have huge influence on consumers' purchasing decisions. Social media is also a great way to expose your brand to new customers as well.

The effect social media can have on brand awareness is critical in the future of small businesses marketing strategy. The potential for more efficient marketing techniques through online phenomenon such as social networking is only just being tapped. There are a lot of opportunities for opt-in advertising such as e-mail marketing and social networking visibility, and they will increase over time for sure. Remember, by increasing your visibility through social media, you are making it easier for customers to access your company's information, and thereby making your brand well-known.

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