Social Media and How It Is Changing the Game for Businesses

Businesses used to survive off of their customers and customers word of mouth to get their product out to the community and the target population that they are trying to reach. Now however, with everyone buried nose deep in their phone 24/7 that business scheme has altered; and those that have picked up this shift in the marketing world, are more successful than ever before.

When you think of social media a few words probably come to mind: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. These sites are no longer just for young adults looking to snoop on their ex or swipe through blurry pictures from the bar crawl the night before. Social media has become a platform for business to reach out to everyone across the world by the click of one single button, post.

Through multiple social media accounts, businesses and business owners are able to get their product out to their audience within seconds and most importantly, for free. Most social media applications are free platforms that cost the business nothing but the time it takes to create the new account. Once they have an account and can start growing their follower count, add a few hashtags and you are up and running! It is as easy as that! Look at Kylie Jenner and her new more than successful cosmetics line. As she quoted in her latest episode of "Life of Kylie", she "pays absolutely nothing for marketing and does it all through Snapchat." Kylie has built herself a multi-million dollar company and all of the advertising for her is free. Not only does she not pay for the marketing, but she has complete control over what gets advertised and in which way she wants to highlight her products.

Once a business can build a following, they are able to show their product off on their own account as well as any other members of social media that post about it on their personal accounts. This is why lately a lot of companies have begun doing discounts and giveaways with their products if you 're-post their picture', 'share their picture', or 'tag three friends in the comments below'. These are all very common captions beneath multiple accounts that I myself follow and of course I share some of them because heck, who doesn't love free stuff! If all I have to do is 'share' this companies picture and then maybe have a chance to win a $100 gift card, 99% of the time I am going to do it. As a consumer, this makes sense to us! We share one photo with our 500+ followers and in turn get entered to win a prize. This is genius for companies! Since I just shared the photo, now any of my followers are seeing and learning about this company and if they share the photo to their 500+ followers are seeing the same product, it goes on and on and on. Absolutely. Genius.

We have all participated in social media business marketing and have all helped their market grow larger. The more followers they receive and the more posts that get shared, these businesses are able to reach people across the entire world that may not have ever heard about the company or product otherwise. Not only is this good for the businesses consumers, but the business is able to reach possible investors and potential partners as well. Businesses also offer jobs as 'social media consultant' among other titles. That is how detrimental social media has become for these companies around the world. If businesses are smart about keeping their social media appearance up and in tune with their intended audience, I would say that the possibilities of who they can reach is endless.