The New Social Media
Social media is changing daily the way businesses interact with customers. With the development of social media, companies are interacting with current and potential customers on a more personal level. This personal level of interaction through the use of blogs, networking sites, applications and online publishing to name a few brings marketing to a new level. Prior to the development of social media a business was left with one-way communication with its prospects. This one way communication was unable to develop "personal" relationships with customers. This personal relationship allows companies to gauge their performance within specific campaign techniques. Social media may be one of the biggest changes in business communication since the introduction of mass media. Social media continues to change and requires one to stay abreast of new developments. In Feb 2005 social media use was represented by only 5% of adult internet users. In April of 2009 that number had grown to 46% of adult internet users. Your company could be interacting and gaining personal relationships with 46% of adult users today! While social media is not perceived as a business requirement by some, I feel the numbers speak for themselves.