Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition

Chapter 1

Making the Business Case for Social Media

IN THIS CHAPTER

Accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives

Latching on to the affirmatives

Integrating social media into your marketing plan

Evaluating the worth of social media

In the best of all worlds, social media — a suite of online services that facilitates two-way communication and content sharing — can become a productive component of your overall marketing strategy. These services can enhance your company’s online visibility, strengthen relationships with your clients, and expand word-of-mouth advertising, which is the best type.

Given its rapid rise in popularity and its hundreds of millions of worldwide users, social media marketing sounds quite tempting. These tools require minimal upfront cash and, theoretically, you’ll find customers flooding through your cyberdoors, ready to buy. It sounds like a no-brainer — but it isn’t, especially now that so many social media channels have matured into a pay-to-play environment with paid advertising.

Has someone finally invented a perfect marketing method that ...