Social media marketing is the collective use of various social media sites and platforms to advertise a product or service. While the traditional terms such as digital marketing and e-marketing are increasingly recognised in academic circles, social media marketing is fast becoming popular for researchers and practitioners alike. It is an effective way to attract new customers and keep existing ones. Its relatively low cost and ability to reach global audiences make it appealing to all sectors of businesses. What's more social media marketing can be incorporated into any size budget, from small local operations to multinational corporations.

The basic function of social media management involves collecting data in order to support strategic decisions. This may include determining consumer sentiment and analyzing competitor strategies. To do this, companies must use tools that can integrate a wide variety of different data sources, including social media monitoring, market surveys and engagement platforms. To facilitate analysis, most tools will allow the researcher to determine key factors such as demographics and behaviour, and then use these data to formulate opinions about what is currently going on within the marketplace.

Of course, no one piece of data is enough to form an accurate picture about consumer behaviour. Analyzing multiple pieces of information is absolutely necessary in order to arrive at accurate conclusions. Fortunately, most tools available provide the researcher with the ability to combine several different types of analytics. For example, some analytics platform provides reports on user interaction, brand loyalty, influence and recommendations, search activity and social media marketing, just to name a few.

One of the most important uses for a social media marketing tool is its ability to create reports and insights that can be used by different parties. Companies can use the data to gain a competitive advantage, or to simply improve the way they provide information to their customers. Companies who are planning to launch a new product or engage in advertising can use social media marketing to determine the success rate of their campaigns and product launch plans. Marketers can also use these reports to gain an understanding of which types of social media marketing campaigns yield the best results.

However, it is not only companies planning to market that can take advantage of a great social media marketing plan. Businesses who are planning to participate in online discussions or communities can use these websites as a great resource in their marketing efforts. There are several sites that offer forums, discussion groups and photo and video sharing, which can be used to increase exposure for your business and its brand, as well as to solicit feedback and build partnerships.

Social media marketing tools allow anyone to become a credible online presence. The increased traffic to your website will make it easier for you to establish customer relationships and build trust. If you are uncertain about the effectiveness of a social media strategy, ask for feedback from your customers and use the suggestions above to determine whether it is right for your company. If so, then you will be on your way to implementing a successful social media marketing plan.