Ever since the inception of social media in the digital world, it has always proved to be a great way to spark conversations in the social sphere, the area where people meet, share, enjoy and express. We all love hanging out on Facebook and tweets on Twitter but how many of us take advantage in harnessing the power of social media for business. Probably, we overlook the fact that tapping opportunities in social media is a great way to reach masses and promote your business. People are evolving and so your business also needs to evolve with time. Today, social media is the bandwagon used by successful businesses to stay ahead of their competitors. If you want to be in the market, you have to do what your customers are doing. It’s high time to think monetizing from social media by carving out a digital strategy that involves a clear social media plan that can benefit your business to promote its products or services.

1. Role of Social Media in Business Development
Ever since the inception of social media in the digital world, it has always proved to be a
great way to spark conversations in the social sphere, the area where people meet, share,
enjoy and express. We all love hanging out on Facebook and tweets on Twitter but how
many of us take advantage in harnessing the power of social media for business. Probably,
we overlook the fact that tapping opportunities in social media is a great way to reach
masses and promote your business. People are evolving and so your business also needs to
evolve with time. Today, social media is the bandwagon used by successful businesses to
stay ahead of their competitors. If you want to be in the market, you have to do what your
customers are doing. It’s high time to think monetizing from social media by carving out a
digital strategy that involves a clear social media plan that can benefit your business to
promote its products or services.
According to latest facts and figures, 85% of all businesses with a dedicated social media
platform as part of their marketing strategy registered an increase in their market exposure.
Also, the marketing departments of as many as 94% of all businesses employed social media
for product or services marketing. Companies like Zappos, Dell, Jetblue and many more have
encountered huge successes in tapping social media for their business.

2. So what is Social Media Marketing & Social Media Optimization ?
Marketing through social media or in other words, social networking websites can be done in
two ways – Social Media Marketing and Social Media Optimization. Both these phrases are
absolutely different but are confused very often. So, here I am explaining both in brief.
Social Media Optimization –SMO refers to the process when one redesigns or optimizes
their website in order to spread awareness about their business amongst its users, customers
or visitors. This may include adding social media sharing widgets like “Facebook”, “Twitter”,
“Linkedin”, “Pinterest”, “Instagram” etc to the website depending on the business you’re
dealing in,or improving the design elements and usability of the website or adding new icons
to attract users to share the content with others. All this is often sub categorized as on-page
social media optimization.
Social Media Marketing –SMM is the process of explicitly creating compelling content for
the social web in order to refer to the creation and distribution of content and other
messages for viral marketing. This often refers to the sponsored feeds, posts, videos or
advertisements that you see on Facebook or any other social media website. It actually
involves pushing your content to promote it.SMM is always a part of a paid digital marketing
campaign that needs a hefty budget for execution depending on the size of your business.

3. So what are the benefits of social networking in business development?
The implementation of both Social Media Marketing & Social Media Optimization campaigns
in your digital strategy when applied with effective strategic planning, can greatly impact
the traffic, leads & conversions on your website.
Listed below are 10 major benefits of social networking that can boost the prospects of your
brand to fetch more & more clients and customers for its services or products & also get
maximum returns on investment.
Your brand gets a huge recognition amongst not only your existing customers but other
people within their network that were looking for the same type of product/service before.
Close engagement with your customers and prospects on social media creates a close client-brand
relationship & strengthens the loyalty
Social Media is an amazing way to increase enormous amount of referral traffic.
SMM & SMO campaigns increase your brand value & give you a huge recognition
You get to know about the flaws, shortcomings or good things about your products or
services via genuine feedbacks & honest opinions of customers.
With different social media platforms featuring different widgets like
“Like”,”Share”,“Tweet”, “Comment” etc you will be able to initiate conversations with your
target audience & make your brand go viral
Indulging in social media can get you business insights for market research
You will easily be able to gather relevant information pertaining to hot trends, user’s
interests and customers’ behaviour. Accordingly, you will be able to improve your product or
service offering.
Social media also helps you to know the reach and success of your existing and latest
products

4. You will be able to get honest feedback from your users, visitors or customers
All the above points that I’ve emphasized on need a well-planned marketing strategies apart
from SMO, SMM in tandem with the social networking trends for monetization. When
employed with effective techniques and strategic planning, both of these can boost your
prospects to reach the increased number of clients while maximizing the return on
investment.
6 Tips for successful Social Media Marketing
Successful social media marketing is certainly not a dream that you can’t achieve. Get these
6 tips handy whenever you build a social marketing plan for your business –
 Create a dedicated social media account, connect with prospective networks,
create groups & fan pages– To tap new opportunities and reach audience
exponentially, participate in everything from creating a dedicated account to posting
stuff in relevant groups related to your business and creating fan pages to engage
with more and more people.
 Focus on building a strong reputation–The thumb rule here is – First impression is
the last impression. If you emerge as negative in the eyes of your customers, you’ll be
fired from their hearts and they’ll move on with your competitor
 Carry out a thorough research on your customers before pitching –Do your
homework before you pitch them for sales or anything else. Listen to them first and
then respond wisely.
 Track industry trends related to your business –When creating a social media
marketing campaign, you should be aware of the latest trends that are prevalent in
the industry related to your business. For e.g. If you own an online ecommerce
website that sells clothes & accessories, you should be aware of the latest fashion
trends and fashionistas sporting the look.

5.  Be authentic and transparent to your audience – This is very important while
talking, sharing, tweeting or posting content on social media. Be as much real and
authentic as you can so that people can trust you and can consider engaging with
you for making purchase decisions
 Spice up the conversation with Visually appealing images – Now, this one is a tip to
create a brand personality amongst your customers. While designing a social media
campaign especially the paid advertisements, add an image along with your logo& a
short and crisp message so that people can quickly understand what you offer.