Social media is the hottest new buzz in the field of marketing. Even a couple years back, few companies bothered to have a profile on Facebook, but now, everyone is trying to exploit this brand new marketing tool as much as possible. Indeed, staying active on social media looks like a great way of maintaining contact with your entire customer base, as well as finding potential customers. However, that is certainly not all there is to this new marketing tool at your disposal. In fact, if social media is used irresponsibly, it can do considerable harm to your business.

The pros of formulating a social media marketing plan and carrying out the campaign in an organized manner are not hard to guess. The following ones, for instance, are readily understandable:

Massive exposure for your brand

Well, this is a no-brainer for sure. Using social media, you have the potential to reach millions of customers, which is far more than what can be achieved using conventional ways of digital marketing (PPC, e-mail marketing, and banner ad placement).

Economical marketing campaigns

Social media marketing online is a cheap but one of the most effective ways of carrying out a large scale marketing campaign. In fact, most tools that you will be using in social media marketing are available for free. Yes, free!

Easy to reach target audience

Social media allows you to decide which people you send your updates to, based on a bunch of criteria. You can configure your campaigns as per the recipients’ age, sex, location, or even their food habits. No other type of marketing tool can give you this much flexibility.

There is just one major drawback to the excellent reach that social media marketing offers to you, and it is:

Rapid spreading of negative publicity

You may be able to promote your products to anybody who has an account in social media channels, but remember that negative publicity about your brand will also spread just as fast. A disgruntled vacationer in Tahiti tweeting about how bad your soft drink tastes is likely to reach a businessman in New York in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Your marketing team must be able to handle such incidents on the double. In social media, delays in responding to negative comments can prove to be pretty expensive.

Carrying out social media marketing online can thus be compared to a double edged sword. While the success that you can potentially achieve by using social media in your business marketing is definitely lucrative, remember that a false move can take it all away. Make sure to constructively handle negative publicity in order to lead your business to glory via social media.