It is completely natural for social networks to be acknowledged by the business professionals who have became interested in finding a way to implement social media websites in their business. Marketing, as a discipline aimed at reaching consumers, was naturally the base for implementing social media in business. Having in mind the number of social media users, marketing professionals saw a great potential in establishing relationship with the customers, as well as an opportunity for promotion. That is how social media marketing as a concept has been introduced.
The purpose of social media marketing is to present a business through social media and to use this as a way to communicate a message to the potential consumers. While the main goal is about promotion, the companies, as well as individuals can find a lot of other benefits from social media marketing.
Types of social media websites
The common stereotype comes out from misunderstanding the term “social media”. Most people think of social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter when they hear the term “social media”, but in fact this term refers to different websites that allow interaction among the users and the exchange of information through a variety of channels.
Depending on the type of social profiles, social processes, type of interaction and type of content being exchanged, six types of social media have been established so far.
• Collaborative projects – This includes online magazines, wikis, question and answer
platforms, etc.
• Blogs and micro blogs – This includes platforms such as Twitter and Tumblr, where
the content is shared in the form of short or long blog articles.
• Content communities – Websites such as YouTube, Vine, etc. where content is shared, after which users can interact by sharing impressions about the content.
• Social networking websites – This category includes the websites people are most
commonly identifying as social media in general. Websites such as Facebook and
Google+ are in this category.
• Virtual game-worlds – One of the most popular websites in this category is World of Warcraft.
• Virtual social worlds – Game-like design allows users to create virtual identity and to
interact with other users through an online platform.
