"Are companies wasting their time with social media profiles?"

The impact of social media cannot be ignored. It’s already changing how businesses conduct marketing, sales, and customer support. Social Media provides virtually instant access to information throughout the world, thus giving businesses the ability to share news about their products and services with people that were once out of reach. Social media is easily one of the fastest growing (free) benefits of technology today.  Companies are definitely not wasting their time with social media profiles.

In just a few years, Facebook, Twitter and other social media have changed the way we communicate about everything from the brands we like (or dislike) to the way we shop and how we manage projects. With the technology still maturing – along with some of its more colourful users – social media is a powerful tool for connecting with customers because the cost of reach is low and the number of people it reaches is potentially very high.

“Currently, social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are primarily a PR tool, and are prone to comments and trends. And things that are trending carry more weight in the media than in reality, so companies tend to give them a lot of credence,” Mittelmark says.

Embracing social media for business offers huge potential for generating discussion about your products and services and, eventually, winning new customers. It’s free and carries very little downside.