Social Network. MarketCheese

Social networking is a way to keep in touch with family, friends, customers, clients or colleagues through the Internet. Social networking can focus on personal or business communication. They are also a convenient platform for marketers. According to Statista as of December 31, 2021, the most popular social media sites are Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter and Pinterest.

How Social Networking works

Technology helps keep and develop personal and business communications through social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.). These sites connect people and corporations to develop relationships and exchange messages, information, ideas.

Personal communication on social media helps maintain long-distance relationships among family members through photos and personal messages about their lives. People can communicate even with strangers, having the same groups, hashtags or lists of interests or hobbies.

Marketers use social media to improve brand awareness to increase user loyalty, because the company becomes more accessible to new users and more recognizable to existing users. Social media marketing helps to promote the message and content of the brand.

Social media offers people advertisements that a user may be interested in and decide to purchase a service or product. When a brand is seen, the chances of getting and keeping new customers are higher.

The more people who have seen the advertisement, the more people who purchase the service or product. Sharing messages, comments, images or videos on social media allows users to click through to the manufacturer's site and become customers.

Special considerations

Marketers use different strategies for different situations and businesses with different histories, target audiences and competitors. Social media advertising is chargeable for manufacturers of services and products, so manufacturers often limit the audience to receive free messages, because it takes a few hours each week.

Advantages and disadvantages of Social Networking

Almost every company has a social media profile, which allows them to support the services or products they provide. Every major company is involved in marketing and advertising on social media. Using social media for marketing purposes has advantages and disadvantages, because social media affects businesses and individuals both positively and negatively.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Social networking allows people to keep in touch with family and friends over long distances, with strangers having the same interests.	Social networking can influence the misinformation spreading as rumors, which go faster than facts.
Social networking allows companies to communicate with new and existing users, improve the brand and make advertising.	Criticism of the brand spreads faster than positive feedback on social media, which is disruptive to attracting new users and adds to the work of the customer complaint department.
Manufacturers can be in touch with their customers to have better service.	Social media is free, but it takes a lot of time to create and maintain a company profile, and the pay for those work hours is rapidly increasing.