Marketing is often described as a way of communication between a business and potential customers for the purpose of presenting and promoting the values of a certain product or service. The main goal of this communication is to sell. Marketing is a complex discipline that involves many tasks to ensure that communication leads to this goal. Some of the tasks include determining target audience, conducting an analysis of the market and consumer behavior, customer relationships, etc. Marketing as a discipline has been evolving, and new practices are constantly being implemented to keep up with changes in the market, technology, and society.
About social media
The appearance of social networking websites has changed the way people interact and communicate and the way they exchange ideas and search for information. With one in four people using some form of social networking websites, these platforms play an undeniable role in everyday life.
As a result, the communication, which is an important part of marketing, started to shift from traditional mediums such as television and newspaper ads to social media. Thus, social media has become a new platform for marketers to communicate and get in touch with the customers. Social media is a new mediator between businesses that want to promote their products and between consumers who use social media to learn more about a particular product.
The overall importance of social media has led to a new discipline within marketing, a discipline called social media marketing. The idea behind this is to take advantage of the benefits the social networks provide in order to realize some of the marketing goals, such as promotion, establishing relationship with the customers, etc.