Internet marketing, though it may be a new concept for some, it is not as new of a concept as social media marketing. Internet marketing, also known as online marketing is at its simplest form using the Internet to market your business, product or service. This could encompass a broad range of activities that you do online to market your business, from article marketing to banner or text link ads, and from email marketing to using SEO to market. Many of these activities have considerable costs involved, just to get started, as well as needing specialized knowledge in order to truly be successful with using them to market your business.
Even though the Internet is still fairly young and there are those out there who are just now understanding that the Internet is where it is at, the truth is it’s quickly changing and the newest concept used frequently in marketing right now is social media.
Social media marketing is therefore a brand new concept, which involves more specific activities. In fact, it is in reality a form of Internet marketing. It involves the use of social media sites to market your business, product and / or service. An integral part of social media marketing involves content, whether you add content to your website and attempt to use bookmarking sites to help promote it as a form of marketing or you tweet using Twitter about your latest product or service, either way you are using social media marketing at its finest.
These days, social media is where it is at, and it is how most Internet marketers are choosing to market their businesses. Why? Because it works, plain and simple. It is easy to learn, easy to incorporate and is enjoyable too. Who wouldn’t like to socialize? After all that’s much of what social media is about “being social”. But it is more than that too, it’s being social in a serious way, getting to know your target market, your competition, and what you need to deliver to succeed.
There are many advantages to social media marketing and I’m sure there are some disadvantages as well, but the important thing to know is that you need to use social media to market your business. One of the greatest advantages is that it is virtually cost free. Social media sites are free to use and you most likely won't be paying anyone to tweet for you or to post to your Facebook account, whereas with some other Internet marketing a fee is required, such as to post ads.
With social media marketing cost doesn't play as large a role and there is virtually no reason why you couldn't get started using it right away to market your business. It truly is as easy as setting up a Twitter account, a Facebook account and trying out a few social bookmarking sites such as Stumble Upon, Delicious, and Digg. All of which the average computer user can do within minutes by following some easy step by step instructions. So, there, now get to it…go, be social!