THE NOTORIOUS SOCIAL MEDIA

I still remember the first time I signed up for a Facebook account. That was more than 10 years ago, and it was during the time when Friendster is popular.

Surely I never thought that FB will take the world by storm one day. For the past 10 years, my journey with social media especially FB and IG goes up and down – from heavy user to light user, to feeling proud of not using it, then pick it up again, study, understand, and eventually use it as an advertising tool. Many people condemn social media for its addictive nature, but the truth is, as a marketer, no matter how you resist social media, it is part of your job to understand and utilize them.

Social media is fun, and I believe it has saved marketers lots of time and energy from dwelling on how to manage marketing budgets economically and effectively. Back in the days where newspapers, magazine, TV, radio etc are mainstream media, they can be the pain in the ass when it comes to budgeting, management, and reporting.

My conclusion of using Facebook as an advertising tool has more pros than cons. I do not have to mention the pros, however, the maintenance of a business account takes time and great effort because building up a brand does not happen overnight. The audience is fed on instant information we share, and they are not easily convinced anymore for so many choices in the market. Sadly, regardless of the product quality and marketing strength, the number of "Likes" and "Followers" somehow symbolize the popularity of the brand/product/company, and this is bad for businesses that are not ready in garnering so much “Likes”. It turned out that genuine and high-quality products are less important than the no. of Likes in FB. To make our effort even more difficult to justify, buying “Likes” is established for companies who wanted a shortcut.

Nevertheless, FB is powerful when coming to its advertising function. Firstly, I don’t need any agency or third party to place or print the ads. It is easy to use, I can set my goal in the beginning, and I get clear results out of that. The target audience is unbelievably easy to reach out to, and I get to segregate them based on my desired target. Besides, relatively lower investment is required and call-to-action is just a button away.

Social Media is one of the best tools for sellers and marketers to go digital, it saves our time and provides so much convenience that nobody can ever imagine before.