How big a part is social media marketing for your business or the company you work for?

[Eleni Ap]

Incredibly important. This is how I network; how I get to know other professionals, perspective clients and how I get updated on the latest developments in marketing.

One thing Social Media is used for is for people to get to know you and your business without them having to buy something from you first. They can see whether you are legitimate and professional. This works the other way around too, since you can also use it to learn your customers; what they like, what they need, what questions do they have.
Then it works wonders for offers and promos. Due to the fact that your followers can also share the offer with their friends, a really good offer will spread like wildfire. Social media is used, of course, to raise brand awareness just by posting interesting articles, information and contests.
One more thing quite interesting, is to see how to use social media to do customer research, through surveys and polls.