An increasing number of businesses are turning to social media to advertise their activities over the internet, it has been suggested.
Stefan Boyle, founder of PrintRepublic.co.uk, explained that consumers are spending increasing amounts of time on networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
And with this being the case, more businesses are heading online to the same destination – aiming to engage with new consumers and increase customer loyalty.
Mr. Boyle said social media is continuing to grow as an integral part of business marketing.
“So much time is spent on social media that businesses want to leverage that by creating shop fronts on social media platforms more and more,” he added.
“Companies such as Facebook will continually look for ways to keep visitors on their sites as much as possible by offering more functionality, such as search and commerce.”
Roger Harrop, business expert and author, has also highlighted the importance of social media to businesses and organizations this week.
He explained that social media, websites and blogs are all being used to drum up interest in companies’ products and services over the web.
“You can use Twitter and do other things that cost you no money,” Mr. Harrop stated.
“Every company – without exception – should have a Facebook wall, because that’s what people want to do now.”
But if firms are hoping to take advantage of networking websites, they need to think about brand protection over the channel.
Companies may face competition for their desired social media usernames, and some firms may even see their trademarks used by other networkers.
In this instance, it may be necessary for businesses to recover social media usernames, in order to prevent other firms profiting from their intellectual property.