How Will Social Media Change Your Life?

I am an employee of an e-commerce company (www.wigsuperstore.com), and over the past few weeks I've watched something very interesting happen, people have been flocking to our site via several different forms of social media. The entire internet marketing game has changed, apparently without my knowledge. While traditional methods of advertising still work, you can't do that alone anymore. I've been on Facebook for about year now and really like it. I use it to keep up with friends and family that don't live close to me. I've also had a Myspace page for a couple of years as well for the same reason, but haven't used it much since joining Facebook. I recently started working for WigSuperstore.com and started doing some research on internet marketing, and what I saw was astonishing. One article I read http://mashable.com/2009/01/09/twitter-growth-2008/reported some almost unbelievable unique visit numbers for 2008: Blogger 222 million, Facebook 200 million, and MySpace 126 million.

What does this mean for retailers? It depends on who you ask. Some experts believe its a fad and will flame out as soon as it came. Others think that the retailers that participate wisely will reap the reward of having played this game. I don't totally agree with either train of thought. In todays world any size business can get their brand out there everywhere without spending a penny. Opportunities for sales and new customers lurk around every corner of LinkedIn, and Twitter. It does take effort and sincerity though. You have to be able to back up your product with good customer service and a willingness to listen to the consumer. A bad experience can spread like wildfire, but so can a good one. Retailers must be willing to put themselves out there and try to do the right thing by there customers if they choose to use social media as a form of marketing.

What does this all mean for the consumer? Well, the economy isn't good right now, but people are still spending money, they are just looking for deals. Coupon codes, giveaways, and links to sales can be found in all the networks I've mentioned above, so I suggest taking a look. The customer of today has many tools to decide who they should buy from, but its up to them to use them. Blogs like this one exisist all over the internet. You can find a review of nearly any product you can think of, and it doesn't have to come from the retailers site.

No matter which side of the coin you're on, social media is a good thing, if its used honestly and sincerely. This all boils down to communication. Consumers, and retailers have the opportunity to talk like never before, and in so many different ways. I can't wait to see what happens next!

If you would like you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/wigsuperstore, friend me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1416912332&ref=profile, or MySpace at www.myspace.com/wigsuperstore.