A lot of people have been asking us lately why social media marketing is important. There are a lot reasons why social media marketing is important, so I decided to come up with a list:

• Social media marketing is the fastest growing segment in marketing. Recently, you may have heard that Pepsi didn't run a commercial in the big game because they were putting that money into social media marketing. That should tell you something.
• Social media marketing helps level the playing field. You don't have to be a big company like Budweiser, Pepsi or Apple to become involved in social media marketing. Even small companies can make a big splash if done right.
• Social media marketing opens lines of communications with customers and prospects. This is huge key to consider, because the days of a one-way conversations are over.
• Social media media marketing is relatively inexpensive. It's much more economical than television, newspaper ads and radio, and it can create a viral buzz.
• Social media marketing is not just for kids. The fastest growing segment of Facebook users is the 35+ age demographic.
• Your competitors will be there, if they're not there already. Make no mistake, soon it will be the norm. Those that get there first usually have the advantage.
• Social media helps build content that can influence rankings. If you develop a blog, Tweet and reply to blogs, as well as interface on Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and StumbleUpon, you're building valuable content that will help your keyword ranking over time.
• Social media can provide an excellent R.O.I. Facebook ads, for example, can produce a better R.O.I. than Google in our experience. Most people know about Google Adwords. Not that many know the power of Facebook ads.
• Social media is the future. It's open, interactive, and genuine. And if you're not embracing social media marketing, you're going to be left behind.

If you need help in developing social media marketing into your organization, Thrust Internet can help. Whether you decide to get help or not, it's time to get into social media marketing.