How can Social Media Influence your Business ?

We can consider Social Media to be a form of communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content (like videos).


Forms of Social Media that are well known until now:

• Forums;
• Social Networks ( like Facebook or LinkedIn );
• Blogging;
• Microblogging ( like Twitter );
• Video Sharing ( like YouTube or Vimeo );
• Social Bookmarketing ( like Digg );
• Broader Content ( best examples are Slideshare and Scribd);
• Social Gaming - this concept has just been recognized even if it exists for a long time, even before some of the ones listed above.

Most of the Businesses perceive Social Media as a good thing, as an opportunity, but there are not many Executives that think about the negative effect Social Media can have on their Business. Before Social Media existed, if you had a problem with a company or a business, the information would have stayed in the circle of your friends with a very small chance to move forward to other people. With  Social Media, your information will circulate faster and more persons will know about it.

Social Media is what makes Word of Mouth more powerful, a lot of businesses acknowledged this effect and as a result today we are using concepts like Social Media Marketing, we didn't even imagined it would exist years ago. Nowadays, one in seven companies have a formal process for Social Networking in their business and one in five companies have established policies about the use of Social Media in their Company.