As demonstrated by the various presentations that we saw in Comm 101, social media is without a doubt a useful tool for marketing a business, but too many people see social media as something which will magically bring new customers to a company. That is simply far from the truth.
Mashable.com acknowledges this error in thinking by posting an article which speaks about four common misconceptions about social media:
- Small Businesses Must be on Social Media
- Set It and Forget It
- Word of Mouth Presence Isn’t There
- Social Media is Only for Broadcasting Messages
In summary, this websites tells the reader that social media should not be the one and only tool that small businesses should use in attempts to gain customers as there are still many people who do not use social media. It also reminds the reader that an entrepreneur or marketer cannot simply set up pages on social media sites and assume that people will automatically visit them.
Overall, I agree with the fact that social media has become a great tool for businesses to gain brand awareness, but it is only useful to those who spend time to use it properly.