Over the past decade the word, social, has taken on a completely different meaning from what it once was. At one point, anything involving social interactions were done in person, face-to-face, or at most over the phone. During that time any nonprofit marketing strategy was conducted through telemarketing lead lists and residential address lists.
In an ironic twist, the majority of social interactions now seem to take place over the internet. As essential as the internet is to almost any daily function or business communication, 74% of all users, take advantage by interacting through social networking. Why not reach them where you know they will be heading?
Social Media has become possibly the biggest hub of web traffic that the internet age has ever seen. Marketing companies have begun to take notice and are now capitalizing on this immense flow of information. By using a nonprofit marketing strategy, companies have found a way to cheaply spread the word about their businesses without the invasive properties of previous forms of advertising.
In past years, people dreaded the inevitable onslaught of ads that came from being placed on telemarketer calling lists or renters mailing lists. Never have fathers been so quick and furious to hang up a phone. Not only was this invasive to the potential customers being marketed to, but also cost a lot of money from the businesses being advertised in wages to the telemarketers.
Having the internet as a new medium of communication has allowed businesses to use consumers to fulfill part of their nonprofit marketing strategy for them. Given how many hours a day people spend online, it should come as no surprise how influential the information present on social media can be. During the 2012 presidential election, 30% of all registered voters were found to have been influenced by friends and family on social networking sites regarding their decision. If this new form of social communication can have an affect on the most powerful person in the world, it can certainly work wonders spreading the word about companies.
Even most businesses have profile pages in order to be more accessible. This makes them open to business to business marketing as well. In fact they are adamant about creating and maintaining these relationships with 37% of business to business marketing leads being generated automatically online.
This cutting edge way of reaching consumers is like having a billboard on their timeline. Online ads can be simple and cheap. Now it is easy to post any marketing materials to a place where the people you are trying to reach travel everyday. Consumers could be exposed to a brand without really knowing so. They will respect a passive approach over the spamming of calls straight to their cell phone. If you want to better understand this process, simply scour the social networks for businesses. They will almost certainly be advertising to you when you find them.