Boosting Brands Through Social Networks

From the Egypt and Tunisia to Libya revolution in Africa, the Arab countries have had their better part of the social media. Among the commonly used social networks, Facebook and Twitter have been widely used to mobilize civilians and organize meetings, where they would protest against the people in power. Also, to a large extent, reality shows like the Big Brother Africa and Tusker Project Fame have created pages on the networks to mobilize viewers to vote for their favourite contestants. Many companies have followed suit. The CocaCola, Mr. Price, Barclays bank, to name but a few, have opened up pages on these sites so as to get to know what people are saying about their brands. Through this, the company is able to exchange information with its customers, therefore bringing about brand understanding. The social networks also enhance viral marketing, whereby consumers on a company's social page help in passing on a brand's message to other potential consumers, hence creating awareness and minimizing the cost of advertising.Theoretically, most marketing books stipulate that customers with good or bad experiences with a company share it with 10-15 others. With the social networks, thousands of people can read  a post or a tweet describing their experiences. These social networks are here to stay, with many others being introduced day in day out, and it is an organization's responsibility to embrace this new trend to attract, win customers and boost their brands online.