by Leigh Goessl

Created on: May 02, 2010

Social media strategies have rapidly become an important part of the integrated marketing planning process. Companies that do not bother investing in the social media aspect of a marketing plan are likely going to lose out on a big segment that could have been used as a great marketing avenue.

Nowadays the web is where it is at, and the presence and popularity of social network sites only strengthens this fact. The reality is much of society is spending time interacting on websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Author Augie Ray points out in his 2008 post on socialmediatoday.com, once upon a time businesses actually debated whether or not they even needed to establish a web presence. Today that goes without saying. Companies that don't create a website are going to lose a lot of visibility and as a result, competitive advantage as well.

Fast forward to today and social media popularity has exploded. No longer are web surfers just content consumers, they are now much more involved in producing content as well. Businesses that ignore this aspect of web interaction are failing to realize the prevalence of social media and how it can be used to their benefit.

Here are a few ways not having a social media strategy can harm a business:

*Lose Visibility

Companies that do not invest in social media marketing lose opportunities to obtain higher levels of visibility. You've got to figure that if one happy customer has 300 friends on any given network, there is possibility they'll tell all their friends. Interacting with those on social networks makes good business sense.

In addition, many companies are successfully increasing brand visibility through marketing channels such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. This is where customers are spending their time, so it makes sense companies would want to create a presence there too.

This is not unlike traditional marketing channels such as television or radio commercials that are primed for specific networks and during precise time slots. It's important to try and be visible at times most likely to be seen, and today that's on the Internet where people are creating content and socializing.

Granted the interactive segment aligned with social media makes it different, but in terms of visibility it makes sense to be present where it is more likely to be seen.

*Lost Opportunities

Companies that don't bother investing will find several opportunities lost. This loss includes missing out on connecting with large segments

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