Social media are interactive online technologies which permit the creation or share/exchange/transaction of ideas, thoughts, interests, and various types of expression through social networks and virtual communities. The users can interact with each other in the form of blogging, forum posting, uploaded pictures, audio clips, video clips, and links to the web pages. Social media are a great source of communication and of marketing since it allows the users to link to and from one another. Since it is free and it can be easily used, more people are using the same to keep in touch with each other.

It was only in the past few years that social media took the internet by storm. During this short period, it has grown phenomenally. Some consider this as the cause of the success of Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, etc. Others believe that social networking is the driving force behind LinkedIn and Twitter. Others say that Facebook, MySpace, and the other social media networks are actually just platforms for sharing and creating social connections on the internet.

Social media sharing is a useful tool for building strong digital marketing ties because the platform facilitates the exchange of business propositions and personal goals between users. This also promotes the development of long-term relationships and trust between businesses and their customers. This is because the platform facilitates peer to peer discussion, content publishing, user generated reviews, and high quality interaction. Hence, social media serves as a medium for sharing information and ideas through various digital marketing tools.

But how does it play in the business industry of today? Well, social media has already started to impact business in many different ways. For one, the increase in the number of visitors to websites has been observed. Another significant impact is that more individuals are now aware of the potentials of social networks to make them successful. Thus, we can find a noticeable rise in the number of businesses joining various social networking sites in preparation for the next decade.

This means that for businesses to engage with their consumers, they have to join these communities. However, before doing so, they need to determine their target market first. In engaging with the audience, they have to come up with relevant contents that will not bore the people but at the same time they should present the content in an interesting manner. To engage the audience, the marketers have to use the unique features of these networks like video, music videos, images, and short messages.

Through this process, we are also able to measure the responses of the users. Since these media networks like MySpace, Facebook, and the others allow users to post their comments and their opinions, we can get insights by looking at the comments and reactions of the people in the community. Thus, social media networks offer an ideal platform for businesses to increase their customer base, interact with their consumers, and create brand loyalty. The best part is that this interaction does not cost any money at all. As long as you have a quality product to sell, then you can start marketing through these media networks like MySpace and Facebook.