Social media has often been termed as the new wave of advertising; It is now looked upon by many businesses and business gurus as a largely untapped resource with significant potential.
This is with reason too; as society becomes ever more connected, people's opinions are ever more present in our daily lives, and they all play a role to a certain degree on how we perceive the world.
Hence "bad press" or "good press" do more than just change the public's viewpoint on a company at a point in time; such events and the following social shockwave change and mould people's perceptions of the company in the long term.
The importance of the more obscure communication (in the business context) being stated; the question becomes "how can it be utilized to favor the business?" This is sadly seldom asked; yet every business is affected by social media to a certain degree.
Social Media, unlike advertising, is not directly controllable; however it can be manipulated, by certain means.
The fastest spreading social medium is the internet.
The power of this medium can be harnessed via "attention".
The main key is to draw people's attention; people will pay attention to what ever draws their attention.
What draws people's attention is whatever grants significant mental stimulation.
In a world flooded with advertisements making all sorts of claims.
Traditional advertisement methods have become so commonplace; nothing draws peoples attention anymore.
The majority has learned to ignore and block out such commonalities, which are irrelevant to their lives; i.
e.
they offer no value in terms of mental stimulation, which leads to emotions of, excitement, fascination etc.
Instead people see them for what they are, - advertisements trying to get their business.