Like the coin has two sides; a heads and a tail, everything that has a presence has two aspects. Similarly, when we talk of the online world, it is the same. Everything you do in this online world either fetches you laurels or smashes you down. For businesses, it is either hike in sales or bad reputation.

Businesses these days have been competing with each other to make it to the top of the search rankings. The more often you come at the top of the rankings, more is the probability of you getting a prospect. Be it search engine optimization, social media optimization, advertisements on various media, reputation marketing etc. anyone would risk every other alternative available to excel in this online world. The recent 2013 marketing trends reveal that, apart from other trends social media has got enormous potential. That’s the reason businesses have used this platform to promote their products and services to their target audience. Social media has provided a boost to the retail and e-commerce businesses than any other. Every other brand these days use social media sites to promote products and offers.

But, every day is not the same. Sometimes businesses have to face tough times while dealing with a customer. As businesses profit from these sites, users also avail these platforms to provide feedback. These feedback may not be positive always. I had once bought an electronic item from one of the leading e-commerce business. Unfortunately, the item I received was a faulty one. I had to reach their customer service department but, of no use. No one heard me after numerous follow ups. Then, I thought of using the online power to create a buzz about their poor service. I logged in to one of the leading social media channels and kept on posting negative comments about them. I also started number of threads in forums writing about the poor quality of service provided by the company. I found out that, within few days some of the other customers also started shouting at them. These comments and post about the business would have been seen by other users which might have harmed the business’s reputation. After a few days, their business head called me up and asked me about my issue. I was shocked to see that the response was quick and my issue was solved within few days. This made me realize the power of online world. I felt that businesses do not worry much about the physical world but, when it comes to virtual world, they are more and more concerned.

Through this post I am not saying that by going online, your business’s reputation is at stake. But, just that, businesses should make sure they listen to their customers. There are examples of number of businesses doubling their revenue in just a year by promoting their products and offers online on social media sites. Statistics reveal that social media is the major source of generating sales and the trend will continue for coming years as well. Hence, it’s up to you to decide to get Social or Not?