New social media platforms have changed the way of life and consequently the way businesses do marketing and advertising.

In order to remain relevant, businesses have had to adapt to the trends that come with the new platforms. Some of the ways Social media has impacted marketing for organisations include:

Specific advertising: From a marketing and advertising perspective, the most influential aspect of social media involves targeting. Initially it was almost impossible to develop and put advertising materials in front of the targeted market but with sites like Facebook, a marketer knows where to find particular clients and delivers to them directly.

Organic marketing: Internet marketing has been here for some time, but it had a pushy way to its delivering of information. Social media marketing has brought about a way of promoting useful content to users at their own initiative - by the click of a button.

Real time customer service: Responsive customer service required a lot of resources to achieve its objectives before social media. This has since changed tremendously as businesses now only requires a social media account to provide service to its clients.

Flexibility in content dissemination: The rise of social media has subsequently spurred growth of content marketing. In the past, the only options for content dissemination were to publish via an onsite blog, email subscriber lists etc. Now, direct posting on social media has made publishing easier for everyone.

In order to remain relevant, businesses have to keep an ear on the ground when it concerns social media trends and evolve with the platforms to be a step ahead.