It happens all the time to those of us who use technology. You are on your laptop scrolling through facebook or clicking on youtube, or even just lazily swiping through your phone and then...BAM an ad pops up taking you for sometimes as much as :30 seconds from what you are doing. Many years ago, people complained about how billboards on highways popping up while people were driving were distracting, but technology now has put a new face in advertising, something all businesses heavily rely on.

According to an article in Forbes magazine called, “The Developing Role of Social Media in the Modern Business World”, most big businesses have a well managed presence in all of the big three websites: Google, Facebook and Twitter. Before social media became so large, businesses used only single websites for advertising. Social media websites though are said to be more effective because they not only give out information on a service or product, but they create a conversation about it through customer responses. This conversation in many ways is effective. The article states that 85% of all businesses that have an active social media platform as part of their marketing strategy reported an increase in their market exposure and that, 58% of businesses that have used social media for over 3 years reported an increase in sales during that period.

An article in Fortune magazine called “Why Businesses Can’t Survive Without Social Media” even goes as far as saying that any business without social media in our modern world will set itself up to fail. Many years ago when the internet first started to become popular, some were skeptical and thought it was just a fad, but over the years people have been relying on the internet for more and more things. Whether it’s people printing out airline tickets online instead of at the airport or banking online instead, people now more than ever have more and more reasons to be on the internet.

Stores themselves, the article states, are slowly becoming obsolete. The billboards that pop up as we are driving are now taking on the forms of online pop ups or those ad’s they make us all watch before the actual video. The article also states that 90% of businesses see increased visitation while more than half report an improvement in sales from using social media.

All in all social media, just like the internet isn’t just a fad, but something that over the years is going to continue to grow. As it grows it will take on many different forms one of these forms is advertising. Advertising for many businesses is crucial, which is why some are willing to pay hundreds to thousands to have a commercial air during the super bowl when most viewers are watching. At least 25% percent of the planet uses social media so if exposure and perhaps increased sales is what a new business wants, then social media is the way to go.