In order for organizations to most effectively use social media for marketing, they must recognize and embrace that the emerging platforms are additional resources to complement and expand their entire marketing arsenals rather than replacements for existing marketing initiatives. Among the goals for which social media can be used are: Customer service, e.g. direct response to customer complaints Broadcasting updates, announcements, news, e.g. additional PR resource Promotions Behind the scenes look at the organization Advertising Organizations need to define their goals for social media in order to be successful. Goals may vary among platforms. For example, Facebook may be used for customer service and broadcasting updates while Twitter may be used for promotions. YouTube could give the behind the scenes look at the organization. The success factor may depend upon the goals: a certain number of new customers as a result of a promotion may be one goal; another may be responding to all customer complaints within a specified window of time in a customer service situation.

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