As a marketer myself, I am very well aware that digital marketing is fast gaining a strong foothold and almost every marketing plan today include as least one of the many social media or some sort of online aspect.  But as to really put it into a marketing plan, ensuring that the objectives are met while ensuring that the bosses are happy with the type of resources taken up, it can be a real challenge.
However, having said that, businesses today have to understand how and what social media can do for you before jumping into the bandwagon.  Because most do, and for the wrong reasons and later feel that it doesn’t work for them when its not the case.  Here’s my list of what social media can do for you :-

(1) Build a network who agrees to receive your broadcast of marketing messages & engaging with your customers & potential customers
Those who has done direct emailing know that every email address must opt-in to receive your marketing messages.  Unsolicited messages can lead you to a lot of sticky issues ~ getting a call from the internet provider is not pleasant & damaging, having your domain blacklisted means that even your emails will not reach your customers (these days email servers subscribe to these blacklists to keep spam low) and you definitely don’t want to have your email server blocked (I’ve experienced this in my previous company).  But with social media, they are following you voluntarily and you can broadcast your messages to them ~ of course with a proper strategy & execution.
(2) A channel to listen to feedback/comments
The truth hurts, and some companies choose to ignore constructive feedbacks or ‘listen less’ of such feedback, and assume that they are the minority.  With social media, even the minority’s voice can become major if not handled carefully.  People are talking and sharing thoughts/ideas/experiences all the time ~ you don’t want a multiplication effect for the wrong reasons.  So, listening is important, and social media can help you reach out to listen.
(3) Knowing what’s hot / being discussed in your industry
Because of the nature of social media, news and latest updates gets discussed so very quickly and you want to make full use of these conversations – to know the latest trends/issues/challenges so that you can make a business decision on how to react to it.
(4) Opportunity to clarify/correct misconceptions
You can immediately rectify misconceptions by offering clarifications and these messages are going to be read by all who follow you.  Your voices gets heard and you can reach out to many at one go.

(5) Participate in the conversations, reinforce your message
When you see a topic concerning you being discussed, this is your opportunity to strike while the iron is hot.  Not only are you able to participate, you can even reinforce your message and subtly promote yourself.

(6) Opportunity to be the voice of authority
Its not easy, I know.  People don’t trust you overnight, it has to be done consistently over a period of time.  Start with providing good information with interesting information and real value.  If you can offer tips that can help and yet subtly sell yourself, that would be best! Track your click-through rates for your to know the effectiveness.  When you offer tips/interesting information, people tend to take note. Now you’ve got their attention and their trust!

I’ve seen some companies thinking and believing that social media is HARD SELLING when its not.  No one wants to be a fan of Facebook to be continuously bombarded with endless promotions and hard-sell marketing messages.  You have to engage with your audience, build the trust, and listen in order to get people to buy the idea.  Some get impatient by the day because the expectation has been set wrongly in the first place.  The other things is also the tendency to OVERDO because its a free tool.  A strategy in mind and proper execution is key to successful social media use.