Social marketing reaches full potential on the Web; however, it is a two-way street best not navigated alone. Consumers are forever in flux and actions taken by consumers on the Web are instantaneous — marketing must be nimble to react to trends and consumer feedback just as quickly as it can leverage new technology and social media spaces. The job of marketing on the Web has grown to be two very distinct areas: matching consumers to products and maintaining consumer relationships.

Matching consumers to products — is it enough?

The Web as ad space has grown in leaps and bounds as more and more users enter the Web sphere. Cart and horse analogies aside, the Web’s growth has been organic and fueled by advertising; no better example exists than that of the social media spaces.

Social media spaces can be best described as any place on the Web where users interact with the site’s content and each other; essentially, the draw of the site is the users and their unique voices. The vast ad networks of linked content-specific Web sites and blogs, niche entertainment/online game sites, community news aggregators, and “friend” spaces are many and varied. However, all have a common thread of real people (for the most part) discussing real issues and concerns in their lives.

With the millions of social space users, the opportunities to match the right consumer to the right product is growing and becoming increasingly more cost-effective and measurable. This should be a slam dunk…numbers don’t lie, right?

The early promise of the Web for consumers was that of a level playing field for price comparison shopping and, of course, the instant satisfaction of shopping from the comfort of your living room. The Web has become much, much more for consumers. It has evolved to be a powerful arsenal of consumer-centric tools. Consumers can evaluate products and services and offer opinions in real time — in some cases, anonymously. Bad service and poor product support is called to light for all to see, as is the opposite true. This social media space can be a mine field for companies without the right guide.