The known and hidden facts of Social Media Marketing.

In the awake of technology driven society, social media has changed people do better business online. It offers so many realistic innovative opportunities that sometimes people overlook its flaws and forget its limitations. Yes, social media is powerful tool to market a brand and this is a fact. But hidden behind those beautiful truths of social media, there are ugly truths behind it. Here is a more realistic guide that will open your eyes to see how social media
really works.

1. Social media can increase sales
Social media is a new innovation that is incredibly efficient and reliable when it comes to improving product sales and boost a company’s profit. It is proven to be a
convenient marketing campaign for both big brands and small businesses. By just posting compelling content and good use of relevant keywords and hash-tag in different social networking sites you can already gain new visitor
to your website and can able to reach out a larger audience.

Ugly truth: It doesn’t happen overnight, it requires hard work and consistent effort over a dedicated period of time. You cannot see results immediately so you have to be patient in updating your social media. You have to monitor and measure your online visibility. Aside from that, you also need to be consistent in promoting your business. If you are new to social media marketing, there will be a lot of work to do and frustrations will always be around. Even how difficult it is to improve your online business exposure, do not give up. Your persistence and effort will be paid off once you get to see the results.

2. Social media can establish authority
It is not easy to create an authoritative online presence but with the help of social media, establishing your business as an authority will not even make you sweat. Competition is very tight in the world of technology and Internet. And one thing that can make your business stand- out is to differentiate yourself from your competitors. You have to build trust, credibility, and value to your customers to gain authority in your chosen
niche. How? Create an active social media presence.

Ugly truth: As you establish authorship, you will also be exposed not only to your prospect clients but to
detractors as well. You will gain more readers and critics so expect that you will receive more criticisms and negative comments from other bloggers, users, etc. Once your brand get associated with malicious or unpleasant issues on the web, it could blemished or damaged your
brand image. Some will write negative or painful things about your product and when other people read such
feedback it could affect your brand’s reputation.

3. Social media is free
Yes, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. offer free membership in their websites. Once you have accounts in these sites, you can already start your social media marketing campaign. You can add friends, get followers, and widen your connections all over the web. See? You don’t need to spend a hundred bucks to pay for TV commercials or print advertisements to introduce your services or products. It is given to you for free.

Ugly truth: Registration to various social networking sites is free BUT you still need to invest time, effort, and money in maintaining it. You have to be hands-on in managing your social networking sites. If you cannot do the job due to many responsibilities that you have to attend to in your business you can delegate the tasks to your employees. To get realistic results in your social media campaign, you need to dedicate budget and come up with strategies on how you can make your social media engaging to the audience.

4. Social media helps build high quality relationship One of the benefits of using social media in your business is that it open doors of opportunities for you to get to know your potential customers and it also teach you how to get engaged with them. As you build deeper business relationship to your prospect customers, you can easily identify the needs of your target market. Relationships can result to leads and leads can turn to customers which will direct you to new clients. 

Ugly truth: It requires consistency, connection, and good communication skills. You have to stay connected and up to date about the things that interest’s your audience. You have to get involved not only in posting good contents in your blog but you also need to get engaged in social communities and be interested to other things that can attract more new clients.

5. Social media is a widely used marketing tool Studies say that social media is an effective marketing tool to draw in much larger audience and qualified leads. It benefits all kinds of businesses that is why most companies these days are already hooked and using it because they are seeing a good return on their investment.

Ugly truth: It is not a complete marketing strategy. There is a risk on it but some marketers overlooked at it. To use its overall potential, it should be incorporated with other inbound marketing strategies like Search engine optimization, content writing, keyword research, brand reputation, etc.. Once you successfully apply these methods on your marketing campaign expect to get good and valuable outcomes. But if you don’t used its
resources efficiently, all the investment and effort you put on it will go to waste.

A brief depiction of Syrian Civil War

Syrian Civil War into its 4th year now. Started from the splinters of Arab Spring; paddled as a political movement to dethrone Bashar Al Assad for alleged suppression of Non Alawaites sect has traversed into many horrendous and treacherous routes. The peaceful political movement first divided its population among different cities and towns forming a unexpected solid armored shatterproof battlezone which Assad has not been expecting. Determined to crush the once peaceful movement, Assad vowed to his regional ally Iran for their financial support and Hezbollah interference apart from being granted with military equipments from old friend Russia. The movement then turned violent when Assad ordered firing on peaceful protestors with gun fighting started on urban streets of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs.

The battle was getting propelled upon the arrival of Hezbollah utilizing its military experience to crush the rivals. There was no way that united rivals could stand against mighty air power of Assad and Hezbollah's experience. The defeat was unanimously sure for the rivals until that fear of defeat divided the rivals into various moderate and hardline Islamic factions giving birth to Free Syrian Army (moderate); whose fighters were defected soldiers from Assad's forces, Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al Nusra and another ferocious brutal Al Qaeda offshoot called as ISIL or ISIS later commonly known as IS (Islamic State) whose purpose was to carve out a oil rich region and form a Caliphate. Most of analysts believe that IS was gradually transformed from the Al Qaeda in Iraq in the course of time during US intervention in Iraq. Very little is known about its mysterious leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, who was once detained in Guantanamo before being freed later.

This rivals were turned into rebels fighting both Assad Army and each other's faction. The street fighting incited into a full fledged war. Caught in the middle of that were innocent civilians and humanitarian workers which can be sermoned as a collateral damage. Tens of hundred died or killed everyday in middle of the firefight and the violence now roaring to a new level. Winning the war or defeating any faction seems unconclusive in a war like this. With war boiling all around, hopeless and crushed civilians started their first exodus to neighboring countries like Lebnon, Turkey and Jordan. It was shocking to me to find out a refugee camp in Jordan called Zatari camp run by UN which later became the largest and populous refugee camp in the world accomodating millions of Syrian civilians. The once prospered, multi cultured, vibrant Syria was in its ruins with many historical heritage sites levelled to the ground in barrel bombing.

Many moderate rebels turned their eye to West and US for their support or intervention, but all turned vain thought Obama and Western leaders Merkel, Hollande and Cameron wanted Assad to step down. Looking down to regional support were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and UAE. But the war by then spread into a religious war among Alawaites, a commonly Shia sect and Sunnis. An outside interference would only be ethical now as all regional opponent were Sunnis. Rather giving benefit of doubt to moderate rebels group, they chose to arm the hardliners Islamic militants which had already started to recruit foreign fighters from other countries like Chechyna, France, Africa etc, but denying the fact of arming them commonly in media. The war became a trickster game now which includes dirty politics, occupation, Oil and power. Assad army now face multiple enemies and factions and it is now quite forseeable to find that all of his Syria were not under his control anymore. He however was able to retain Damascus and port city Latakia but Aleppo, Homs, Dara and Raqqa saw severe fihhting and bombings, so severe that neither sides were used to rest at night.

It was always a tug of war, when we heard the condemnable incident of Chemical attack on the suburbs of Damascus, Ghouta which rumuored to have killed thousands of civilians. No side took any admittance rather making allegations on each other. That however angered the UN and US which ordered a multi national effort to destroy all chemical weapons from Syria, which Assad agreed owing to pressure from International powers. The war however never talked of any stoppage time or ceasefire except in 2014, in its 4th year, rebels n government forces agreed to call ceasefire and vacate Homs once for all upon a truce signed by UN. However the war was still brewing in other politically important cities and moderate rebels were helpless now fighting both Assad army and Islamic militants like IS and Al Nusra.

By 2014, IS was declared as the wealthiest terrorist organization, head quartered in Raqqa and forming a caliphate. To a very few, it strike their mind that IS would now be called the most dreaded, brutal terrorist organization in the world inspiring many other terrorist organization around the world to support the Caliphate and its mysteriou leader Baghdadi. To most of the war analysts in Middle East, it was quite obvious that How come a terrorist organization like IS be the wealthiest. One undeniable fact was the funding received from wealthy Sheikhs in Qatar, SA, UAE who are Sunni muslims. The othe sources of funding were obvious too but revealations were shocking. IS in their Caliphate imposed strict, brutal Sharia law which turned the heat into non Sunni and the minorities in the region. The non sunni and other religious minorities were told to convert or pay taxes. The third option was to be shot dead or beheaded. Secondly another source of funding was from the illegal supply of Oil from the captured territory to other cities, neighboring Iraqi middleman and even to the Assad government itself. Thirdly the money that came from extortion, kidnappings, looting of banks and selling minority women as slaves. Infact IS principles were so dreaded and brutal, that even Al Qaeda decided to make part with it. Assad army and Hezbollah now faces a new kind of conventional army which mastered the online recruitments of Jihadis from various far flung countries. IS uses extensive social media platforms to advertise their brand and skills in live war apart from advertising their propaganda and executions. This inspired new eligible recruits to be motivated. By some, it is estimated that IS has a strength of 30000 to 40000 fighters. They were immensly successful in capturing key military bases from Assad Army in many cities by outnumbering them. They were now in possession of Assad weapons, tanks and artilleries, honing their skills, harnessing their power and brutal belief system. They grow by each day and the rest of the world can just see them growing. They are in control of many parts of porus borders between Syria and Turkey and fought a demonic suicidal war with Syrian kurds recently in the town of Kobane for the control of main highway checkpoint with Turkey. They poses now a great danger to their own countries if they were return to someday and ignite their terror policies. Afterall they are battle hardened Islamic militants who were biased to do anything they think of, is a infidel. They were little known, less funded rebel group at the begining of the war but now times changed in 4 years of Syrian Civil War which sees no end in near approaching time. For me and many alike, it would not be wrong to say that it is the rise of ferocious Islamic State (IS) rather than never ending ongoing Syrian Civil War.

Note: War never changes anything. But only bring Chaos.

To the UNSPOKEN

To the unspoken

If it seems real and worthy speaking to a long lost girl

Then its good for me to curtain the endless voyage to her hair so uncurl.

As if so point to notice, it would be her naïve voice and face

That I couldn’t withstand, until the moment I was so left stranded in years.

The long lost eternity is back to hiss me like a pious soul and

I stray back to her with nothing but only language of love.

Her miraculous voice was so kept beneath my heart

For once I behold thy beauty, that I could be outclassed.

Her hair as divine just as so soothing like to be tangled upon 

Just like her beautiful face, as one could imagine to be breezed with.

Miracles doesn’t end within her, if I would say in all,

It just starts and end with her like an endless flowing river.

To me she is just a start or could be a devoted angel

For heartened her, I thou shall be a graceful associate.

Alone we don’t complete but together we can

Her evergreen voice is all I am left with,

As the nights and days passes by, her screaming beauty

Seems as so fainted by darkened skies and merciless hills.

Together my words are as lightened, uttering her wordless splendor.

I thou shall condemned to your soul. 
Written for a good friend.