The internet has come a long way since it was first introduced to the world. It became the main device for businesses to market their service or goods. The more links or pages they had, the better their ranking became which meant more business coming their way. This is not the case anymore because link building can be compromised by having links being falsely used. It's not that hard to hire a company that uses its employees to create fake links or click on links they know nothing about. Their job is to just click links.
This link clicking has caused penalties to be placed on websites with this practice. As the Internet grows, so does social media. Everyone has heard the term "word of mouth". One person tells another about a business, that person spreads the word to their friends and so on it goes. Can you imagine how far the name of that business could actually go just from the start of one person?
Social media is following the same process. It works because you are using a live environment. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin are sites that are being used 24/7. If you share content, such as your business, it is viewed immediately. A viewer can then share the same content and on down the line it goes. Your website is not waiting around for someone to click on a link that they happen to cross.
In this Internet time, you don't have to pay a company to go directly to your links to improve your rankings. By hitting social media sites, you can get free twitter followers. This is how to get free youtube views as well. Facebook is a huge social media site. You can get facebook fans with just one facebook share. Your one share could put your rankings through the roof. People that use these sites, especially the younger generation; have competitions on how many followers they have or how many they are following.
This competition along with true interested people sharing your content will at some point, lead them to a customer status. People who may have never thought about using your product or service could view a share from someone on their account and give your business a second look. The rankings on the search engines are still important when it comes to long term goals but social media grows your awareness quickly and effectively without having to put out any money for it.