Marketing is when social media sites and applications are used to spread the word about a service or commodity. As e-marketing and digital marketing continue to rule the roost in the academy, social media marketing continues to gain traction among professionals and academics alike. Companies may monitor the success of their social media initiatives and how engaged their target audience is by using the analytics features built into most major social media sites. Through social media marketing training, companies can communicate with a wide variety of audiences, including present and potential customers, current and potential workers, journalists, bloggers, and the general public.