Marketing Using Social Networking Essay

The definition of social media Wigmore provided is that the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. (2014) Social networks have evolved into online communities. They can be based around all sorts of thing like friendship or common interests, which allows file sharing, blogging and often-incorporate content from all sorts of other

Using social media for marketing can enable small business looking to further their reach to more customers. Your customers are interacting with brands through social media; therefore, having a strong social media presence on the web is the key to tap into their interest. If implemented correctly, marketing with social media can bring remarkable success to your business.

A large amount of information was collected from the articles and journals that were reviewed. All of the information that was looked at was in favor of using social media as a marketing strategy. It can be determined from the first article reviewed that while television advertising and e-mail marketing are effective means of marketing, social media is even more effective. This quote from the article “…consumers that have a greater motivation to find information, have a greater desire to socialize online and use the Internet are more likely to become part of the firm’s social media site” means that using social media puts the company in the perfect position to connect with consumers who are already there (Kumar, Ashish, et al, From Social to Sale). Another article reviewed shares the four most important aspects of social media marketing. The author lists them in order: organizational competence, customer engagement with social media, individual commitment, and organizational commitment (The Use of Social Media in Sales, Guesalaga). These four aspects are essential in having a successful social media marketing campaign. Organizational competence refers to the company’s knowledge, productivity, and expertise with social media (Guesalaga). Customer engagement refers to engaging the customer through methods such as commenting and messaging on forms of social media. Thirdly, there is individual commitment (Guesalaga).

Social media has taken off like a rocket throughout the years. The annoying sound of a modem connecting has turned into a soundless transaction. The wait time to connect is instant, opening a global world of interactions for people. You can now connect with anyone, anywhere at anytime at least once a day. Social media defined by Goyal is “Any platform,which provides the facility of sharing ideas, exchanging information and sending messages over an electronic medium, is considered as social media.” (Goyal,222). This is to include online magazines, Facebook, Twitter, Newspapers,Email, Blogs, YouTube and many more. Advertisers have taken notice to these platforms, utilizing social media to promote their brands, develop trust with the consumer,save money and target audiences faster than ever before.

Social media is a technological tool that allows users to share information (Business Dictionary, n.d.). Other common features include the ability for visitors to create personalized profiles or accounts where they can post information for others to view and the ability to link their accounts to others (Nations, n.d.). Within the term the “social” component means sharing with others and the “media” component refers to the technology that allows for the sharing (Nations, n.d.)

Web 2.0 is often referred to as the second generation of World Wide Web. “Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users.” (Beal,2013). This technology is used on various sites such as eBay, Gmail and Facebook. Web 2.0 makes sharing and collaborating user generated content easier through the incorporation of Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and Java.

Social media has had a significant impact on society in the past few years. It provides free communication to family members, old college friends and networking opportunities. Social media is constantly improving, constantly changing, and adapting to what the consumer wants. Social is a medium that business can also tap into free advertising, brand awareness and a customer service platform. Social media plans for a company needs to have a goal that can be measured. The fast pace of change and frequent emergence of new social platforms and tactics means you need to define your priorities and stay disciplined in pursuit of those priorities (Funk, 2013).

Today, many businesses are experiencing the effects of social media. Government, businesses, and communities interact through social media and use it to access their investors and potential customers. According to Donovan (2016), “Most types of businesses today make use of different tactics and techniques to make a significant exposure of their website to its target customers.” The goal is to use social media to maximize their potential in order to be one of the strongest participants in the business world.

Social media in its many forms, from user-generated content to the more complex and intricate social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter and others, all present marketers with a wealth of opportunities for connecting more effectively with their customers. And these social media platforms also allow for greater reach and clarity of messaging to prospects as well. What's behind his revolution in how social networks are changing marketing is the authenticity, transparency and trust that taken together serve as a very powerful catalyst of change in customer relationships (Mangold, Faulds, 2009). This is also revolutionizing how companies assess and take action on their customer's needs and wants, a s social networks when used as a listening platform, can also drive entirely new levels of insights as well (Singh, Sonnenburg, 2012).

In this modern era, all of us are connected to each other virtually through social media. What exactly are these ‘social media’ that we all talk about? According to Wikipedia, social media is defined as “a group of Internet-based applications that are built on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” [1] The use of social media is thus a definite sign of the advanced future of communication. Nowadays, we can hardly find a person with no interaction with social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Linkedin. Anyone can share, search, promote or create any kind of information among a selected group of members or publicly just in seconds with the support of these social media websites.

Social media has changed the business models of many organizations in engaging their customers to develop relationship with their products and services. Social media is also used to build their brands and maintain customer loyalty. Following figures gives an idea about scale of social media. According to searchengingewatch.com, worldwide 1.43 billion people had visited a social networking site in the year 2011. Facebook marketing infographic, world wide out of 8 people nearly every one person has their own Facebook page. In the year 2011, one million new user accounts were added in twitter everyday. Nielsen social media report of the year 2012 reveals that 65 percent of social media users had said that they use social media to know more about products, services and brands.

Social Network is all around us. So what exactly is a social network? Social network is either personal or business which allows users to interact with others by way of messaging, remarking, or just plain posting. Although there are many forms of this technology, we primarily hear about the common social network known as Facebook. Some other social network includes Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. My research of social networking it was more geared towards the Facebook era. I was a bit surprised of the information I uncovered and what I learned during my review. I wanted to discover how the social technology worked. There are so many areas to focus on, but when using social networks, we have to remember to be cautious about the use of social network, the experience, and even the ethical issues.

Being connected with the world has never been more easy and accessible than it is today through social networking. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the phrase “social media” refers to “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities in order to share information, ideas, and other content” (687). Information is readily available at one’s fingertips at any given moment. Social networking has evolved into one of the most common forms of communication since the launching of some of the earliest social networking sites, including Classmates.com, SixDegrees.com, and Theglobe.com, in the late 1990s ("Social Media: Does social media have a positive impact on the world?"). Social networking has become a

A business with an active social media website creates a platform to interact with clients. For instance, a business that timely goes through tweets and Facebook account has the opportunity to see the updates from various customers regarding their needs and what need to be improved. This in turn gives the business an idea on what to maximize on to meet their customers need. For example, maximizing on marketing strategies and reducing cost on products and services will increase business market share thus gaining a competitive advantage from their competitors.

The technology changes every day. It becomes an organization 's core motive to keep them technologically updated regularly, People believe what they see. It is very important to formulate strategies to promote the product or service as well.Marketing and advertising departments struggle to promote their brand and thereby raise its attractiveness. The social media marketing has changed the whole perspective of advertising. Social media marketing provides an amazing opportunity to connect directly with the customers.