Marketing and the Internet: The Rise of Social Media

The use of social media marketing has become a standard way in which organizations advertise their products or services. Social media marketing allows consumers to have immediate access to other consumers reviews or to post a review about a product or service. There is engagement between the company and the consumer (Evans, Dave 2010). Social Media emerged in the late 1980’s when websites such as Prodigy, Compuserve and America Online. Prodigy was first of it’s kind and was known as a ”consumer online service”. Half of the page is devoted to advertising. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Hi5, Bebo and Orkut are all social media platforms that are utilized as platforms today.

One of the key roles of social media from a marketing perspective is the development of a client based platform. It is becoming an increasingly important part of any business’s marketing. Businesses can utilize existing online platforms to build networks of current and potential clients. By being active online allows businesses to connect with their customers in innovative ways to become a trusted source of information and convey the passion they have for their industry.

It is interesting how social media today is influencing the marketing role of many companies and how it’s playing a big role in their success. The more the company advertises on social media, the

In this era of internet marketers, Social Media (blogs, social networks, content communities, wiki 's and podcasts), have largely changed the face of marketing and media. Social media relies on consumer generated content and hence doesn’t conform to the ideals of traditional media where content, both commercial and other, is ‘engineered’ to suit the need of a promoter or seller. (Fernando 2007). This hence is in direct contrast with the traditional promotional mix as consumer interaction and orientation is at an optimum. This medium, in the light of a business communication strategy, is highly conversational, collaborative and credible. This involves opinion makers, journalists, seasoned practitioners and the audience who interacts with one another on a regular basis. (Fernando 2007). This high level of interaction and involvement is devoid in the traditional media and the marketing field as well. Capon and Hulbert have observed that the modern consumer is different: demanding, individualistic, involved, independent, better informed and more critical (2000 cited Constantinides, E 2006). Social Media as a whole provides the

Social media has become essential as a marketing tool for CU's, which is why 74% of marketers are incorporating social media into their marketing budgets. The CMO Survey released in August 2014, indicates that “marketing budgets are expected to increase by 7.2% in the next year.” With 1.65 billion social accounts that are active globally, social media has become an effective

Social media is not new. Facebook has been around since 2004, YouTube since 2005, and Twitter in 2006. What is new is how social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are affecting the way businesses market their products and services. Never before in our history have consumers been able to communicate so effortlessly with each other and with the businesses they frequent. Never before have businesses been able to interact and react to customer feedback so quickly and efficiently. However, just because businesses have the ability to use social media for their marketing and advertising efforts, does not necessarily mean they should. This paper intends to

The way that individuals and businesses communicate and interact has radically changed. With the development of technology and the internet, people can connect almost instantaneously and with very little effort. Social media has come to play a huge part in the way that the world communicates with each other. In fact, a recent report shows that in a single month people spend over 25 hours on social networks (“The Digital Consumer”). With consumers committing that much time to social media sites, social networking has become an important aspect of everyday life for individuals—and businesses. Like most marketing activities, social media marketing poses some risk. However, it is advantageous for businesses to exploit this opportunity, and develop an effective and ethical marketing strategy that includes using social media as a marketing tool.

We cannot deny how big of an impact social media has on our lives now, not only on people but businesses too. It has opened a whole new door to the business world and given them a big opportunity to interact and attract a larger amount of customers. It’s given us a new and faster way of communication by exchanging pictures, stories, news, blogs, online discussions, etc. In exchange businesses have benefited by a long shot just by the click of a button. With the help of the Internet a company no longer is dependent on a particular customer base to survive because now it can reach out to a worldwide audience within seconds. It’s imaginable the countless business attributes of all social media to this day and still is growing. Social media

The marketing industry is an elaborate network that links companies to their consumers, primarily through written communication. The main objective of marketing is to identify trends and patterns in consumer behavior, and utilize the data to influence consumers to purchase more goods. From a macroenviroment standpoint, the general conditions of a market are heavily dependent on global environmental factors. The most significant factor that influences the markets today is technological advancements. Since the release of Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, and Myspace in the early 2000s, the number of people using social media has increased to over sixty-five percent. The ever-growing dependency on social media platforms, has given marketers the tremendous opportunity to further market potential consumers. Social media marketing is a specific form of marketing that focuses on producing ad content that social media users will post on their own networks. This particular marketing technique is effective because ads and content are created, based on what personal information users post on social media. Firms and organizations that advertise their brands on social media are more likely to increase their customer base and annual revenue. By doing so, companies are able to increase exposure of their brand and widen previous hidden, customer bases. As a marketer, the fine line between right and wrong is often blurred. The amount and

In today’s business world, social media is being discussed on a daily basis. This phenomenon has taken over the marketing and advertising industries and has changed the way they handle their efforts to attract customers. There is a big misunderstanding that social media are only popular networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, social media are “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).” The rise of these online communities has given companies an opportunity to engage in conversations with their customers. This in

Social network is hot. Social Networking is now the trend. And for businesses it represents a marketing opportunity that transcends the traditional middleman and connects companies directly with customers. This is why nearly every business on the planet—from giants like Starbucks and IBM to the local ice cream shop—are exploring social media marketing initiatives. A year ago, businesses were uncertain about social network. Now it 's here to stay and companies are rapidly adopting social network marketing. Much like email and websites first empowered businesses, social network is the next marketing wave.

The relentless emergence of the diverse Social Media platforms has been impacting the way people and businesses interact and communicate with each other. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the dynamics by which businesses and particularly Business to Business (B2B) companies attract customers and promote their products and services to them using social media. With an increasing competitiveness in various fields and the innovative ways marketers use to bring new prospects, some businesses have been left behind and have known a considerable decrease in their productivity due to the lack of use of the adequate social media channels.

Companies have started hiring manpower in seeking to maintain a positive social media outlook for the community to associate with. Today having social connections with your consumers does mean a lot to your company’s reputation, it is not always about having quality goods and services only (Wege, C. and Haenlein, 2013). Companies now no longer see marketing themselves in social media as a want but as a need that has to be done. It has influenced the marketing strategy that almost seventy-six percent of businesses use it to fully reach the targets in their marketing objectives. Direct sales on the other have been increasing, triggered by an increase in the use of smartphones and electronic means of payment (Wege, C. and Haenlein, 2013).

Today we live in the age of internet which has given rise to many revolutions including e-commerce, m-commerce and now social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube are changing the way how organisations are now targeting their customers and how it is used to engage with them in the new age. There is wide interrelationship between uses of such platforms to communicate with the customers. With the growing number of users on such platforms organisations see it now as an effective way of promoting to, engaging with and analysing consumers. The extent of impact it has on consumers is what needs to be known which the central theme of this research becomes.

Social Media are an integral part of the integrated marketing communication (IMC), which has been defined thus: “True IMC is the development of marketing strategies and creative campaigns that weave together multiple marketing disciplines (public relations, paid advertising, social media, promotion, and owned assets) that are selected and then executed to suit the particular goals of the brand" (Bennett, 2013). Owing to its nature of generating large user content (user generated content, UGC), its stickiness and user behaviour which make them generate useful insights for businesses, the ease of sharing contents and the viral ability of these media, empowering the users to voice their sentiments, businesses have few choices than to tap into the opportunities provided by these media.