Social Media Marketing Communication
Overview
As seen in product marketing, successful marketing requires organizations to think outside of the box and find new ways to communicate to their consumers. The majority of consumers utilize social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube; organizations must exploit their marketing techniques on these sites in order to maximize their advertising range (Adis, Ing, Osman, Razli, Pang, Sondoh, & Majid, 2015). Not to mention, social media marketing has become more popular because of its cost-effectiveness and efficiency in reaching and engaging with consumers (Castronovo & Huang, 2012). For this reason, social networking is becoming a necessity, according to St. Clergy (2012),
Nearly four in five active Internet users visit social networks and blogs…Americans spend more time on Facebook than they do on any other U.S. website, and Internet users over 55 are driving the growth of social networking through the mobile Internet. (St. Clergy, 2012, para. 2)
Known as the horizontal revolution, information no longer flows vertically from big companies to the rest of the world, consumers have become marketing tools as well. Unfortunately, organizations are unable to control the message that consumers are communicating (Bruce & Solomon, 2013); however, they can use social media to assure their audiences of the company’s commitment to the consumer’s satisfaction.
Purpose
There are two types of marking communication used on
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
Social media is different from more traditional marketing tactics as it offers a free platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. This allows for the increase communication for organizations to foster brand awareness and often, and
The rise of social media has been a global phenomenon since internet giant Facebook began, with one in seven people having a Facebook account (Hennig-Thurau, Hofacker & Bloching 2013). This has had an impact on the marketing environment in several ways, with the two most notable being increased active participation and a strong level of networked interconnectedness (Hennig-Thurau, Hofacker & Bloching 2013). These two changes have shifted the power from the marketer to the consumer, as the regular consumer now has access to vast amounts of information and has the ability to amplify their opinion globally (Labrecque et al. 2013). For this reason, it may be argued that in the 21st century, marketing occurs among consumers, and is no longer purely
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.
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
September 4, 2015, I had the opportunity to interview Brynne Tillman, CEO of Social Sales Link to discuss marketing as a field. Publicist Brynne, tells her clients to “think in the box” in her book: Social Sales Link, which has been a guide to sales teams and marketers alike. She also devotes time each week to publish a new social media blog. Something she has been doing every Sunday morning for the last 2 years. Graduating in 1990 with her bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management lead to several sales positions. Brynne, at the forefront of the social media revolution, found a use in engaging customers in business. Using her sales experience she applied it to social media, becoming CEO of her own company, Social Sales Link. I was able to walk away with a better understanding about communications, importance of LinkedIn, expert opinions on social media, what every business owner should know, and innovation.
Social Media has changed the communication setting for all marketers. “Perhaps the greatest value of social media marketing is your ability to foster and engage with a community of people” (moz.com). An involved audience is one of the greatest resources a brand can have. There
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
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 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.
The evolution of online communication methods and development of social networks has transformed the operations and communications of many businesses. As the various social networking sites have continued to attract millions of users, social networking provides numerous benefits to businesses. Griffith (2011) states that users of social media are totally at ease to develop communities with common interests that help them to stay up-to-date through access to necessary information. Therefore, many companies and businesses have started to tap into social-media smarts to transform their advertising and communication strategies.
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 media marketing is the use of the online communities, social networks and blog marketing where companies seek to engage with their customers via online platforms. This mode of marketing is growing at a considerable pace explaining why many companies and businesses of all sizes are adopting the style (Neti, 2011). Trust and goodwill is the core in social networking and by marketing in the realm of social media; businesses need to adhere to these fundamental qualities. In addition, this marketing encourages fool proof communication and accountability among business people both the sellers and consumers (Neti, 2011).
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.
Social media is defined as a group of Internet-based applications which build on the platform of Web 2.0 and the contents of these applications can be modified by all users in a participatory and collaborative method (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Social media creates a platform for companies to talk to their customers as a hybrid element of promotion mix. With the emergence of social media, the tools and strategies for companies to connect with customers have also changed (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). To adapt with the emergence of social media in the marketing, companies should have unique insights about these significances (Quan-Haase and Young, 2010). The significances of social media embody three main aspects which are technology, decision-making and purchase behaviors of customers.