Social Media Marketing : The Fast Food Industry Essay

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.

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

We should be a part of our customers' lives and in the communities in which we serve” (Chick-fil-A). Chick-fil-A has used social media as a tool to advertise their brand and their charities. With over 35,000 social media mentions a month, the company is capable of crafting their branding and image in a matter of minutes (digiday). As of last year, a company that’s main product consists of a chicken sandwich topped with a slice of cheese and single pickle, has been able to amass 7.5 million Facebook followers and 335,000 Twitter users listening to their posts! (digiday). Chick-fil-A has a direct media line to their customers and those customers have reciprocated with a loyalty that rose to the level of listening to them at home or on their smart phones. Pretty remarkable for a quick service restaurant establishment started in an Atlanta

Social media marketing is relatively new to the ?integrated marketing communications systems of several public and private businesses.? (Mercadal, 2013, para. 2) Social media is used by almost sixty-six percent of American adults. (Lanham, 2016) Integrated marketing communications try to connect companies and other organizations with their target audience. (Mercadal, 2013) Therefore, social media marketing strategically looks at demographics of the audiences in each social media platform and use the platforms that match the audience who would be interested in products or services sold. (Smith,

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

| First, marketers must realize that they often do not control the content on social media sites. Second, the ability to share experiences quickly and with such large number of people amplifies the impact of word of mouth in a way that can eventually affect a company's bottom line. Third, social media allow marketers to listen. It is no longer one way communication. Marketers now can actually have conversation with customers and get feedbacks. Fourth, social media also provide more sophisticated methods of measuring how marketers meet and interact with consumers than

Social Media: Social networks like all the online matter such as Youtube, Twitter and Facebook are so important that relevant companies should not defer their efforts to create the public image and enhance their both market and products’ effectiveness”

Social media is an effective media of communication between the consumers and companies. The companies are using social media for improving consumer engagement and brand lift. This essay gives a brief overview of social media platforms and how effective they have been. It shows that the whole marketing concept has undergone radical transformation due to the social media interaction. The essay ends in conclusion depicting what marketers need to take care in order to have successful social media campaign.

Social media has taken the marketing world by storm. Today, not only do companies have a dedicated Website,but organizations, representative of all industries and sizes, also have a blog, Twitter account, Facebook page and a Youtube channel (Wetpaint & Alimeter, 2009). In fact, social media is the number one activity on the web. Because of this, companies view social media as a critical component to its overall marketing strategy, especially since these tactics are cost-effective and produce results (Wetpaint & Alimeter Group, 2009).

The following social media marketing proposal was uniquely crafted for Foodmart in Milton, ON. My suggested social media strategies and implementation procedures are based on the results of extensive analysis, study of social media trends, and application of specifics unique to Foodmart. I believe my proposal provides a complete social media marketing strategy which will culminate in highly successful results for your business.

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

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 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.

McDonald’s can use the power of social media to interact with its consumers to understand their grievances. Perhaps the negative publicity that the company has received is due to lack of proper interaction with the customers (Selcke, 2012). Through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, the company can enlighten the public on the quantity of calories that is present in every food item. Millions of McDonald’s customers can be reached via Facebook and Twitter. The company should use its Facebook pages to apologize for any bad decisions, set the record straight, and even seek advice from its consumers to enhance positive publicity (Selcke, 2012).