Social Media Marketing is the use of social media to market a product or service. Companies address
several stakeholders through social media marketing including (potential) customers,
(potential) employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a
strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of the
implementation, governance, scope (e.g. more active or passive use) and the
establishment of a firm's desired social media culture. This requires marketers
to incorporate user-generated content (earned media rather than paid media) into their strategic approach.
SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES
Social networking websites
allow individuals and businesses to interact with one another and build
relationships and communities online. When companies join these social
channels, consumers can interact with them directly. That interaction can be
more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound marketing and
advertising.
Social
networking sites act as word of mouth or more accurately, e-word
of mouth. The Internet's ability to reach billions across the globe has given
digital word of mouth a powerful voice and far reach. The ability to rapidly
change buying patterns and product or service acquisition and activity to a
growing number of consumers is defined as an influence network. Social
networking sites and blogs allow followers to "retweet" or
"re-post" comments made by others about a product being promoted,
which occurs quite frequently on some social media sites. By repeating the
message, the user's connections are able to see the message, therefore reaching
more people. Because the information about the product is being put out there
and is getting repeated, more traffic is brought to the product/company.
Social
networking websites are based on building virtual communities, which allow
consumers to express their needs, wants and values, online. Social media
marketing then connects these consumers and audiences to businesses that share
the same needs, wants, and values.
Through
social networking sites, companies can keep in touch with individual followers.
This personal interaction can instill a feeling of loyalty into followers and potential customers. Also, by
choosing whom to follow on these sites, products can reach a very narrow target
audience.
Social
networking sites also include much information about what products and services
prospective clients might be interested in. Through the use of new semantic analysis technologies, marketers can detect buying
signals, such as content shared by people and questions posted online. An
understanding of buying signals can help sales people target relevant prospects
and marketers run micro-targeted campaigns.
In
order to integrate social networks into their marketing strategies, companies
have to develop a marketing model. In a marketing model (SNeM2S)
based on social networks is provided. The model includes the following steps:
- Selection of potential social networks to use;
- Definition of a financial plan;
- Definition of organizational structures to manage the social network in the market;
- Selection of target;
- Promotion of products and services;
- Performance measures
In
2014, over 80% of business executives identified social media as an integral
part of their business. Business retailers have seen 133% increases in their
revenues from social media marketing.
MOBILE PHONES
Just
under half the world's population is currently on the Internet. Roughly 75% of
those people are on social media and ¾ of those folks have social media
accounts on their mobile phones.
Mobile
phone usage is beneficial for social media marketing because mobile phones have
social networking capabilities, allowing individuals immediate web browsing and
access to social networking sites. Mobile phones have grown at a rapid rate,
fundamentally altering the path-to-purchase process by allowing consumers to
easily obtain pricing and product information in real time and allowing
companies to constantly remind and update their followers. Many companies are
now putting QR (Quick Response) codes along with products for individuals to
access the company website or online services with their smart phones.
Retailers use QR codes to facilitate consumer interaction with brands by
linking the code to brand websites, promotions, product information, or any
other mobile-enabled content. In addition, Real-time bidding use in the mobile advertising industry is
high and rising because of its value for on-the-go web browsing. In 2012,
Nexage, a provider of real time bidding in mobile advertising, reported a 37%
increase in revenue each month. Adfonic, another mobile advertisement
publishing platform, reported an increase of 22 billion ad requests that same
year.
Mobile
devices and the internet also influence the way consumers interact with media
and has many further implications for TV ratings, advertising, mobile commerce
and more. Mobile media consumption such as mobile audio streaming or mobile
video are on the rise – in the United States, more than 100 million users are
projected to access online video content via mobile device. Mobile video
revenue consists of pay-per-view downloads, advertising, and subscriptions. As
of 2013, worldwide mobile phone Internet user penetration was 73.4%. In 2017,
figures suggest that more than 90% of Internet users will access online content
through their phones.
STRATEGIES
There
are two basic strategies for engaging the social media as marketing tools:
The passive approach
Social
media can be a useful source of market information and customer's voice. Blogs,
content communities, and forums are platforms where individuals share their
reviews and recommendations of brands, products, and services. Businesses are
able to tap and analyze the customer voice generated in social media for marketing
purposes;[15] in this sense the social media is an inexpensive
source of market intelligence which can be used by marketers to track problems
and market opportunities. For example, the internet erupted with videos and
pictures of iPhone 6 bend test which showed that the coveted phone would bend
merely by hand. The so-called "bend gate" controversy created
confusion amongst customers who had waited months for the launch of the latest
rendition of the iPhone. However, Apple promptly issued a statement saying that
the problem was extremely rare and that the company had taken several steps to
make the mobile device robust. Unlike traditional market research methods such
as surveys, focus groups, and data mining which are time-consuming and costly,
marketers can now utilize social media to obtain 'live' information about
consumer behavior. This can be extremely useful in a highly dynamic market
structure in which we now live.
The active approach
Social
media can be used not only as public relations and direct marketing tools but
also as communication channels (targeting specific audiences with social media
influencers) and as customer engagement tools. Facebook and LinkedIn are
leading social media platforms where users can hyper-target their ads. Hypertargeting not only uses public
profile information but also information users submit but hide from others.
There are several examples of firms initiating some form of online dialog with
the public to foster relations with customers. According to Constantinides,
Lorenzo and Gómez Borja (2008) "Business executives like Jonathan Swartz,
President and CEO of Sun Microsystems, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple Computers, and
McDonalds Vice President Bob Langert post regularly in their CEO blogs,
encouraging customers to interact and freely express their feelings, ideas,
suggestions, or remarks about their postings, the company or its
products". Using customer influencers (for example popular bloggers) can
be a very efficient and cost-effective method to launch new products or
services Narendra Modi current prime minister of India ranks only second after
President Barack Obama in a number of fans on his official Facebook page at
21.8 million and counting. Modi employed social media platforms to circumvent
traditional media channels to reach out to the young and urban population of
India which is estimated to be 200 million.
ENGAGEMENT
In
the context of the social web, engagement means that
customers and stakeholders are participants rather than viewers. Social media in business allows all consumers to express and
share an opinion or an idea somewhere along the business's path to market. Each
participating customer becomes part of the marketing department, as other
customers read their comments or reviews. The engagement process is then
fundamental to successful social media marketing.
With
the advent of social media marketing, it has become increasingly important to
gain customer interest which can eventually be translated into buying behavior.
New online marketing concepts of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim
to build customer participation and reputation.
Engagement
in social media for the purpose of your social media strategy is divided into
two parts:
1.
Proactive posting of new content and conversations, as well as the sharing of
content and information from others
2.
Reactive conversations with social media users responding to those who reach
out to your social media profiles through commenting or messaging.
Traditional
media is limited to one-way interaction with customers or 'push and tell' where
only specific information is given to the customer without any mechanism to
obtain customer feedback. On the other hand, social media is participative
where customers are able to share their views on brands, products, and
services. Traditional media gives the control of message to the marketer
whereas social media shifts the balance to the consumer.
CAMPAIGNS
Betty White
Social
networking sites can have a large impact on the outcome of events. In 2010, a
Facebook campaign surfaced in the form of a petition. Users virtually signed a petition asking NBC Universal to have actress Betty White host Saturday Night Live.
Once signed, users forwarded the petition to all of their followers. The
petition went viral and on May 8, 2010, Betty White hosted SNL.
2008 US presidential election
The
2008 US
presidential campaign had a huge presence on social networking
sites. Barack Obama, a virtually unknown Democratic candidate, utilized 15 different social media websites to form
relationships with the millions of American citizens who utilize those
networks. His social networking profile pages were constantly being updated and
interacting with followers. By the end of his campaign, Obama had 5 million
social media network supporters (2.5 million on Facebook and 115,000 on
Twitter). The use of social networking sites in his marketing campaign gave
Barack Obama's campaign access to e-mail addresses, as posted on social
network profile pages. This allowed the Democratic Party to launch e-mail
campaigns asking for votes and campaign donations.
Local businesses
Small businesses also use social networking sites as a
promotional technique. Businesses can follow individuals social networking site
uses in the local area and advertise specials and deals. These can be exclusive
and in the form of "get a free drink with a copy of this tweet". This
type of message encourages other locals to follow the business on the sites in
order to obtain the promotional deal. In the process, the business is getting
seen and promoting itself (brand visibility).
Kony 2012
A
short film released on March 5, 2012, by humanitarian group Invisible Children, Inc.
This 29-minute video aimed at making Joseph Kony, an International Criminal Court
fugitive, famous worldwide in order to have support for his arrest by December
2012; the time when the campaign ends. The video went viral within the first
six days after its launch, reaching 100 million views on both YouTube and Vimeo. According to research done by Visible
Measures, the Kony 2012 short film became the fastest
growing video campaign, and most viral video, to reach 100 million views in 6 days followed by Susan Boyle performance on Britain's Got Talent that
reached 70 million views in 6 days.
Nike #MakeItCount
In
early 2012, Nike introduced its Make It Count social media campaign. The
campaign kickoff began YouTubers Casey Neistat and Max Joseph launching a
YouTube video, where they traveled 34,000 miles to visit 16 cities in 13
countries. They promoted the #makeitcount hashtag, which millions of consumers
shared via Twitter and Instagram by uploading photos and sending tweets. The #MakeItCount
YouTube video went viral and Nike saw an 18% increase in profit in 2012, the
year this product was released.
Lay's-Do Us a Flavor
In
2012, Lays created an annual social media campaign that allowed fans to create
their own flavor for a $1 million prize for whatever flavor was voted the best.
After 3.8 million submissions from fans who participated, the top three choices
were Cheesy Garlic Bread, Chicken & Waffles, and Sriracha. The fans were
now able to purchase the three flavors in stores then cast their vote on
Facebook or Twitter for the best flavor. Lays gained a 12% increase in sales
during the contest. Garlic Cheesy Bread was eventually named the winner of the
contest.
PURPOSES AND TACTICS
One
of the main purposes of employing social media in marketing is as a communications tool that
makes the companies accessible to those interested in their product and makes
them visible to those who have no knowledge of their products. These companies
use social media to create buzz, and learn from and target customers. It's the
only form of marketing that can finger consumers at each and every stage of the
consumer decision journey. Marketing through social media has other benefits as
well. Of the top 10 factors that correlate with a strong Google organic search,
seven are social media dependent. This means that if brands are less or
non-active on social media, they tend to show up less on Google searches. While
platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ have a larger amount of monthly
users, the visual media sharing based mobile platforms, however, garner a
higher interaction rate in comparison and have registered the fastest growth
and have changed the ways in which consumers engage with brand content.
Instagram has an interaction rate of 1.46% with an average of 130 million users
monthly as opposed to Twitter which has a .03% interaction rate with an average
of 210 million monthly users. Unlike traditional media that are often
cost-prohibitive to many companies, a social media strategy does not require
astronomical budgeting. To this end, companies make use of platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram in order to reach audiences much wider than through
the use of traditional print/TV/radio advertisements alone at a fraction of the
cost, as most social networking sites can be used at no cost. This has changed
the ways that companies approach to interact with customers, as a substantial
percentage of consumer interactions are now being carried out over online
platforms with much higher visibility. Customers can now post reviews of
products and services, rate customer service, and ask questions or voice
concerns directly to companies through social media platforms. Thus social
media marketing is also used by businesses in order to build relationships of
trust with consumers. To this aim, companies may also hire personnel to specifically
handle these social media interactions, who usually report under the title of Online community managers.
Handling these interactions in a satisfactory manner can result in an increase
of consumer trust. To both this aim and to fix the public's perception of a
company, 3 steps are taken in order to address consumer concerns, identifying
the extent of the social chatter, engaging the influencers to help, and
developing a proportional response.
Twitter
Twitter allows companies to promote their products in short
messages known as tweets limited to 140 characters which appear on followers'
Home timelines. Tweets can contain text, Hashtag, photo, video, Animated GIF, Emoji, or links to the product's website and
other social media profiles, etc. Twitter is also used by companies to provide
customer service. Some companies make support available 24/7 and answer
promptly, thus improving brand loyalty and appreciation.
Facebook
Facebook pages are far more detailed than Twitter accounts.
They allow a product to provide videos, photos, and longer descriptions, and testimonials as other followers can comment on the product
pages for others to see. Facebook can link back to the product's Twitter page
as well as send out event reminders. As of May 2015, 93% of businesses
marketers use Facebook to promote their brand.
A
study from 2011 attributed 84% of "engagement" or clicks to Likes
that link back to Facebook advertising. By 2014, Facebook had restricted the content published from businesses' and brands' pages.
Adjustments in Facebook algorithms have reduced the audience for non-paying
business pages (that have at least 500,000 "Likes") from 16% in 2012
down to 2% in February 2014.
Google+
Google+, in addition to providing pages and some features of
Facebook, is also able to integrate with the Google search engine. Other Google products are also
integrated, such as Google Adwords and Google Maps. With the development of Google Personalized Search
and other location-based search services, Google+ allows for targeted
advertising methods, navigation services, and other forms of location-based
marketing and promotion. Google+ can also be beneficial for other digital
marketing campaigns, as well as social media marketing. Google+ authorship was
known to have a significant benefit on a website's search engine optimization,
before the relationship was removed by Google. Google+ is one of the fastest
growing social media networks and can benefit almost any business.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn, a professional business-related networking site,
allows companies to create professional profiles for themselves as well as
their business to network and meet others. Through the use of widgets, members
can promote their various social networking activities, such as Twitter stream
or blog entries of their product pages, onto their LinkedIn profile page.
LinkedIn provides its members the opportunity to generate sales leads and
business partners. Members can use "Company Pages" similar to
Facebook pages to create an area that will allow business owners to promote
their products or services and be able to interact with their customers. Due to
spread of spam mail sent to job seeker, leading companies prefer to use
LinkedIn for employee's recruitment instead using different a job portal.
Additionally, companies have voiced a preference for the amount of information
that can be gleaned from a LinkedIn profile, versus a limited email.
Yelp
Yelp consists of a comprehensive online index of business
profiles. Businesses are searchable by location, similar to Yellow Pages. The website is operational in seven different
countries, including the United States and Canada. Business account holders are allowed to create, share,
and edit business profiles. They may post information such as the business
location, contact information, pictures, and service information. The website
further allows individuals to write, post reviews about businesses, and rate
them on a five-point scale. Messaging and talk features are further made
available for general members of the website, serving to guide thoughts and
opinions.
Foursquare
Foursquare is a location-based social networking website,
where users can check into locations via a Swarm app on their smartphones.
Foursquare allows businesses to create a page or create a new/claim an existing
venue.
Instagram
In
May 2014, Instagram had over 200 million users. The user engagement rate
of Instagram was 15 times higher than of Facebook and 25 times higher than that
of Twitter. According to Scott Galloway, the founder of L2 and a professor of
marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business, latest studies
estimate that 93% of prestige brands have an active presence on Instagram and
include it in their marketing mix. When it comes to brands and businesses,
Instagram's goal is to help companies to reach their respective audiences
through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment. Moreover, Instagram
provides a platform where user and company can communicate publicly and
directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their
current and potential customers.
Many
brands are now heavily using this mobile app to boost their visual marketing
strategy. Instagram can be used to gain the necessary momentum needed to
capture the attention of the market segment that has an interest in the product
offering or services. As Instagram is supported by Apple and android system, it
can be easily accessed by smartphone users. Moreover, it can be accessed by the
Internet as well. Thus, the marketers see it as a potential platform to expand
their brands exposure to the public, especially the younger target group. On
top of this, marketers do not only use social media for traditional Internet
advertising, but they also encourage users to create attention for a certain
brand. This generally creates an opportunity for greater brand exposure. Furthermore,
marketers are also using the platform to drive social shopping and inspire
people to collect and share pictures of their favorite products. Many big names
have already jumped on board: Starbucks, MTV, Nike, Marc Jacobs, and Red Bull are a few examples of multinationals that adopted the
mobile photo app early.
Fashion
blogger Danielle Bernstein, who goes by @weworewhat on Instagram, collaborated
with Harper's Bazaar to do a piece on how brands are using Instagram to
market their products, and how bloggers make money from it. Bernstein, who
currently has one and a half million followers on Instagram, and whose
"outfit of the day" photos on Snapchat get tens of thousands of screenshots, explained that
for a lot of her sponsored posts, she must feature the brand in a certain
amount of posts, and often cannot wear a competitor's product in the same
picture. According to Harper's Bazaar, industry estimates say that brands are
spending more than $1 billion per year on consumer-generated advertising.
Founder of Instagram Kevin Systrom even went to Paris Fashion week, going to
couture shows and meeting with designers to learn more about how style
bloggers, editors, and designers are currently dominating much of the content
on his application.
Instagram
has proven itself a powerful platform for marketers to reach their customers
and prospects through sharing pictures and brief messages. According to a study
by Simply Measured, 71% of the world's largest brands are now using Instagram
as a marketing channel. For companies, Instagram can be used as a tool to
connect and communicate with current and potential customers. The company can
present a more personal picture of their brand, and by doing so the company
conveys a better and true picture of itself. The idea of Instagram pictures
lies on on-the-go, a sense that the event is happening right now, and that adds
another layer to the personal and accurate picture of the company. In fact,
Thomas Rankin, co-founder and CEO of the program Dash Hudson, stated that when
he approves a blogger's Instagram post before it is posted on the behalf of a
brand his company represents, his only negative feedback is if it looks too
posed. "It's not an editorial photo," he explained, "We're not
trying to be a magazine. We're trying to create a moment."
Another
option Instagram provides the opportunity for companies to reflect a true
picture of the brand from the perspective of the customers, for instance, using
the user-generated contents thought the hashtags encouragement. Other than the
filters and hashtags functions, the Instagram's 15-second videos and the
recently added ability to send private messages between users have opened new
opportunities for brands to connect with customers in a new extent, further
promoting effective marketing on Instagram.
YouTube
YouTube is another popular avenue; advertisements are done in
a way to suit the target audience. The type of language used in the commercials
and the ideas used to promote the product reflect the audience's style and
taste.
Also,
the ads on this platform are usually in sync with the content of the video
requested, this is another advantage YouTube brings for advertisers. Certain
ads are presented with certain videos since the content is relevant.
Promotional opportunities such as sponsoring a video is also possible on
YouTube, "for example, a user who searches for a YouTube video on dog
training may be presented with a sponsored video from a dog toy company in
results along with other videos". YouTube also enable publishers to earn
money through its YouTube Partner Program.
Social bookmarking sites
Web
sites such as Delicious, Digg,
Slashdot, Diigo, Stumbleupon, and Reddit are popular social bookmarking sites
used in social media promotion. Each of these sites is dedicated to the
collection, duration, and organization of links to other websites. This process
is crowd sourced, allowing members to sort and prioritize links by relevance
and general category. Due to the large user bases of these websites, any link
from one of them to another, the smaller website usually results in a flash crowd. In addition to user-generated promotion, these
sites also offer advertisements within individual user communities and
categories. Because ads can be placed in designated communities with a very
specific target audience and demographic, they have far greater potential for
traffic generation than ads selected simply through cookie and browser history. Additionally, some of these websites
have also implemented measures to make ads more relevant to users by allowing
users to vote on which ones will be shown on pages they frequent. The ability
to redirect large volumes of web traffic and target specific, relevant
audiences makes social bookmarking sites a
valuable asset for social media marketers.
Blogs
Platforms
like LinkedIn create an environment for companies and clients to
connect online. Companies that recognize the need for information, originality/
and accessibility employ blogs to make their products popular and unique/ and
ultimately reach out to consumers who are privy to social media.
Recent
studies show that consumers view coverage in the media or from bloggers as
being more neutral and credible than print advertisements, which are not
thought of as free or independent. Blogs allow a product or company to provide
longer descriptions of products or services, can include testimonials and can
link to and from other social network and blog pages. Blogs can be updated
frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping customers, and also for acquiring followers and subscribers
who can then be directed to social network pages.
Online
communities can enable a business to reach the clients of other businesses
using the platform. To allow firms to measure their standing in the corporate
world, sites enable employees to place evaluations of their companies. Some
businesses opt out of integrating social media platforms into their traditional
marketing regimen. There are also specific corporate standards that apply when
interacting online. To maintain an advantage in a business-consumer
relationship, businesses have to be aware of four key assets that consumers
maintain: information, involvement, community, and control.
Tumblr
Tumblr first launched ad products on May 29, 2012. Rather than
relying on simple banner ads, Tumblr requires advertisers to create a Tumblr
blog so the content of those blogs can be featured on the site. In one year,
four native ad formats were created on web and mobile, and had more than 100
brands advertising on Tumblr with 500 cumulative sponsored posts.
Ad formats
- Sponsored Mobile Post – Advertisements (Advertisers' blog posts) will show up on user's Dashboard when the user is on a mobile device such as smartphones and tablets, allowing them to like, reblog, and share the sponsored post.
- Sponsored Web Post – "Largest in-stream ad unit on the web" that catches the users' attention when looking at their Dashboard through their computer or laptop. It also allows the viewers to like, reblog, and share it.
- Sponsored Radar – Radar picks up exceptional posts from the whole Tumblr community based on their originality and creativity. It is placed on the right side next to the Dashboard, and it typically earns 120 million daily impressions. Sponsored radar allows advertisers to place their posts there to have an opportunity to earn new followers, reblogs, and likes.
- Sponsored Spotlight – Spotlight is a directory of some of the popular blogs throughout the community and a place where users can find new blogs to follow. Advertisers can choose one category out of fifty categories that they can have their blog listed on there.
These
posts can be one or more of the following: images, photo sets, animated GIFs,
video, audio, and text posts. For the users to differentiate the promoted posts
to the regular users' posts, the promoted posts have a dollar symbol on the
corner. On May 6, 2014, Tumblr announced customization and theming on mobile
apps for brands to advertise.
Advertising campaign on Tumblr
- Disney/Pixar's Monsters University: Created a Tumblr account, MUGrumblr, saying that the account is maintained by a 'Monstropolis transplant' and 'self-diagnosed coffee addict' who is currently a sophomore at Monsters University. A "student" from Monsters University uploaded memes, animated GIFs, and Instagram-like photos that are related to the sequel movie.
- Apple's iPhone 5c: Created a Tumblr page, labeling it "Every color has a story" with the website name: "ISee5c". As soon as you visit the website, the page is covered with different colors representing the iPhone 5c phone colors and case colors. When you click on one of the colored section, a 15-second video plays a song and "showcases the dots featured on the rear of the iPhone 5c official cases and on the iOS 7 dynamic wallpapers...", concluding with words that are related to the video's theme.
MARKETING TECHNIQUES
Social
media marketing involves the use of social networks, consumer's online brand-related activities
(COBRA) and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) to successfully advertise
online. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide advertisers with information about the likes
and dislikes of their consumers. This technique is crucial, as it provides the
businesses with a "target audience". With social networks,
information relevant to the user's likes is available to businesses; who then
advertise accordingly.
Activities
such as uploading a picture of your "new Converse sneakers to
Facebook" is an example of a COBRA. Electronic recommendations and
appraisals are a convenient manner to have a product promoted via
"consumer-to-consumer interactions. An example of eWOM would be an
online hotel review; the hotel company can have two possible outcomes based on
their service. A good service would result in a positive review which gets the
hotel free advertising via social media. However, a poor service will
result in a negative consumer review which can potentially harm the company's
reputation.
Social
networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MySpace etc. have all
influenced the buzz of word of mouth marketing. In 1999, Misner said that
word-of mouth marketing is, "the world's most effective, yet least
understood marketing strategy" (Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009,
p. 3).
Through
opinion leaders: The more recent buzz of word-of-mouth marketing is due to the
rise in use of social media and smart-phone. Businesses and marketers have
noticed that, "a persons behaviour is influenced by many small
groups" (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2013,
p. 189). These small groups rotate around social networking accounts that
are run by influential people have followers of groups. The types of groups
(followers) are called: 1. Reference groups: either face-to-face or have an
indirect influence on a person’s attitude or behaviour. 2. Membership groups:
direct influence to a person's attitude or behaviour. 3. Aspirational groups:
Groups, which an individual wishes to belong.
Marketers
target influential people on social media who are recognised as being opinion
leaders and opinion formers to send messages to their target audiences.
Marketers have come to the understanding that "consumers are more prone to
believe in other individuals" (Sepp, Liljander, & Gummerus, 2011).
OL's and OF's can also send their own messages about products and services they
choose (Fill, Hughes, & De Francesco, 2013, p. 216). The reason the
opinion leader or formers have such a strong following base is because their
opinion is valued or trusted (Clement, Proppe, & Rott, 2007). They can
review products and services for their followings, which can be positive or
negative towards the brand. OL's and OF's are people who have a social status
and because of their personality, beliefs, values etc. have the potential to
influence other people (Kotler, Burton, Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2013,
p. 189). They usually have a large amount of followers otherwise known as
their reference, membership or aspirational group (Kotler, Burton, Deans,
Brown, & Armstrong, 2013, p. 189. By having an OL or OF support a
brands product by posting a photo, video or written recommendation on a blog,
the following may be influenced and because they trust the OL/OF a high chance
of the brand selling more products or creating a following base. Having an
OL/OF helps spread word of mouth talk amongst reference groups and/or
memberships groups e.g. family, friends, work-friends etc. (Kotler, Burton,
Deans, Brown, & Armstrong, 2013, p. 189).
The
adjusted communication model shows the use of using opinion leaders and opinion
formers. The sender/source gives the message to many, many OL's/OF's who pass
the message on along with their personal opinion, the receiver
(followers/groups) form their own opinion and send their personal message to
their group (friends, family etc.) (Dahlen, Lange, & Smith, 2010, p. 39).
Messages:
The platform of social media is another channel or sites that business' and
brands must control the content of. As well as magazines, newspapers, radio
advertisements, television advertisements the content needs to be consistent
throughout. Heath (2006) wrote about the extent of attention businesses should
give to their social media sites. It is about finding a balance between
frequently posting but not over posting. There is a lot more attention to be
paid towards social media sites because people need updates to gain brand
recognition. Therefore, a lot more content is need and this can often be
unplanned content.
Planned
and unplanned content:
Planned
content: Planned content begins with the creative/marketing team generating
their ideas, once they have completed their ideas they send them off for
approval. There is two general ways of doing so. The first is where each sector
approves the plan one after another, editor, brand, followed by the legal team
(Brito, 2013). Sectors may differ depending on the size and philosophy of the
business. The second is where each sector is given 24 hours (or such designated
time) to sign off or disapprove. If no action is given within the 24-hour
period the original plan is implemented. Planned content is often noticeable to
customers and is un-original or lacks excitement but is also a safer option to
avoid unnecessary backlash from the public. Issues: Both routes for planned
content are time consuming as in the above; the first way to approval takes 72
hours to be approved. Although the second route can be significantly shorter it
also holds more risk particularly in the legal department.
Unplanned
content: Unplanned content is an 'in the moment' idea, "a spontaneous,
tactical reaction." (Cramer, 2014, p. 6). The content could be
trending and not have the time to take the planned content route. The unplanned
content is posted sporadically and is not calendar/date/time arranged
(Deshpande, 2014). Issues: Issues with unplanned content revolve around legal
issues and whether the message being sent out represents the business/brand
accordingly. The main difference between planned and unplanned is the time to
approve the content. Unplanned content must still be approved by sectors but in
a much more timely manner e.g. 1–2 hours or less. Sectors may miss errors
because of being hurried. When using unplanned content Brito (2013) says,
"be prepared to be reactive and respond to issues when they arise."
Crisis
escalation plan: Brito (2013) writes about having a, "crisis escalation
plan", because, "It will happen". The plan involves breaking
down the issue into topics and classifying the issue into groups. Colour coding
the potential risk "identify and flag potential risks" also helps to
organise an issue. The problem can then be handled by the correct team and
dissolved more effectively rather than any person at hand trying to solve the
situation.
IMPLICATIONS ON TRADITIONAL
ADVERTISING
Minimizing use
Traditional
advertising techniques include print and television advertising. The Internet has already overtaken television as the largest
advertising market. Web sites often include the banner or
pop-up ads. Social networking sites don't always have ads. In exchange,
products have entire pages and are able to interact with users. Television commercials
often end with a spokesperson asking viewers to check out
the product website for more information. Print ads are also starting to
include QR codes on them. These QR codes can be scanned by cell phones
and computers, sending viewers to the product website. Advertising
is beginning to move viewers from the traditional outlets to the electronic
ones.
Leaks
The
Internet and social networking leaks are one of the issues facing traditional
advertising. Video and print ads are often leaked to the world via the Internet
earlier than they are scheduled to premiere. Social networking sites allow those leaks to go viral, and be seen by many users more quickly. The time difference is also a problem facing traditional
advertisers. When social events occur and are broadcast on television, there is often a time delay between airings on the east coast and west coast of the United States. Social networking sites have become a hub of
comment and interaction concerning the event. This allows individuals watching
the event on the west coast (time-delayed) to know the outcome before it airs.
The 2011 Grammy Awards
highlighted this problem. Viewers on the west coast learned who won different awards
based on comments made on social networking sites by individuals watching live
on the east coast. Since viewers knew who won already, many tuned out and ratings were lower. All the advertisement and promotion put
into the event was lost because viewers didn't have a reason to watch.
Mishaps
Social
media marketing provides organizations with a way to connect with their
customers. However, organizations must protect their information as well as
closely watch comments and concerns on the social media they use. A flash poll
done on 1225 IT executives from 33
countries revealed that social media mishaps caused organizations a combined
$4.3 million in damages in 2010. The top three social media incidents an
organization faced during the previous year included employees sharing too much
information in public forums, loss or exposure of confidential information, and
increased exposure to litigation. Due to the viral nature of the Internet, a
mistake by a single employee has in some cases shown to result in devastating
consequences for organizations.
An
example of a social media mishap includes designer Kenneth Cole's Twitter
mishap in 2011. When Kenneth Cole tweeted, "Millions are in uproar in
#Cairo. Rumor has they heard our new spring collection is now available online
at [Kenneth Cole's website]". This reference to the 2011 Egyptian revolution
drew an objection from the public; it was widely objected to on the Internet.
Kenneth Cole realized his mistake shortly after and responded with a statement
apologizing for the tweet.
In
2012 during Hurricane Sandy, Gap sent out a tweet to its followers telling them
to stay safe but encouraged them to shop online and offered free shipping. The
tweet was deemed insensitive, and Gap eventually took it down and apologized.
Numerous
additional online marketing mishap examples exist. Examples include a YouTube
video of a Domino's Pizza employee
violating health code standards, which went viral on the Internet and later
resulted in felony charges against two employees. A Twitter hashtag posted by McDonald's in 2012 attracting attention due to numerous
complaints and negative events customers experienced at the chain store; and a
2011 tweet posted by a Chrysler Group employee
that no one in Detroit knows how to drive. When the Link REIT opened a Facebook page to recommend old-style
restaurants, the page was flooded by furious comments criticizing the REIT for
having forced a lot of restaurants and stores to shut down; it had to terminate
its campaign early amid further deterioration of its corporate image.
ETHICS
The
code of ethics that is affiliated with traditional marketing can also be
applied to social media. However, with social media being so personal and
international, there is another list of complications and challenges that come
along with being ethical online. With the invention of social media, the
marketer no longer has to focus solely on the basic demographics and
psychographics given from television and magazines, but now they can see what
consumers like to hear from advertisers, how they engage online, and what their
needs and wants are. The general concept of being ethical while marking on
social network sites is to be honest with the intentions of the campaign, avoid
false advertising, be aware of user privacy conditions (which means not using
consumers' private information for gain), respect the dignity of persons in the
shared online community, and claim responsibility for any mistakes or mishaps
that are results of your marketing campaign. Most social network marketers use
websites like Facebook and MySpace to try to drive traffic to another website.
While it is ethical to use social networking websites to spread a message to
people who are genuinely interested, many people game the system with
auto-friend adding programs and spam messages and bulletins. Social networking
websites are becoming wise to these practices, however, and are effectively
weeding out and banning offenders.
In
addition, social media platforms have become extremely aware of their users and
collect information about their viewers to connect with them in various ways.
Social-networking website Facebook Inc. is quietly working on a new advertising
system that would let marketers target users with ads based on the massive
amounts of information people reveal on the site about themselves. This may be
an unethical or ethical feature to some individuals. Some people may react
negatively because they believe it is an invasion of privacy. On the other
hand, some individuals may enjoy this feature because their social network
recognizes their interests and sends them particular advertisements pertaining
to those interests. Consumers like to network with people who have interests
and desires that are similar to their own. Individuals who agree to have their
social media profile public, should be aware that advertisers have the ability
to take information that interests them to be able to send them information and
advertisements to boost their sales. Managers invest in social media to foster
relationships and interact with customers. This is an ethical way for managers
to send messages about their advertisements and products to their consumers.
METRICS
Web site reports
This
involves tracking the volume of visits, leads, and customers to a website from
the individual social channel. Google Analytics is a free tool that shows the
behavior and other information, such as demographics and device type used, of
website visitors from social networks. This and other commercial offers can aid
marketers in choosing the most effective social networks and social media
marketing activities.
Return on investment data
The
end goal of any marketing effort is to generate sales. Although social media is
a useful marketing tool, it is often difficult to quantify to what extent it is
contributing to profit. ROI can be measured by comparing marketing analytic
value to contact database or CRM and connect marketing efforts directly to
sales activity.
Customer response rates
Several
customers are turning towards social media to express their appreciation or
frustration with brands, product or services. Therefore, marketers can measure
the frequency of which customers are discussing their brand and judge how
effective their SMM strategies are. In recent studies, 72% of people surveyed
expressed that they expected a response to their complaints on Twitter within
an hour.
Reach and Virality
Popular
social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks can
provide marketers with a hard number of how large their audience is
nevertheless a large audience may not always translate into a large sales
volumes. Therefore, an effective SMM cannot be measured by a large audience but
rather by vigorous audience activity such as social shares, retweets etc.
References
Felix,
R., Rauschnabel, P.A.; Hinsch, C. (2016). "Elements of Strategic Social Media Marketing: A Holistic
Framework". Journal of Business Research. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.05.001.
Filieri,
Raffaele (2015). "What makes online reviews helpful? A diagnosticity-adoption
framework to explain informational and normative influences in e-WOM"
(PDF). Journal of Business
Research. 68 (6): 1261–1270. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2014.11.006. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
Schivinski,
Bruno; Dąbrowski, D. (2013). April 2013 "The Impact of Brand Communication on Brand Equity
Dimensions and Brand Purchase Intention Through Facebook" Check
|url= value (help). Working Paper
Series A, Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Economics.
4 (4): 2–23.
How Social Media Is Changing Paid, Earned & Owned Media.
Mashable.com (2011-06-23). Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
Zhang,
M., Jansen, B. J., and Chowdhury, A. (2011) Influence of Business Engagement in Online Word-of-mouth Communication on
Twitter: A Path Analysis. Electronic Markets: The International
Journal on Networked Business. 21(3), 161-175.
Assaad,
Waad; Jorge Marx Gomez. "Social Network in marketing (Social Media Marketing) Opportunities
and Risks". 2 (1). Retrieved 7 February 2013.
Chang,
Ray; Wonseok Oh; Alain Pinsonneault; Dowan Kwon. "A Network Perspective of Digital Competition in Online Advertising
Industries: A Simulation-Based Approach". 21 (3).
Retrieved 6 June 2016.
Jansen,
B. J.; Zhang, M; Sobel, K; Chowdury, A (2009). "Twitter Power: Tweets as Electronic Word of Mouth" (PDF). Journal of the American
Society for Information Sciences and Technology. 60 (11): 2169–2188. doi:10.1002/asi.21149.
D'Andrea
Alessia; Ferri Fernando; Grifoni Patrizia (2012). "SNeM2S: a Social Network Model for Marketing Strategies".
International journal of e-business development. 2 (3): 103. Bennett, Shea (April
25, 2014). "Social Media Business Statistics, Facts, Figures & Trends
2014". Retrieved 2016-04-06.
No comments:
Post a Comment