Dynamics of Social Media in the Global Marketspace - Coursework Example

DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE GLOBAL MARKETSPACE By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Dynamics of Social Media in the Global Marketspace Introduction Social media sites such as blogs, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have considerably impacted people’s life. Without a doubt, social media has changed how internet users are communicating, sharing their data, as well as creating links with other users. According to Farooq and Jan (2012, p.627), such connections or links amongst users have exhibited some level of trust amongst themselves. In consequence, this has helped social media to advance further. These days, people most of their time in social media sites to chat, play games, gossip, playing games, and to get updated on the latest news. The growing trends of social media have enabled organisations to penetrate this new domain to recruit talented individuals, market their products and also for innovation reasons. Scores of social media sites enable both small and large companies to market their product by means of the various tools offered by these sites. Today, social media is considered to the best open opportunity to a brand that seeks to connect with potential consumers. Social media according to Neti (2011, p.1) is a socialising medium that has won the trust of consumers through a deeper level connection. The focus of the essay is on the dynamics of social media in the global marketspace. Discussion The Uses of Social Media among Global Businesses Social media according to Neti (2011, p.2) is now the trend, and it offers marketing opportunity for businesses that goes beyond the traditional middleman and enables companies to connect directly with end users. For this reason, global businesses such as IBM and Starbucks are exploring the marketing initiatives in social media. Some years ago, a number of businesses were uncertain about social media, but currently they have started adopting it rapidly. Global businesses according to Palmer and Star (2014) are maturing their utilisation of social engagement tools and have integrated social media into their routine, global operations. Presently, global businesses are using different social media sites to market their products and increase their sales. Despite its numerous benefits, social media is making brand consistency more challenging to manage, especially when the global businesses fail to give the targeted audience the right information. Some companies do not have infrastructure or resources for monitoring social media sites effectively. Still, a number of global companies are learning how they can unify work and campaigns at a global marketspace while still maintaining their local competitiveness. For instance, MasterCard has issued over one billion payment cards in close to 210 countries through approximately 25,000 financial institutions. Instead of trying to coordinate the data by itself, MasterCard utilised Adobe Social, which is a tool used by marketers to monitor and gather social feedback and also to interact through social media sites such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Foursquare and Flickr. MasterCard through this system is able to measure its social campaigns effectiveness as well as manage social strategies. The company is utilising the platform to publish on social media sites (Google+, Twitter and Facebook) and is able to gather all the data through a single streamlined system that offers MasterCard a n international view of social activities within the company (Palmer & Star, 2014). Besides that, Nestlé a global company have stated to recruit through social media, specifically in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company has a job site in UK that is linked to the company’s Twitter and Facebook feeds, wherein users can search as well as apply for jobs. In the U.S., Nestlé has a website for searching and applying jobs and is linked to their YouTube account, LinkedIn page and Facebook page. Moreover, automobile manufacturers such as General Motors and Toyota and beverage companies such as Coca Cola and Pepsi are also using social media as a tool for marketing their products in the global marketspace. To promote their 1-Series road trip, BMW utilised Facebook and has also created a fan page known as Rampenfest Page for its customers. On the other hand, General Motors utilises social media to improve its brand online equity as well as connect with its customers. From promoted Twitter hashtags to YouTube ads, social media enables global businesses to improve their presence in the global marketspace as well as attract potential customers across the globe. For this reason, some global businesses have made social media their foundation of internationalisation strategy (Dervojeda et al., 2014, p.5). Social media generate massive awareness due to the number users it attracts and the related costs are very low as compared to the conventional international marketing initiatives. The Uses of Social Media in the Global Market Space Essentially, there are numerous uses of social media; for instance, global businesses use social media to gain competitive advantage. According to Vinerean et al. (2013, p.67), social media sites enable companies to improve the customer interaction, which had already been established by means of traditional media such as print ads and television ads to a more personal level. Besides that, social media allow businesses to create closer relationships with the users and to reach into new markets. Particularly, social media enable companies to develop web-based profiles wherein they can interact with current and potential customers. Although social media was initially designed for purposes of socialising, they are currently utilised for various reasons ranging from marketing to recruitment. For this reason, companies are using social media as a marketing tool, whereby they market themselves to potential users. Furthermore, global businesses are using information available in social media sites to easily and cheaply achieve a broader depiction of the potential employees. Recently, companies such as Nestle has started using social media for purposes of recruitment, but this mainly depends on the reliability of information accessible on these sites; the relative benefits and costs; as well as if the information can promote diversity and equality in the recruitment process (Broughton et al., 2013, p.6). The global businesses consider social media sites as valuable tools for their HR departments, whereby the company can attract talented users into the company. Still, companies are often confronted by privacy or legal issues associated with including social media information in evaluations of the candidates; therefore, some companies are formulating social media strategies with the goal of preventing any possible negative outcomes. Aside from recruiting and marketing, social media is also used for product innovation. According to Kenly and Poston (2011, p.5), social media create value in various product management aspects. A number of global businesses are using social media sites to test their new product, and be able to tailor the products into consumer needs. After releasing a product, companies use social media to look for improvements and to be able to produce improved, more targeted products. Emerging Trends of Social Media and Personal Opinion More recently, companies have started merging business solutions and technologies, like Business Intelligence (BI) and cloud computing with concepts of social media. Rather than connecting people based on social interest, global businesses are presently developing interactive communities, wherein people are connected based on shared experiences or business needs. One of the most notable trends is socially enriched sales, whereby people have started purchasing products online and are no longer depending on traditional purchase methods. For this reason, companies are no longer lazing around; instead they are engaging, nurturing relationships as well as focussing on shared values in social media. Another emerging trend is that the power of social media influence is available for all, and any company can distribute content and become an influencer to the targeted audience (Morin, 2015). Besides that, user-generated content (UGC) are becoming more and more popular among global businesses; therefore, the increasing popularity of visual content sites such as Pinterest and Instagram will enable companies to market through illustrations and photographs. Besides that, influencers are becoming the key to social success. In my opinion, social media is without a doubt transforming how global businesses are marketing their products and services. Companies no longer have to invest a lot of resources and infrastructure so as to market their product in the global marketspace, since they can advertise about sales promotions, new product launches, as well as other activities related to the company and on social media. I believe that posting information about the company on social media can result in closeness and bonding between the customers as well as the business. Conclusion In conclusion, the focus essay has focussed on the dynamics of social media in the global market space. As evidenced in the essay, social media popularity has increased tremendously at a global level. Imperatively, social media has extremely changed how information is propagated by making it very easy to digest and share information through the internet. The distinctive features of social media as well as its massive popularity have transformed marketing practices at the global market space. As mentioned in the essay, companies that succeeded to capitalise on social media have a more well-defined strategy, and this strategy has been tied to various initiatives within the company. Most companies are using social media to market their products, attract new customers, recruit new employees, and also for product innovation. In the global marketspace, social media have enabled companies to market themselves cheaply and allows for customer targeting and segmentation. References Broughton, A., Foley, B., Ledermaier, S. & Cox, A., 2013. The use of social media in the recruitment process. Research Paper. Brighton: Acas research publications Institute for Employment Studies. Dervojeda, K. et al., 2014. Innovative Business Models for Competitiveness: Social media for internationalisation. Case Study. Brussels : European Union PWC. Farooq, F. & Jan, Z., 2012. The Impact of Social Networking to Influence Marketing through Product Reviews. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Research, vol. 2, no. 8, pp.627- 637. Kenly, A. & Poston, B., 2011. Social Media and Product Innovation: Early Adopters Reaping Benefits amidst Challenge and Uncertainty. White Paper. Cleveland, Ohio : Kalypso. Morin, R., 2015. Emerging Trends for Social Media Influencer Marketing. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://maximizesocialbusiness.com/12-emerging-trends-social-media-influencer-marketing-22229/" http://maximizesocialbusiness.com/12-emerging-trends-social-media-influencer-marketing-22229/ [Accessed 14 April 2016]. Neti, M.S., 2011. Social Media and its Role in Marketing. International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, vol. 1, no. 2, pp.1-16. Palmer, D. & Star, J., 2014. Social business, global business Business Trends 2014. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://dupress.com/articles/bus-trends-2014-social-business-global-business/" http://dupress.com/articles/bus-trends-2014-social-business-global-business/ [Accessed 14 April 2016]. Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L. & Tichindelean, M., 2013. The Effects of Social Media Marketing on Online Consumer Behavior. International Journal of Business and Management, vol. 8, no. 14, pp.66-79. Read More