Social Media Marketing - Research Paper Example

Social Media Marketing Name Institution Tutor Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 The concept of Social media marketing 3 Background of social Media Marketing 5 Trends of Marketing within the Social Media 6 Existing Debates on Social Media Marketing 10 Discussion 16 Conclusion 19 References 19 Appendix 1 22 Appendix 2 23 Appendix 3 24 Introduction Social media has undoubtedly transformed the manner in which businesses conduct their marketing activities. People today have developed an inclination of spending more time on social media platforms performing activities such as; chatting with family and friends, viewing other people’s profiles and playing games, as opposed to meeting people physically. The changing dynamics taking place in social relationships has also redefined the regulations of relationship marketing. Based on the fact that marketing has the objective providing information to the target market, social media has become a useful platform for attaining this objective. Consequently, many organizations today have integrated social media marketing as part of their marketing communications plans. For contemporary businesses, social media has become their major web presence, surpassing their email programmes and company web sites. Some of the most popular sites include social networking sites such as; Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Linkedln, video sharing sites such as YouTube, Wiki like the Wikipedia, photo sharing sites such as Pinterest, Flickr and Instagram and News Aggregation sites such as Reddit and Digg. It can be stated that social media marketing has developed a niche within the business environment. This paper seeks to provide a review of literature on the trends of marketing within the social media. The scope of the paper will also be grounded on examining the existing debates on social media marketing. The concept of Social media marketing The concept of social media marketing is a relatively new field, nevertheless many have attempted to provide a definition for social media marketing (Barker et al, 2012). According to Barker et al, (2012) the most popular definition has been the notion that social media marketing involves the use of online communication, social networks, wiki and blogs for the purposes of sales, public relations, consumer services and marketing. Neti, (2011) defines social media marketing as a term that is derived from the concept of ‘social media’. The term social media constitutes two words media, which generally refers to communication and advertising of information or ideas through channels/ publications. The second word social on the other hand refers to interaction of people within a community or group. Social media marketing therefore refers to an effort to utilize social media in order to influence consumers that the services or products of one company are better than that of another company (Neti, 2011). Erdoğmuş and Çiçek, (2012) assert that social media marketing is basically different from the traditional approaches of marketing. It therefore needs strategy building and attention. In most cases social media marketing can be linked to relationship marketing whereby companies shift their efforts from trying to sell, to making a connection with their clients. Social media marketing also implies that companies keep away from big campaigns and focus on small acts. This is because as argued by Erdoğmuş and Çiçek, (2012) small campaigns on the social media can actually reach a big number of people, while attaining the intended objective in a short period of time. Erdoğmuş and Çiçek, (2012) also argue that marketing through the social media is more genuine in its approach of communicating to the customers essentially in trying to demonstrate what the brand is, as opposed to trying to control the image of the products as depicted by other types of marketing . The concept of social media marketing has been interpreted using different theoretical frameworks. Peters et al (2013) highlight that the logics is linked to the Stimulus(S), Organism (O), Response (R) framework that was propagated by Bandura. In the context of marketing application, Stimulus(S) is related to the marketing instruments such as (pricing, advertising and the information) on the other hand the Organism (O) is the social media while the Response (R) involves managerial outcomes such as brand management, customer relationship management and the creation of value for the customers. In this particular theoretical framework, social media comprises of a new type of organism as opposed to the traditional media (Peters et al, 2013). Background of social Media Marketing Barefoot and Szabo (2010) disclose that social media marketing emerged as early as the 1990s. The invention of the World Wide Web in 1991 by Tim Berners –Lee man resulted to the connection of hypertext technology to the internet which created a new type of network communication. Marketers therefore begun to use the World Wide Web (Web I) through platforms such as emails, list servers and blogs (Dijck , 2013). For instance; Blogs arose out of online diaries that were taking place in the mid-1990s (Barefoot and Szabo 2010). In the year 1999 the first commercial blogging service known as Blogger and LiveJournal was established. Blogs begun to make a serious mark in marketing in the year 2002 and the process has speedily gained popularity in the preceding years. At the center of the expansion of blogs was the merging of various technical phenomena. One of the triggers was simplified web publishing tools. This made writing blogs to be as easy as creating and sending a message through an email. Another factor that spearheaded the expansion of blogging was embracing affordable broadband internet access at home and even in the workplace. Additionally, the use of electronics such as laptops and PCs by consumers also increased blogging activities which further expanded social media marketing. The use of Web one was majorly a read only platform where customers would only read the content provided by the marketers. (Barefoot and Szabo, 2010). Shortly after the turn of the millennium, the advent of Web (2.0 ) resulted to online services moving from offering channels for networked communication to becoming an interactive two way medium for networked sociality (Dijck , 2013). Social media platforms such as Facebook, Myspace and Linkeldn were then developed in the previous ten years. Linkedln was first initiated in 2003, Facebook and Myspace in the year 2004, in 2005 YouTube was generated and Twitter was later developed in 2006 (Brokaw, 2011). Since the inventions of the various social media platforms marketers have progressively adopted them in their marketing activities in order to connect directly to their clients (Brokaw, 2011). Trends of Marketing within the Social Media Social media is currently considered as the most popular trend (Neti, 2011). In the context of business it signifies a marketing prospect that transcends the traditional methods of advertising and connects business directly with the customers. A recent research supported by the School of Business at the University of Maryland and Network solutions reveals that the rapid rise and popularity of social media marketing was mainly instigated by the economic struggles that were facing many organizations (Neti, (2011). In order to deal with the economic challenges brought about by the downturn, businesses increased their use of social media in the bid to reduce advertisement costs. Kirtiş and Karahan (2011) in their study disclose that during and after the recession, the marketing function played a significant role in ensuring the survival and profitability of the organization. Many firms had been affected by the global crisis as a result they developed crisis strategies in order to deal with the challenge brought about by the crisis. One of the most distinctive manner for lowering costs was by turning towards marketing through the social media. The use of social media in marketing has not only been adopted by big firms but also by small firms. For instance; the use of social media by small firms rose from 12 % to 24%. Additionally, Wright (2010) discloses the fact that there has been an increase in the rise of use of social media advertising over the years. As indicated by (Appendix 1). According to Rust et al (2010) social media has brought about a new trend or a shift in the field of marketing. This is because the approach of marketing has changed. Previously, marketing used to be about persuading consumers in order for them to purchase products through bombarding them with many advertisements. However, the emergence of the social media has greatly revolutionized marketing activities. Rust and Verhoef, (2005) highlights that the shift in marketing is mainly influenced by the need to adopt Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Customer Relationship Management is a concept of the marketing mix that is derived from synergistic strategic integration and planning. CRM initiatives through the social media have brought about a shift in marketing whereby there has been a move from the product centered marketing approach to the customer- centered approach. The focus is mainly to use interventions that are relationship oriented in order to improve the loyalty of the customers, which needs personalized marketing efforts (Rust and Verhoef, 2005). The current marketing practice also entails building trust and relationships through an effective two way communication. Additionally, businesses are required to talk about issues that interest the consumers. Wright (2010) also reveals the fact that there is a shift in the approach of marketing. Marketers have come to the realization that targeted and interactive marketing are actually key to achievement of effective marketing and that traditional approaches of marketing are basically a waste finance. A survey conducted by Forrester Research disclosed that companies are willing to increase their budgets on social media advertising in order to promote interactive marketing at the expense of traditional approaches of marketing (Wright, 2010). Vukasovič, (2013) reveals that an emerging trend in social media marketing is viral marketing. Viral marketing also referred to as ‘’ buz marketing or word of mouth (WOM) is an approach that involves developing a process whereby individual who are interested can market to each other. The implementation of the viral strategy has been a very effective approach of to get customers to talk about a certain business. An effective viral marketing approach can be created through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The information offered by the network marketers provides the organization with information concerning the wants and needs of the customers. Vukasovič, (2013) argues that the word of mouth is an extensively powerful approach as it contains amplified testimonial from a friend. In addition viral marketing has been rated as an effective way of getting the information fast at a minimal cost and also offering a maximum effect. This is because the business can provide a strong enough incentives for the customers in order for them to share with their friends and other contact person. Such an approach is basically cost effective and a powerful tool of disseminating information to customers (Vukasovič, 2013). A study conducted by Farooq and Zohaib (2012) reveal that Facebook is actually most influential or trendy social marketing platform see (Appendix 2). The study used the case of Facebook in order to examine how social networks influence marketing though product reviews. The study method entailed the use of a survey of organizations and social network users. The findings of the study disclosed that indeed social media does influence the purchase of a product. Facebook essentially brought about a great influence on the buying behavior of a product. More than 70% of users agreed that their friends greatly influenced their purchasing. 51% of the users recommended that Facebook should use a tagged based approach for marketing in order for them to easily notice the products. The survey findings of organizations revealed that approximately 75% of businesses have established their presence of Facebook. Nevertheless, only 20% are seriously using Facebook for the purposes of marketing. In addition, only 35% put into consideration the feedbacks that are provided by the customers based on the fact that not only a few customers offer feedback. Farook and Zohaib (2012) therefore recommend that organizations should adopt tagged marketing in order to make the customers aware concerning their products. In addition there is need to develop a tool or technology that is able to integrate Facebook applications in order to generate statistical findings for the organization. Roshnee and Fowdar (2013), also conducted a similar study to examine the implications of Facebook marketing for organizations. The study also acknowledged the explosive reputation of Facebook as social media within the field of marketing. The study involved examining the exiting tools and practices of marketing that exist in Facebook and their significance and the concerns that are linked to this type of social marketing. The findings of the study disclosed that although the social media such as Facebook has provided an interesting avenue of spreading and exchanging information, Facebook does not actually substitute the traditional marketing tools, however it should be used as a compliment to the current tools of promotion. Twitter is another extremely popular social media microblogging service that has been adopted in marketing activities. The service has attained a very large user following of about 200 million users. Asur (2011) highlights that Twitter has attracted a great deal of attention from organizations due to its increased capability for viral marketing. As a result of its extensive reach, the platform is mostly used by news agencies for the purpose of filtering news updated. Additionally, many organizations have also adopted the use of twitter to advertise their products and provide information to consumers. Various studies have been conducted in order to examine Twitters suitability in marketing. Bernoff, (2009) divulges that Twitter has a high potential capability in propelling social media advertising. This is because Twitter has been used in marketing in a variety of ways. For instance; restaurants have created Twitter accounts where they post messages that inform customers concerning how they are authorized to obtain a free drink from restaurant if they display their Twitter messages to the bartender at the cafeteria. Such an approach of marketing is strategic, measurable and also relevant. Such an example indicates that the success of marketing through the use of social media is linked to the marketers ability to deliver and personalize the message in order for the customers to embrace it. Twitter is therefore an amplified approach that has propelled marketing within the social media (Bernoff, 2009). According to Kirtiş and Karahan (2011) Twitter is more commonly utilized as a corporate social media platform. On the other hand, the recent trend indicates that Corporate Facebook pages are receiving extra likes as opposed Twitter accounts that consist of followers. Both Facebook and Twitter are basically driven by different motives. Twitter provides an excellent venue in which companies are able to instantly communicate with their clients. Facebook on the other hand, has been an excellent platform for developing communities among stakeholders (Kirtiş and Karahan, 2011). Existing Debates on Social Media Marketing The issue of building and maintaining brand loyalty is one of the key themes discussed by researchers and marketing experts for a long period of time (Bennett and Rundle – Thiele 2002). Marketers have always adopted various approaches in order to ensure that they develop brand loyalty for their products. One of the existing debates that has arisen in the recent years is the potentially of social media marketing to create and maintain brand loyalty. Erdoğmuş and Çiçek (2012) conducted a study to examine the impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty. The scope of the research involved customers who usually monitor at least one brand within the social media. Data collection was conducted using questioners that were given to a tool of 338 customers. Multiple regression was used in order to test the samples. The findings of the study disclosed that the brand loyalty of the customers was positively impacted when the brand provided popular content, offered advantageous campaigns, provided relevant content, appeared in a variety of platforms and provided applications on social media. The findings of the study further disclosed that customers had a preference of sharing funny content and sharing music on social media. Consequently, advantageous campaigns on social media are the most essential drivers of brand loyalty, followed by the contents relevance, the popularity of the content among friends and the appearance in different platforms of social media. On the basis of the findings of the study, Erdoğmuş and Çiçek (2012) recommends that companies should develop more participative, engaging and interesting applications as contents of their marketing in order to draw the interests of the customers. Various studies also support the assertion that the social media has the ability to develop and also maintain brand loyalty. McAlexander et al. (2002) argue that the cumulative impacts of enhanced relationships that arise from the social media may eventually lead to increased brand loyalty for instance customers may tend to be loyal to a certain brand based on the fact that most of their friends like that particular brand. Mangold and Faulds (2009) however warn of the fact that despite the fact that social media has the potentially of developing brand loyalty there are negative or disastrous incidences that take place within the social media that can greatly affect brand loyalty. One of them is when consumers give negative feedback concerning the products on social media, such actions may negatively affect the brand loyalty. Mangold and Faulds (2009) therefore recommends that companies should be cautious concerning their actions in the social media in the development of brand communities as well other initiatives that aim as developing brand loyalty. Studies have also indicated the fact that the social media can have a negative impact on brand loyalty. Although social media may seem ideal for advertising, nevertheless Fournier and Avery, (2011) argue that in certain instances it might develop a risky business environment. This is based on the fact that customers are becoming more powerful than ever. This is based on the fact that they can easily speak, interact and disseminate their perspectives while businesses have less power to manage the information given to them in the space offered by the social media. Additionally, customers are able to easily provide their complaints through the social media concerning their dissatisfaction about the brand (Ward and Ostrom, 2006). Studies have also disclosed the fact that the social media is actually not an effective platform of developing and maintaining brand loyalty. Fournier and Avery (2011) assert that the social media is basically a platform for connecting people as opposed to building and developing brands. This is because people in social media are more focused on building relationships as opposed to brand awareness. Based on such findings, the notion that the social media has the potential to develop and maintain brand royalty is therefore still unresolved. The passivity of the audience in social media is another key debate that arises and therefore challenging the effectiveness of social media marketing. Yang and Leskovec (2011) scrutinized patterns of temporal behavior for hashtags that are used on Twitter. The study used a stable time series algorithm and showed the common temporal patterns that demonstrate how Tweets that contain hashtags are followed. Agarwal et al (2008) also investigated the problem of identifying influential bloggers within the blogosphere. Another similar study conducted by Cha et al (2010) which focused on comparison of the indegree, user mentions and retweets , disclosed that while the mentions and retweets correlated well with each other, the indegree of users did not correlate effectively with each other. Based on this findings Cha et al (2010) concluded that the number of followers was actually not a good measure of influence. The findings of all these studies highlight the fact that the most influential bloggers are actually not the most active. Based on the findings of this studies it can be stated that the passivity of users of social media sites supports the notion that social media is not a very effective marketing tool. Wright (2010) conducted a study that presented contrary opinions opposed to those presented by the study by Yang and Leskovec (2011), Cha et al (2010) and Agarwal et al (2008). According to Wright (2010) social media is actually a very effective approach of advertising. Wright (2010) takes note of the fact that there has been a shift in consumer behavior and the manner in which they react to advertisements. Consumers today continue to block out traditionally methods of advertising. A case in point is demonstrated by TiVo which is a recording system initiated in 1990 that gives consumers the opportunity to make records of their preferred programmes and then skip commercial adverts entirely. In addition, Wright (2010) discloses that there is an increasing desire to evade ads whereby cities are developing new codes to avoid the placement of banners on buildings. Wright (2010) therefore recommends that instead of companies spending millions of dollars on marketing approaches that consumers continue to block, it is essential for marketers to focus more of customer relationship building. The main component of this type of adverting it to target the right individuals with the right message. Wright (2010) argues that today, the social media dominates the world and this is where the mass is, as a result this is where the major advertising should be undertaken. For instance; Facebook has a total of four million users and the number continues to expand each day. Twitter on the other hand continues to attract a large number of users with about more than eight million distinctive users. What even makes it more impressive is that Twitter attained its 10 billion tweet in 2010 March, which doubled the number of tweets posted in four months (Bernoff, 2009). Scholars and practitioners have also raised concerns concerning the effectiveness of social media in measuring Rate of Return on Investment (ROI). Literature indicates that there are mixed findings in measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing (Fisher 2009). The issue of Rate of Return on investment in social media marketing has been a contentious issues that has resulted to implication such as budget cuts. Fisher (2009) argues that in the dynamic business environment, it is essential for businesses to ascertain that they are actually receiving a return on investment on their marketing activities. Some of the main questions that arise include; is the business in the right place, is the business targeting the right people, is it doing the right things and how the business can tell that it is on the right track. Consequently, debates on Rate of Return on investment in social media marketing have greatly increased (Fisher 2009). Pradiptarini, (2011) conducted a study to examine how the effectiveness of social media in measuring the Rate of Return on Investment. The study involved a survey conducted on both Twitter and Facebook Fans. The findings of the study disclosed there is actually no clear evidence to support the fact that a certain amount of followers on Twitter or Facebook for will lead to a rise in the number of customers and the sales revenue of the firm. The study showed that 10,000 new followers on the social media will not result to a new customer base of 8, 000 or an increase in sales revenue of $2 million. According to Blanchard (2011), this is the main reason why many managers are actually unenthusiastic about joining social media marketing. Vaynerchuk (2011) asserts that there is no difficult formula that is applied when measuring the Rate of Return on Investment of social media marketing. This is because social media marketing mainly involves human interactions (negative/ positive reviews) which cannot be estimated through the use of mathematical calculations. A combined study on Amazon and Google conducted by Pradiptarini, (2011) to examine the effectiveness of social media marketing and the manner in which it impacts sales disclosed that the Rate of Return on Investment can actually not be calculated through the use of traditional approaches of the calculation of ROI. This is because it should consist of multiple layers of data analysis which are to connect both the non- financial (a rise in positive comments /mentions) and the financial (an increase in online sales). Pradiptarini, 2011). Fisher (2009) discloses the fact that marketers currently are divided on the issue of Rate of Return on Investment of social media marketing. One of the division includes the deniers who argue that there is no need to have an obsession concerning the issue of ROI. This faction is actually resistant to estimate ROI in social media probably because previous efforts have been clumsy and also have unexploited the point. The other faction include the definers who are more focused on providing definitions for the concept. The other group is the dedicated group who have realized the significance of using every type of measurement in order to estimate the benefits that can be derived from social media marketing. The bottom line of the studies is that measuring the Rate of Return on Investment of social media marketing has been a difficult undertaking which explains the reason why some managers have been reluctant in integrating social media marketing within their budget as part of a serious marketing initiative (Fisher, 2009). Discussion The review of various literature has presented various critical viewpoints concerning social media marketing. Foremost from the analysis of the various literature, it can be stated that social media marketing has revolutionized the field of marketing. From the literature the trends of marketing within contemporary society indicates that social media marketing is perceived to be more prolific as opposed to traditional forms of marketing essentially when it comes to connecting companies directly to customers. What is evident is that social media marketing greatly promotes relationship marketing. This is because networking through the social media offers customers and prospective customers an opportunity to take conduct marketing among themselves. This results to the development of a dynamic ecosystem that rears and cultivates relationships among individuals through the content they share and create. For instance; users of social media can communicate to each other concerning the benefits of a certain product and share their experiences with the product which can either be good bad. Also, social media creates relationships by connecting customers and the company whereby customers can talk to the company concerning what they like, need and want. Also from the literature, it is possible to make a conclusion that social media such as Facebook is the most prominent marketing platform. Nevertheless, it was also noted that although the prominent use of Facebook in marketing activities continues to expand , Twitter also has attributes that are not exhibited in Facebook such as the ability to follow a certain company and also communicate instantly (Kirtiş and Karahan, 2011). Despite the distinctive benefits that can be derived from both social media platforms there are various existing debates that exist concerning the use of social media as a marketing approach. One of the raging debates concerns the issue of whether social media marketing can actually promote brand loyalty. Various studies such as those conducted by Erdoğmuş and Çiçek (2012) and McAlexander et al. (2002) supported the analogy that the social media does actually promote brand loyalty. Nevertheless, as noted by other studies such as those of Fournier and Avery, (2011), social media can bring about a negative influence on the brand. Fournier and Avery, (2011), further asserts that social media is basically a platform for connecting people as opposed to building and developing brands. A general conclusion that can be arrived at concerning the issue of whether the social media has the ability to create brand loyalty, is that at a certain level, social media does have the ability to influence brand loyalty. This is due to the ability of the platform to offer customers a ground for direct communication. If consumers develop a feeling that their feedback is being listened to, appreciated and acted upon through the social media, then they are bound to be loyal to the brand. On the other hand, the capability of maintain brand loyalty through the social media is an aspect that should be fully researched in order to come up with a conclusive stand point concerning whether social media does influence brand loyalty. Another debate derived from the literature is passivity of the audience in social media therefore challenging the effectiveness of social media marketing. Various studies presented concluded that most of the social media users are mostly passive audience which basically implies that marketing through social media does not make any impact to the passive audience who are basically the majority. A case in point is the study by Yang and Leskovec (2011) on Twitter audience. The findings of the study concluded that most of the Twitter users were not very active as a result the passivity of the users of social media demonstrates just how ineffective social media can be because the audience are basically not responding to the advertisement as required by the marketer. Such a finding basically discloses the fact that although social media is believed to transcend traditional types of marketing by offering a platform for interaction and communication, what is evident is that the existence of many passive audience demonstrates the fact that a two way communication does not function effectively due to the passive audience. Consequently, it essential for marketers to devise appropriate marketing strategies that can also attract the passive audience to their brands. Calculation of the Rate of Return on Investment (ROI) is also another critical contention that has been associated to marketing in the social media. From the findings of the studies, it can be concluded that in real sense it is impossible at the moment to estimate the ROI that can be derived from social media marketing. As a result it is vital to conduct more studies that can clearly demonstrate how ROI can be estimated within the context of social media marketing. Conclusion The above review has examined the concept of social media and highlighted that it can simply be defined as the use of social media platforms in marketing. Additionally, the paper examine the background of social media marketing and disclosed that the approach begun during the 1990s with the emergence of Web 1 and later expanded on the year 2000 with the discovery of Web 2 . The trends of social media marketing were also introspectively discussed. A key aspect that was noted was the fact that social media marketing has transformed the practice of marketing. Existing debates on social media marketing were also examined. In conclusion, it can be stated that there is need to conduct more studies in order to provided conclusive arguments on the effectiveness of the social media in marketing. References Asur, S, Huberman, B, Szabo, G and Wang, C, 2011, Trends in Social Media: Persistence and Decay, Social Computing, 7(2011), p 1-12. Agarwal, N, Liu, H, Tang, L and P. S. Yu. 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