Use of Social Media in Marketing - Essay Example

Ethical Issues Surrounding The Use Of Social Media In Marketing Introduction With the progressive change in technology, virtually everything is going digital. Marketing, one of the most fundamental aspects of business is among the most notable elements that have taken a digital stance. Apparently, digital marketing, also referred to as online promotion, makes prominent use of the social media. Following the rate at which ecommerce is becoming popular; every major companies have full profiles on such social media sites as twitter. Apparently, there are many reasons why social media is a common advertising platform in the contemporary world (Wind & Mahajan 2001). Similarly, there are various pros and cons of such forms of advertising. It s noteworthy that, just like any other people oriented approach, social media marketing has various ethical issues surrounding it. Researchers have tried to explain the various social media issues from different perspectives. Even so, there are certain perspectives that are common to all market researchers. This paper is a deep explication of the various ethical issues surrounding the use of social media as a medium of marketing. Ethical issues surrounding the use of social media in marketing Ethics has been described as a set of principles that describe that which is acceptable from all that which is considered immoral or socially unacceptable. Talking of social media, ethical issues are those things relating to unacceptable conduct or activities that affect the comfort of the users in a negative sense. Social media is a controversial medium of marketing since the people using such sites have different cultural backgrounds (Richardson et al 2010). Different cultural backgrounds perceive different activities differently. For instance, some cultures do not have considerations for trust and privacy. On the contrary, people from such cultures as the oriental Chinese cultures are reserved and have high regard for privacy. As such, people from different places perceive things differently. Apparently, privacy is the most significant ethical issue surrounding the use of the internet, especially social media sites. Privacy, also referred to as confidentiality implies that a user should be protected from unwanted intrusion such as unwanted emails. Social media marketing involves the sending of mass emails to prospective customers as well as the existing clients. Such emails are among those that users describe as unwanted correspondence that only works to fill their email addresses. Apparently, when an individual receives an email from companies, as part of the mass communication marketing efforts, their mails appear on the screens of all those people that have received copies of the same (Levinson & Gibson 2010). This exposes an individual unnecessarily to strangers that might use the addresses to send other irrelevant and even annoying information. Privacy has become an issue in the use of the internet since people feel vulnerable to various perils, including cyber crimes. In an effort to promote its products on social media, an organization may reveal its employees to the public. This is a serious violation of the private life of an individual. Revealing the work profile of an individual to the public can cause damage to the image of the individual. There are various reasons why employees would rather remain anonymous as far as such things as the professional portfolios are concerned. This explains why the consumers and employees should remain protected. Social media, much like many other sites, are not the most appropriate places to use in promoting a product, especially when such advertising efforts make use of individuals (Evans & Mckee 2010). Privacy remains paramount even on the part of the company concerned. Social media are rich areas for cyber criminals. Such cyber criminals can effortlessly hack the websites of the company. This way, they gain access to the organization’s private information. This is among the worst things that can happen to a company as the hackers may expose such information to competitors. Another issue associated with social media marketing is consent. Apparently, social media is not like television where the advertisements are rated. The advertisements are in such a way that they are accessible to all social media users and bloggers. In the contemporary world, children are among the most significant social media users. This means that they can access advertisements on social media. In actual fact, most advertisements on social media and such sites as you tube are unedited. They reveal images and information that are unsuitable for viewing by young minds. This is a way of encouraging consumption of products that are not recommended for underage people (Bird 2007). For instance the advertising of such things as alcohol, cigarettes and condoms is a common sight on social media. Such images and information reach children and other people outside the target group. This in turn encourages unjustified consumption of such products by people outside the intended class. The fact that social media is somewhat uncontrolled in terms of events and time, explains why such important concepts as consent are mutilated. Rationally, it is unethical to lie or disseminate false information. Essentially, social media is filled with so many fake testimonials and success stories from supposed consumers of the products being advertised. Considering that prospective buyers base their decisions on such testimonials, it is unethical to make use of social media to convey false information. Apparently, most of the praise stories are done by professional freelance writers. Such writers are, probably, people that have never used the products they write about. All they are concerned with is money since that is their profession. In writing such articles aimed at promoting the product, their objective function is not to give factual information, but rather to be as creative as possible (Anderson 2010). Such creativity appears appealing to the marketers of the company, who buy and use it, oblivious of the misguiding facts it contains. It is ethically wrong to buy creative articles as a way of advertising. As a general fact, prospective buyers would appreciate more if they were given the actual facts, as this would enable them make more informed decisions. Improper anonymity is one of the ethical issues in using social media as a way of advertising a company’s products. People giving information on a company or its products usually remain anonymous on social media. This act of anonymity has been described as negative PR. In the case of a company, all correspondence made, including advertisements should be in such a way that the reader can establish the link between the information, the publisher of such information and the company (Berkman & Shumway 2003). It works against the public relations of a company when advertisements on social media remain unnecessarily anonymous. Such anonymity affects the image of the organizations negatively as the people viewing the organization’s information cannot be identified effortlessly by the prospective buyers and this means that the authenticity of the information cannot be established. Worth noting at this point is the actuality that Improper anonymity and privacy contradict each other in the sense that their demands are opposite and equal in intensity. This causes an ethical dilemma that is difficult to address. Perhaps the only way of doing away with the dilemma, according to many gurus in marketing, is to find and employ alternative methods of marketing. There is a tendency to post exaggerated information on social media. These give the prospective online shoppers delusive images of the products on sale. Such delusive images misguide the decision maker. Exaggeration is no different from giving false or distorted information. The use of such things as online software to doctor the images and capabilities of the products makes the method inappropriate. Unlike face to face methods of marketing, social media marketing does not employ the use of professional in the field (Drushel & German 2011). On the contrary, anyone, including people from rival companies can give misleading information on the products in focus. This increases unethical conduct a little more. Worth noting is the actuality that social media is among the most prominent battle field for business rivals. As is human nature, the people using social media do take sides. The product wars are among the most unethical ways of outdoing a competitor. This is especially so where and when the battle is between an established brand and an upcoming brand. Impersonation of agents from competitors, one of the most common ways of blackmail, is an unethical activity that characterizes social media marketing. Apparently, hacking, one of the most detrimental aspects of all online activities is a threat when it comes to social media marketing. There have been various reports of hackers gaining unauthorized access to people’s private accounts on social media. The advertising companies and agencies are no exception to such hacking efforts. The cyber criminals gain unauthorized access and tamper with the communication conveyed to the public (Girard & Girard 2011). In most cases, the damage could be almost unnoticeable but can cause the company dearly. Hacking is no different from breaking into someone’s house. Such activities lack moral backing as they are neither supported by morality nor upheld by law. Hacking is one of the activities that have made social media marketing inefficient and inappropriate considering that the unethical nature of the events surrounding social media marketing put off prospective clients. In most cases, hackers are merely malicious individuals or unscrupulous competitors that want to gain unfair advantage. One of the ethical concerns raised by researchers in relation to social media marketing is the act of getting free work online. Worth noting is the actuality that organizations make attempts at getting creative minds to design their advertisements. Apparently, this is the reason why most big corporations prepare online competitions. Such competitions make the products of the organization the topic of writing. The best articles are taken and used as advertisements. Such competitions are not ways of promoting talent, or anything close to that. On the contrary, they are ways of exploiting people through getting free labor. Research indicates that, in most cases, people that win the competitions are freelance articles writer. It is important to note that such freelance workers do the adverts as part of their job and not as a hobby. It is, therefore, unethical that people do the work and go unpaid. It is immoral of a company to do such things in the name of user generated content (UGC) (Kizza 2010). Using free labor, especially on the internet where most people are unemployed job seekers and freelance workers, is quite unethical considering that people need to make a living. Moreover, it is the duty of an organization to pay its workers as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Overly enthusiastic employees can be a cause of ethical issues in social media marketing. Apparently, most employees joined social media a private individuals long before their organizations thought of joining any social media site. Enthusiastic employees will usually start promoting the products of his company long before the arrival of the official page for the organization. This will usually work for and against the company depending on the knowledge of the individual (Poynter 2010). Some uninformed individual may give inaccurate information. Such information may send away potential buyers. On the other hand, an excessively enthusiastic employee may give information contradicting the information given by the official marketing team. Such contradictions can bring about ethical problems. Similarly, an individual employee could end up revealing confidential information. Conclusion In conclusion, it is considerably straightforward to understand that there are many ethical issues surrounding social media marketing. One such issue is privacy. The internet does not guarantee one of confidentiality especially when the person receives mass correspondence. Similarly, social media encourages negative Pr and improper anonymity. Such concepts tarnish the image of the organization. Other ethical issues surrounding social media marketing include hacking possibilities, consent on social media, exaggerate information, User generated content as well as inconsistencies occasioned by overly enthusiastic workforce. Reference list Anderson, E. 2010. Social Media Marketing: Game Theory and the Emergence of Collaboration. Heidelberg, Springer. Berkman, R. I., & Shumway, C. A. 2003. Digital Dilemmas: Ethical Issues for Online Media Professionals. Ames, Iowa State Press Bird, D. 2007. Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing. London [U.A.], Kogan Page. Drushel, B., & German, K. M. 2011. The Ethics of Emerging Media: Information, Social Norms, and New Media Technology. New York, Continuum. Evans, D., & Mckee, J. 2010. Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement. Indianapolis, Ind, Wiley Pub. Girard, J. P., & Girard, J. L. 2011. Social Knowledge Using Social Media To Know What You Know. Hershey, Pa, Information Science Reference Kizza, J. M. 2010. Ethical and Social Issues In The Information Age. London, Springer. Levinson, J. C., & Gibson, S. 2010. Guerrilla Social Media Marketing: 100+ Weapons To Grow Your Online Influence Attract Customers, And Drive Profits. [Irvine, Calif.], Entrepreneur Press Poynter, R. 2010. The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research Tools and Techniques for Market Researchers. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K., Wiley Richardson, N., Gosnay, R., & Carroll, A. 2010. A Quick Start Guide to Social Media Marketing: High Impact, Low-Cost Marketing That Works. London, Kogan Page. Wind, Y., & Mahajan, V. 2001. Digital Marketing Global Strategies from the World's Leading Experts. New York, J. Wiley. Read More