Introduction
Social media marketing is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it across their social networks. The resulting electronic word of mouth (eWoM) refers to any statement consumers share via the Internet (e.g., web sites, social networks, instant messages, news feeds) about an event, product, service, brand or company. When the underlying message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself, this form of marketing results in earned media rather than paid media.
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 & advertising. Social networking sites act as word of mouth. Social networking sites and blogs allow followers to “retweet” or “repost” comments made by others about a product being promoted. 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 that 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 interact 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 a vast amount of information about what products and services prospective clients might be interested in. Through the use of new Semantic Analysistechnologies, marketers can detect buying signals, such as content shared by people and questions posted online. Understanding of buying signals can help sales people target relevant prospects and marketers run micro-targeted campaigns.
In order to integrate Social Networks within 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
Networking is used by 76% of businesses today. Business retailers have seen 133% increases in their revenues from social media marketing.
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. Mobile devices and 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 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; 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. 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 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. His appeal was further buttressed by the recent crowd turnout at Madison square garden.
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 customer 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.
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