SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION

7/25/2019 SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/social-media-in-marketing-communication 1/10

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION ASSIGNMENT

LITERATURE REVIEW

SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Laili Abdullah,

Section C,

Roll Number 326

ABSTRACT

Web 2.0 represents an ensemble of technological platforms, which allow the interaction of the users by creating and sharing information and other dierent online materials. Web 2.0represents a new version of the World Wide Web in the Internet network, characterized bynovelty, interactivity, and possibility to continuously adapt. he social media is distinct fromthe physical media, with integrated marketing eorts social media can create value for abusiness. his value is in the form of knowledge transfer and information capital thatact as tools for planning !arketing communications. he success of "ocial media marketinghowever depends on the perception of the users. #ser acceptability of mobile devices canthus be capitalized by marketers creating new functions for social media through mobilesocial marketing.

his review seeks to e$plore the relevance of social media in marketing communication,identify its peculiarity from traditional marketing and study the value addition that onlinepresence creates for a company. %urther, the application of mobile social media and itsprospects for marketing is also studied. he role of social media for "mall and !edium"ized &nterprises as a new marketing strategy tool is analyzed through a case.

1. Introduction

&very modern organization seeks to communicate successfully to reach their targetaudience. 'ommunication is the means to connect with customers and build strongcustomer relations. In order to distinguish themselves, companies continuously widencommunication channels and new possibilities to communicate with target groups isidenti(ed. )auer *200+ states that all marketing communication means will work to its



ma$imum capacity only if they will be part of integrated marketing communications plan,i.e. in case selected communication means will be concerted and uni(ed and constantinformation about an organization and its products and services is disseminated. -notheraspect of successful communication is the twoway dialogue that involves engaging thecustomer through comments and feedback. "ocial !edia provides /ust that platform thatintegrated marketing communications needs.

Web 2.0 represents an ensemble of technological platforms, which allow the interaction of the users by creating and sharing information and other dierent online materials. Web 2.0represents a new version of the World Wide Web in the Internet network, characterized bynovelty, interactivity, and possibility to continuously adapt. he "ocial !edia phenomenonhas been made possible only because of the Web 2.0. he #ser enerated 'ontent refers tothe information the users upload on dierent sites 1 the e$amples are personal videos on ou ube channels, photos on sites such as %acebook, %lickr or Instagram, personal viewssummarized in short te$ts and posted on witter or published on individual or group blog ormicroblog pages such as the touristic impressions people post on sites such astripadvisor.com.

"ocial media has become a means to overcome cultural barriers and to connect peoplearound the world over a 3network4 according to 5laus 6icholas "chmidt and 5amakshi ".Iyer. hey state that the bond of trust is crucial in the success and impact of social media onpeople.

!ircea eorgescu and 7aniela 8opescul estimate that the "ocial !edia revolution is not only3on the way4 to the business environment, but it is also seen in the organizations worldwidedue to the incredible speed it enters all the (elds of social and economical life. he use of social media to promote a business has developed from being a rarity to now being a normfor businesses that want to reach a large number of audiences in a short period of time. herole of social media can arguably be more of creating awareness about a product or service

or business model than about selling the same.

2. Pcu!i"riti# O$ Soci"! Mdi"

Increase in informational literacy and development of Internet technology along withaccessibility to Internet and social media have been detrimental in shaping contemporarycommunication. "ocial media has brought to focus virtual communication and enabledintegrated marketing communication to be handled online.

he essential dierences distinguishing social media from the traditional media arecharacterized by the higher involvement of the consumer9 stimulating consumer activity,openness to participation, involvement *voting, commenting and sharing information, twosided communication between information sender and recipient, the possibility of :uickformation of various communities with distinctive interests.

Indr ;ucaityt and ;rat !a<inskien state that scienti(c literature emphasizes that :ualitativeand eective communication of business organizations with target groups is one of keyfactors helping business organizations to compete in the market successfully. =owever,strong competitive advantage can be achieved by a company only if all marketing



communication forms and messages it applies has to be concerted interdependently, i.e.business organizations have to apply integrated marketing communications in theiractivities.

he authors, Indr ;ucaityt and ;rat !a<inskien, conclude that the prinicples of traditionalmarketing are not applicable to social media due to the tendency of people to cluster on thebasis of their mutual interests. "ocial media renders the consumer more powerful than everby enabling to access other customers and in>uence them.

%. Kno&!d' Tr"n#$r And In$or("tion C")it"!

he use of Internet leads to substitution of physical pro$imity with virtual pro$imity forstandard transactions. !organ *200? warns that this is not viable 3for the transactions witha high degree of comple$ity and ambiguity4, starting from the premise that normally, withinorganizations, knowledge is found in a tacit form and decoding and spreading knowledgere:uire the physical pro$imity and keeping personal relationships between the economicalagents. !ircea eorgescu and 7aniela 8opescul state that if we consider the organizations

as sums of knowledge >ows, we notice the ma/or role played by individuals as generatorsand consumers of knowledge. he features of the modern organizations, based mainly onknowledge *namely the intangible character of input and output, the constant interactionwith clients and the dierent kinds of partners, the strong interdependence of e$perts andtheir personal /udgment, innovation in the sense of constant renewal and widening of theproduct and service portfolio, informational asymmetry have increased the need but alsothe possibilities to make :uick informational and knowledge transfers. he knowledgetransfer is a key and critical factor in a business. he importance of knowledge transfer ismore relevant in the global and dynamic business environment that is faced today. In theirview, the socializing networks play their role in diminishing the barriers that might come upin the way of knowledge transfer. !ircea eorgescu and 7aniela 8opescul also claim thatthe habit of using technology in our daily lives have made social media more accessible to

us, in a friendly and accepted environment, unstructured information from multiple sourcesis made available, opening channels for knowledge transfer. his knowledge and informationtransfer enables creation of positive e$ternalities, they state that network e$ternalitiesappear when the last person connected to the network, due to his@her participation, ensuresthe increase in utility for all the users. his can be seen in sites like ol$ or :uickr, wheremore the users oer and ask, the greater will the chances for other customers to choosefrom a variety of products leading to a greater volume of transactions.

!ircea eorgescu and 7aniela 8opescul also state that natural resource dependence inbusinesses is gradually replaced by the intellectual ones. Informational capital is asimportant as (nancial capital to reach targets, in the age of knowledge based economies,

attempts are being made to include the intellectual capital in the balance sheets due totheir enormous in>uence on the bottom line.

"ocial !edia supports the informational capitalization by spreading the information aboutthe organization with ease as well as by ac:uiring valuable information and in considerable:uantity about employees, suppliers and clients. he social networks can be a source of information about a certain business for the consumers. hey might oer essential dataabout a business without the need to pay e$pensive publicity.



*. Prc)tion O$ Soci"! Mdi"

"ocial media can be a value addition to a brand, however the success of social mediadepends on the impact it creates on the consumers. !uch like the physical world, brandloyalty in the online world also re:uires a relationship of trust. &lectronic commerce researchhas found trust to be strongly related to information disclosure *!etzger, 200?. rust is alsoa central component of social e$change theory *Aolo, BCDB. "ocial e$change theorypresents a cost bene(t analysis with respect to social interaction. If the e$change isperceived to be bene(cial, then the individual is likely to enter into an e$changerelationship. rust is believed to be used in the calculation of perceived cost. =igh trustwould lead to a perception of low cost, and vice versa. "tudies of interpersonal e$changesituations con(rm that trust is a precondition for selfdisclosure, because it reducesperceived risks involved in revealing private information *!etzger, 200?.

In a study conducted by 5laus 6icholas "chmidt and 5amakshi ". Iyer to assess the socialmedia participantsE perception of authenticity and trustworthiness of online advertising atotal population of ?00 students from a %rench and -merican university were chosen and

given a :uestionnaire. he :uestionnaire contained a total of 2B items with a focus on theperceptions of reliability, credibility, and accuracy of both brand communities andadvertising on social media. he :uestions focused on trust in %acebook brand communitiesand their perception toward online advertising.

heir study showed that out of two items only two had showed signi(cance based onnationality. he believe that Internet and social media have proven to make the world amore even playing ground for all participants and removed earlier barriers is well known. he (ndings of this study, makes this belief more factual. he (rst (nding that there issigni(cant dierences between nationality and perception of trust implies that it hasbecome important for companies to have an online presence and to collect online data of customers.

he second :uestion, was regarding the dierences in perception of trust of brandcommunities versus advertising eorts on social media. Ff the B0 pairs, a total of D showedstatistically signi(cant dierences, indicating that the trust, validity, and credibility put intosocial media brand communities rated higher than the advertisement eorts of companieson social media. he implication of the second result is that companies, which are close tocustomers and are able to interpret their customerEs needs, are more successful than thosemerely placing advertisements online. Gy engaging customers in brand communities, asense of belongingness is created, giving the company a greater credibility. 8ublic relationsare an area of marketing which is highly dependent on consumer perception. Fnline publicrelations must re>ect the needs and wants of the customers and only then will the use of

social media be relevant.

In order to measure the success of using social media, it is important to keep in mind thatmere likes and retweets is not an indicator of success. - company must go beyond metricssuch as number of viewers, hit rates, click throughs etc. -ccording to 7ilhan Hztamura andbrahim "arper 5arakadJlarb there are 2 kinds of metrics that worth e$aminingK3engagement metrics4 *followers, fans, comments and 3sentiment metrics4 *positive andnegative comments of the customers. It is these results that will help in crisis



management, and also re>ect the brand sentiments among customers.

+. Mo,i! Soci"! Mdi"

!ayank adav, atish ;oshi and Lillur Aahman in their paper 3!obile social media9 he newhybrid element of digital marketing communication mark that smartphones and other

mobile devices have given birth to new functions to the social media platforms. With realtime accessibility to consumers on the move, it has become easier than ever to reach targetaudiences in an eMcient manner. Geginning with the humble 8ersonal digital assistants tothe present smarterthanever mobile phones, mobile technology has revolutionized the waypeople and businesses communicate. -ccording to -ndreas !. 5aplan *20B2, p. BN03!obile marketing as any marketing activity conducted through a ubi:uitous network towhich consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device4. he classice$ample of a mobile device referred to in this de(nition is the mobile phone.

he ma/or contribution of mobile social media to marketing is the information it providesabout consumers, oOine consumer habits can be inferred from their online actions. %irms

have access to check in details of consumers, their online reviews and feedback on productsthey used. his data can be compiled eMciently with the help of data mining software givingthe company the power to manage its business better. #ser generated content is the mostpowerful source of information related to customers which can be generated from socialmedia. It is possible to learn about customerEs interests, tastes and preferences from thedata they provide online.

he data generated is useful to improve the :uality of marketing communication. -s!ayank adav et al give an e$ample to G2' social media mobile communication is thepromotion of an album titled !essy )ittle drops in 20B0 by 'heryl -nn 'ole with the help of %acebook 8laces *=osea, 20BB. When people used to pass from BB? poster locations in'oleEs hometown and )ondon, they were asked to checkin at billboard. When customer

checkedin at that billboard location, they were directed to 'herylEs page on %acebook andwere oered two free tickets for her P%actor shows. -part from this the checkedin locationwas shared on artistEs timeline as well as on the userEs timeline, which could be seen by thefriends of the user. his techni:ue is a de(nitive case of viral marketing promotions.

!ayank et al see the role of mobile devices in sales promotion as revolutionary. he mobileera has brought ability of customizing promotions for speci(c customers at speci(c timeperiods. iving the e$ample of Qirgin -merica, they e$plain how mobile media applicationshave changed the idea of promotions. When it launched its 'alifornia'ancun service itstarted a promotional campaign using mobile social media that consumers checkinginthrough )oopt from one out of three selected Gorder rill aco rucks in "an %rancisco and

)os -ngeles from BB-! to 8!, -ugust NB, 20B0, had the opportunity to have two tacos at aprice of RB and could also get S0T discount on !e$ico >ights. !ore BN00 people checked in /ust a window of ?hours, D0T out of these purchases tickets from Qirgin -merica *Flson,20BB, Uuinton, 20B0. In a similar fashion a VGarista GadgeE was oered to consumers if (vedierent locations of "tarbucks were checkedin by them.

!obile social media has played a crucial role in integrating the virtual and real loves of individuals, creating an innovative way of communication which is bing well e$ploited by



businesses. !ost Gusinesses today have presence on %acebook, witter and other socialmedia along with their own websites. While company websites may not see a great footfall,but social media pages have a higher turnover with the ability to engage consumers indiscussions and oers over the social media websites. "ocial networking sites emerge asthe most powerful media for advertising across the globe. 'ompanies are shifting a largerpie of their advertising budgets towards social networking sites to better reach customers*"a$ena 5hanna 20BN.

-. A C"# O$ S("!! And Mdiu( Entr)ri##

7ilhan Hztamura and brahim "arper 5arakadJlarb in their paper &$ploring the role of socialmedia for "!&s9 as a new marketing strategy tool for the (rm performance perspectiveanalyzed the "ocial !edia presence of two medium sized fashion retail industry one in #"-

and one in urkey.

he %ashion company from #"- had interesting content on their %acebook page for theirtarget customers. hey posted often, about surveys, contests and :uestions in order toattract their customers attention. hey gave tips about fashion in general, and promotedtheir own products alongside. heir wording in posts, unlike other pages, was not formal andhad storytelling style, which was perceived as sincere by customers in their feedback. heyshared their daily activities and about their designer crew as well to create a bond withcustomers. hey were also very interactive in their posts, and replied to all :ueries andposts of customers.

Fn the other hand the urkish company often shared photos of their collections on their

business page, they also posted about discounts they oered. hey too maintain two waycommunication, whenever a customer asks a :uestion about a size or color of an out(tKthey always reply and suggest a solution or if a customer complains about the :uality of anout(tK they immediately report the problem and proceed to solve it. =owever unlike their #"counterparts, they use the formal wordings in their socialmedia communication and thereplies are also in a formal tone.

When the authors compared the two companiesE social media pro(les, they have similarstrategies in terms of the richness of the content. Goth pages shared pictures, surveys andcontests and so were fashion tips. =owever, there was a dierence in the tone of communication of the two companies. While the -merican company was sincere and uni:uein its communications, the urkish company was found to be rather formal and distantaccording to the authors. In conclusion both the companies used "ocial !edia as a tool topromote their businesses.

-ccording to their (ndings they concluded that the -merican companies are more prone toapply the re:uired strategies and the factors as compared to social media use by urkishcompanies. 7ynamic industries such as 3fashionretail chains4 strive more on social mediamedium and this aects the number of their followers. hey found that the enterprises



which are analogous according to their size and scopeK may have dierent approaches tostrategic use of social media and these discrepancies become obvious when a systematicalcomparison is made between them. hey suggested that for "!&s, planning to use socialmedia mediums as a competitive marketing toolK is that they should spend time to createrich contents on their social media accounts to attract their target customersE attention.

'omparative table showing the data from the two companies9

. T/ Do&n#id O$ Soci"! Mdi"

"ocial media distinguishes itself from traditional media in its allowing all members to createand upload information. It has enabled user content generation, meaning thatcommunication is allowed twoway. -long with the opportunities that twowaycommunication creates, the threat of misuse is also there.

he ability of consumers to freely communicate with other consumers threatens thecompanies by making consumers stronger than ever. hey are able to voice their negative



opinions easily and their comments are accessible by other consumers leaving the companyhelpless. Indr ;ucaityt and ;rat !a<inskien conclude that it has become more important thatever to monitor consumer insights and improve their performance on the basis of consumerfeedback.

-cknowledging the bene(ts and importance of social media in businesses today !irceaeorgescu and 7aniela 8opescul also caution of the serious social and ethical conse:uencesof it.

he ease of use makes it possible to neglect its dangersK inability to separate personal andprofessional life on social media can also prove to be detrimental, social and physicalisolation, weakened cognitive processes *reen(eld, 200C.

Geyond the negative aspects highlighted by !ircea eorgescu and 7aniela 8opescul,Grookes *20BB mentions the change in pro(le of the future employees. he level of

e$pectations as regards the technology and e:uipment provided at work *i8ad, smartphone, laptop, and tablet is much higher among the generations born and raised on theInternet. his supports the 3mirroring4 eect of technology, as teenagers seek to replicatethe tools and communication channels they already use at home, when they move into theworkplace.

%rom the ethical point of view, "ocial !edia allows the proliferation of plagiarism, piracy,hacker attacks. Web 2.0 can be seen as a global village with millions of inhabitants wherethe illdoers be invisible giving way to more and more advanced fraud techni:ues.

0. Conc!u#ion

Aeview of the literature on social media integration into marketing communication revealedthat social media is a worldwideweb tool that enables users to become active creators of the content, to communicate with each other easily, create and e$change information. hekey aspect of social media is that Internet enables individuals to become not only passiveusers of content but content creators as well.

"ocial media is an especially useful tool for small and medium enterprises. With thebudgetary limitations of these enterprises, social media marketing is a lucrative option forthem. 'ustomer engagement and relationship building are the common goals behind usingsocial media networks.

With constant innovation in the world of social media, it has become imperative to adapt

marketing communication to meet the demands of the consumers. 6ot only is it importantto be present on social media, value addition must be gained from the online presence.!easuring online success re:uires going beyond the numbers and analyzing the negativeand positive impact of the comments of customers on social networks.



R$rnc#

Artic!# Ri&d

B. Indr ;ucaityt and ;rat !a<inskien, 8eculiarities of social media integration into marketingcommunication. BCth International "cienti(c 'onferenceK &conomics and !anagement 20B?, I'&!

20B?, 2N2S -pril 20B?, Aiga, )atvia. Aetrieved from9 http9@@www.sciencedirect.com@science@article@pii@"BD++0?2DB?0X0?+C

2. !ayank adav, atish ;oshi and Lillur Aahman, !obile social media9 he new hybrid element ofdigital marketing communications, PQIII -nnual International 'onference of the "ociety of Fperations!anagement *"F!B?. Aetrieved from9http9@@www.sciencedirect.com@science@article@pii@"BD++0?2DBS02022?

N. !ircea eorgescua and 7aniela 8opescula, "ocial !edia 1 the new paradigm of collaboration andcommunication for business environment. +th International 'onference on lobalization and =igher&ducation in &conomics and Gusiness -dministration, &G- 20BN. Aetrieved from9http9@@www.sciencedirect.com@science@article@pii@"22B2SX+BBS000+SB

?. 7r. 5laus 6icholas "chmidta and !s. 5amakshi ". Iyera , Fnline Gehaviour of "ocial !edia8articipantsE and 8erception of rust, 'omparing "ocial !edia Grand 'ommunity roups and-ssociated Frganized !arketing "trategies. Aetrieved from9http9@@www.sciencedirect.com@science@article@pii@"BD++0?2DBS0B+?N+

S. 7ilhan Hztamura and brahim "arper 5arakadJlarb, &$ploring the role of social media for "!&s9 as anew marketing strategy tool for the (rm performance perspective, B0th International "trategic!anagement 'onference. Aetrieved from9http9@@www.sciencedirect.com@science@article@pii@"BD++0?2DB?0SBBX+

Ot/r Sourc#

-ngelo, %. *200+. "ocial media change the rules. Communication World, 24, CB0Grookes, -., 20BB, "iemens &nterprise 'ommunications report (nds todayEs techsavvy teens have highe$pectations for future working environments, retrieved fromhttp9@@enterprise.usa.siemens.com@us@news@&&2%DC&B0XD%?%%CCGXB'G&SSS?N+2%D@ reen(eld, 8., 200C, echnology and Informal &ducation9 What Is aught, What Is )earned, in

3Science4, vol. N2N, 2 Ianuarie 200C, p. XC.=osea, !. *20BB. =ow location tools are honing brand radars. Marketing Week , N?*2, ?CYS2.5aplan, -. !. *20B2. If you love something, let it go mobile9!obile marketing and mobile social media?$?. Buine !ori"on, SS*2, B2C, BNC.)auer, ). 7. *200+. -dvertising can be an eective integrated marketing tool. #ournal o$ Marketing $or

!igher %ducation, &', BNBS.!etzger, !. ;. *200? 38rivacy, rust, and 7isclosure9 %()loring Barrier to %lectronic Commerce * *?,4 #ournal o$ Com)uter+Mediated Communication 4 *C.!organ, 5, 200?, he e$aggerated death of geography9 learning, pro$imity and territorial innovation

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814060479





http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/us/news/EE2F89E1-068F-4FF9-9B61-CBE5554372F8/





http://enterprise.usa.siemens.com/us/news/EE2F89E1-068F-4FF9-9B61-CBE5554372F8/




systems, in ;ournal of &conomic eography4, no ?.Flson, &. *20BB, ;anuary 20. Aestaurants reach out to customers with social media. he Ne- .ork

ime, p. G?.Uuinton, G. *20B0, "eptember 22. "ports -uthority pitches checkin rewards via )oopt "tar app.8romo.Aolo, !. &. *BCDB Interpersonal communication9 he social e$change approach. Geverly =ills, '-9

"age 8ublications, Inc."a$ena, -., 5hanna, #. *20BN. -dvertising on "ocial 6etwork "ites9 - "tructural &:uation !odelling-pproach. Qision *0C+22X2C, B+*B

Documents

SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION