Social media as marketing tool

SOCIALMEDIAAS

MARKETINGTOOLwhy companies are shifting

towards social media

7047QCA DIGITAL DESIGN THEORY & PRACTICEMASTER OF DIGITAL DESIGN, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY

LECTURER: DAVID KEANE

VIRALMANY-TO-MANYF O L L O W E R

B L O GCOMMUNITYNICHE

NASTITI MAYAWULANS2822152

ABSTRACTNowadays, people are more likely to spend their time online in social media websites. Social media is a democratic means of communication where people can create and share the content with other people. Connect and share is the key, and people with common interest often form communities. It uses “wisdom of the crowds” where information is collected by collaborating knowledge of the members. In 2011, it is recorded that the top social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Hi5, and blogs. These sites open to a new channel of marketing, which is social media marketing. Social media marketing is a way of generating word-of-mouth or viral advertising on the internet, that relies on people telling other people about they think about a product or a service. People are more likely to believe a recommendation from a friend instead of taking into account a formal advertising from the company. There is a tendency that more and more companies are integrating social media into their marketing strategy. This happens because marketers are aware of the benefit of social media marketing, such as generating more business exposure, increased traffic to their com-pany’s website and improved search rankings. The fact that people are more often to go online than reading newspaper or watching TV also drives the companies to use social media as their marketing tool. Even so, they would have to be prepared to work in long-term, because engaging the customers and building trust cannot be achieved in such a short time. The best practice is to plan the marketing strategy from the start with comprehensive use of printed and broadcast advertising media with the social media.

KEYWORDS

FRED REFERENCESWord-of-mouth, viral marketing, niche communities, blog, microblogging, friend, follower, forum, message board, weblog, wiki, podcast, search engine, traffic

Social media, online marketing

What is Social Media?Ever since Tim Berners-Lee invented it, the internet has evolved greatly. Once a channel for a simple exchange of hyper text, it has become a virtual realm where one can find practically the world in it. There are websites; places where peo-ple can go and see things, collecting information. There are e-mails, which acted as a digital home address. In the last decade, a new breed of virtual arena is growing. People are spending their time in certain sites that enable them to see other people and interact with them. These sites are known as social media network. What is exactly this social media network?

Social media is forms of electronic com-munication (as websites for social net-working and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).

For the companies’ (or brands) perspective, social media is the democratisation of people’s ability to create and use communication channels, while the marketing agencies see that as a fundamental shift in communicating with the world; a medium where people get to create content and post it on-line to share it with other people that is considered as “friend” or “follower”.

Merriam-Webster online dictionary

Agresta & Bough, 2011

Merrily Orsini cited Dave Evans’ (2008) definition of social media as follows:

“Social media is the democratisation of informa-tion, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between anchors, people and peers. Social media uses the “wisdom of the crowds” to connect information in a collabora-tive manner. Social media can take many forms, including Internet forums, message boards, we-blogs, wikis, podcasts, pictures and video. (Evans, 2008, p. 33)”.

She emphasises three characteristics of social media: facilitates a two-way inter-action, collaborative, and democratic.

Social networks is member-based online communities that enable users to link to one another based on common interests. He argues that social networks on the web emerge because people recognise a hu-man need for connections despite they are being physically separated and are trying to find it the best way they can. People like to belong to certain communities, and since social networks is mainly user-gen-erated content rather than professionals- or experts-generated contents, people can really share to each other.

Orsini, 2009 Weber, 2007

Illustration by Nastiti Mayawulan

Even though the advancement of technology helps the development of social media, it was not why it became popular. It is the human nature that drives people in creating and building online communities, and further on, invites participation from the users. There are five fundamental things of social media:1. Democracy »» communication is being revolutionised, the “one-to-many” information system is

now shifting to citizen journalism, collaborative communications, and the growing power of alterna-tive online media sources.

2. Community »» common interest is what brings people together.3. Collaboration »» in many occasions, people bring the very best of themselves to a project, whether

raising money online to help fight cancer or making research available for free to anyone who needs it, indicating trust and good faith formed in the digital world.

4. Scope »» the internet is infinite, and since most social media tools are free (i.e. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter), there is no barrier to enter, participate and share.

5. Authenticity »» genuine and transparent information can inspire honest communication.

We can conclude that social media is a democratic means of communication where people can create and share the content with other people.

Barefoot and Szabo, 2010


Examples of Popular Social Media SitesThe Daily News Sri Lanka in June 2011 sta-ted that Facebook has more than 700 million subscribers worldwide, jokingly claim it as the third biggest country after China and India.

Discovery News listed Facebook as the number one in their Top 10 So-cial Networking Sites, followed by Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Hi5 in the second, third, fourth and fifth place.

Apparently, marketers are aware of this preference in using social me-dia sites. In Social Media Examiner’s new study in 2011, it is recorded that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs were the top four social media tools used by marketers.

1 12 2 23 3 34 45

1


What is Social Media Marketing?Considering the amount of people spending their time online accessing social media websites, marketers are now see social media as a new channel of marketing. The term “social media marketing” has beginning to be familiar. Let us look several descriptions from various sources as follows to explore about social media marketing.

Social media marketing is a process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites, focusing on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks.

Wikipedia

Social media marketing is a viral marketing acti-vity using social media channels to promote the company and its products. Viral marketing relies on how people would tell other people what they think about a product.

Barefoot and Szabo, 2010


Social media marketing is a way of gen-erating word-of-mouth advertising on the internet, which apparently is quite similar to offline word-of-mouth advertising. En-gaging with online communities, building relationships and providing others with the expertise and assistance are the things a business should do so people would feel attached and spread the word about the business. Because recommendations come from trusted friends, people are more likely to believe them, as opposed to listening to paid advertising.

Social media marketing is the process of promoting site or business through social media channels. It is a powerful strategy that will get the companies links, attention and traffic from the internet users. Getting links are useful in increasing the website’s rank in the search engine. The more popu-lar a business in the social media world, the larger the links they got in terms of numbers. Furthermore, the more links in the social media websites, the more likely for people to come to the business’ web-site and thus increasing traffic to it,

National Driller trade journal article Buzz Technologies Inc article


T T

From the definitions above, it is clear that social media marketing is a process of promoting a site or business through social media, aiming people to be interested and spread the content of the cam-paign with their networks.

Why is there a move in marketing activity from traditional and broadcast media to social media?There is a trend in the recent years that companies are shifting their marketing activities from media such as newspaper, magazines and broadcast channel to the social media. Jack Loechner in his research brief of Social Media Marketing Maturing (2011) refers to a study in 2011 by Social Media Examiner, prepared by Michael A. Stelzner, that indicates social media has gone mainstream; representing an unprecedented marketing opportunity for businesses that can bypass the middlemen and engages companies directly with customers. Back in 2009, businesses were hesitant about social media, but in 2011 companies are rapidly responding to new social media opportunities. The findings are as follows:

90%77%

of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business

of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube and video marketing,

70% of marketers want to learn more about Facebook


One of the reasons the companies are now considering social media as an important channel is because the consu-mers are most likely spend their time going online rather than watching television or reading newspapers and magazines (Agresta & Bough, 2011). A survey of consumer digital media and entertainment habits conducted by IBM in 2007 found that more people, particularly young people, are spending less time watching television and listening to the radio and more time online. Furthermore, social media usually have various communities where people with the same interests are grouped together. This common thing that they have makes them a specified target demographics (Barefoot & Szabo, 2010), which from the marketing point of view, will make a lot more sense to be explored because the campaign can go straight to the intended end users. Niche communities are great target to promote a very specific item or service.

In terms of cost, social media marketing can be less costly than conventional forms of marketing because it costs far less to create a company page on Facebook, upload a video on YouTube or write a blog on free blogging sites (Tariq & Wahid, 2011). If a business sets their marketing in social media, it would benefit from the direct interaction with its cus-tomers since they will get views from them. In several occasions, problems will raised and solved by a diverse customer base, creating a good channel for future ideas to be developed for the business.

The advantages of social media marketing according to the marketers are:

88%Generating more business exposure 72% Increasing traffic 62% Improving search

rankings

What the companies have to do in using social media as marketing to olWhen companies decide to use social media as one of the marketing channel, they should bear in their mind that social media is different than printing and broadcast media. In social media, people would only respond to a brand or a mar-keting campaign if they have a good impression on it. Integrity and transparency cannot be achieved in short time. To win costumers’ respect, companies will have to do it the same way as before: through fair dealing (Orsini, 2009). Even though setting up a social media account is free, the real cost they will spend on is time. Engaging the customers, ma-king conversations, building communities and nurturing them will take some time, but it is important to form a long-term relationship as a foundation of trust.

In order to position a brand in a certain community, it is advised to do the following actions (Lima, 2010):1. Commit »» Social media marketing requires the commitment of time, resources and personnel to drive the mecha-

nics of the process. 2. Connect »» Find and connect with the target audience/s, find the right platform in which they usually use to com-

municate and share things.3. Comprehend »» By actively listening to the customers, the company will gain real insight into people’s true and often

undelivered needs, the reasons why they have these needs, the costs they incur by not having these needs met, and how they would benefit if these issues, problems, concerns and desires were adequately met.

4. Care »» Marketing is about serving people and their needs. People who care for their clients and customers would get a positive feedback.

5. Communicate »» Do not treat the social media as a place to intensely promote the product. Engaging with the custo-mers, providing expertise and answering questions are better to be done in maintaining the relationship. Communicate intellegently and generously.

6. Control »» Monitor how the brand, business and messages are being perceived by the audience using various tools such as Google Analytics, Trackur and Radian.

7. Conquer »» provide solutions that deliver a memorable and satisfying experience, so that the customers will be willingly shared the experience with their communities.

The best practice is to integrate social media with the other marketing channels such as printed and broadcast media. As an example, the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank, New Jersey, aimed at getting more poeple to go to their hotel bar. They used social media channels like Twitter and Facebook to get the word out online; then they ran local paper and magazine advertisements, which amplified these online messages (Agresta & Bough, 2011).

ConclusionSocial media is a new form of communication that comes from human need to connect, where people can create content and share to other people that they consider in their scope of friendship. It is democratic, community-based, collabora-tive, and limitless. The platform opens to a new kind of social media marketing, which is social media marketing. This type of marketing are very similar to the traditional word-of-mouth marketing, except it is done online. The more people share and recommends something, the more it goes viral. Companies are shifting towards social media marketing because people tend to spend their time online more than reading newspapers or watching TV. Various communities are formed in social media website, and for marketing poin of view, this is a narrowed target group. Having a specific target group can be good since the campaign can be addressed directly to the intended market. On the economical side, marketing in social media costs less than running a print ad or a TV commercial. Nevertheless, the lack of money spent is com-pensated by the amount of time the company has to dedicate in their social media sites, because it involves engaging the customers and building their trust. Integration between social media and other marketing channels is important, since each media can complement each other. With good strategy, the company can have a comprehensive marketing campaign to spread their brand, products or services.

REFERENCESAgresta, S., & Bough, B. B. (2011). Perspectives on Social Media Marketing. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from Books 24x7:

http://library.books24x7.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/assetviewer.aspx?bookid=34484&chunkid=366417545&rowid=18

Barefoot, D., & Szabo, J. (2010). Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from Books 24x7: http://library.books24x7.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/assetviewer.aspx?bookid=33611&chunkid=544868710&noteMenuToggle=0&leftMenuState=1

Buzz Social Media Marketing. (2009, February 4). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from Pro Quest: http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/444345557

Lima, D., & Scholars, R. (2010, Apr). Social media marketing. Retrieved April 6, 2012, from Informit: http://search.in-formit.com.au.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/fullText;dn=611311502653046;res=IELHEA

Loechner, J. (2011, April 27). Social Media Marketing Maturing [Research Brief]. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from Factiva: http://global.factiva.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/aa/?ref=MPC0000020110421e74l0002z&pp=1&fcpil=en&napc=S&sa_from=

Merriam-Webster logo [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2012, from Ask.com: http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/32/Merriam-Webster_logo.svg/220px-Merriam-Webster_logo.svg.png

Merriam-Webster, Inc. (2012). Social media. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media

Orsini, M. (2009, September 1). Social media: how home health care agencies can join the chorus of empowered voices, doi: 10.1177/1084822309343871. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from Sage Journals: http://hhc.sagepub.com.li-braryproxy.griffith.edu.au/content/22/3/213.full.pdf+html

Safko, L., & Brake, D. K. (2009). The social media bible : tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. Re-trieved April 4, 2012, from EBL - E-books Corporation: http://reader.eblib.com.au.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/(S(jewoa1qd4wubbgj004wvtzlj))/Reader.aspx?p=433737&o=109&u=e%2ft4r%2b793%2fjoxdkTeHLanQ%3d%3d&t=1333494108&h=7A83919823577FCA982ABCB3BE091E3AD36F57B4&s=5585616&ut=412&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

Social media marketing. (2011, June 14). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from ProQuest Library: http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/871509617

Social Media Marketing Basics. (2011, March). Retrieved April 5, 2012, from National Driller - ProQuest Library: http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/856212007

Strickland, J. (n.d.). Top 10 social networking sites. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from Discovery News: http://news.discovery.com/tech/top-ten-social-networking-sites.html

Tariq, M., & Wahid, F. (2011, May). Assessing effectiveness of Social Media and Traditional Marketing Approaches in terms of cost and target segment coverage. Retrieved April 4, 2012, from Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business vol 3 No.1: http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/882911152/fulltext?accountid=14543

Weber, L. (2007). Marketing to the social web: how digital customer communities build your business. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Wigmo, J., & Wikström, E. (2010). Social Media Marketing: What role can social media play as a marketing tool? Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:322767

Wikipedia logo[Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2012, from Logopedia: http://images.wikia.com/logopedia/imag-es/5/53/Wikipedia-logo-en-big.png

POSSIBLE FUTURE INVESTIGATIONS

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Social media marketing in Indonesia: how the companies take advantage of the growing Indonesian Facebook and Twit-ter users, how social media can be a channel for designers and artist to market themselves.

Question 1: I often see advertisement at the right column of my Facebook page. Is that what you called social media marketing?

Answer: Putting online advertisement in a social media site is not social media marketing. The key is long-term relation-ship with the customers. A good relationship always works two ways. So if a book publisher company wants to incor-porate social media as its marketing tool, it can set up a Facebook fan page and/or a Twitter account as a first step, Next step is to engage. Here, it should not only promote their books, but also asks feedback from the readers. They can

do it as simple as tweeting a question like “Have you read [this book] from [this author]? What do you think of it?” or something that is completely unrelated to their product, such as “Long weekend is coming! What do you plan for your holiday?”. They can also post quizzes on their Facebook page. Things like these will invite people to participate and comment, and the publisher can reply to them as well, creating an intimate communication. Doing this in long-term will build the publisher’s image and customer’s trust which in return resulting a strong brand image. Only then you can say that is a social media marketing.

Question 2: Facebook and Twitter are currently become the most favourite social media worldwide. Should companies have both accounts in order to promote themselves?

Answer: It is true that both platforms are the most popular ones right now, but it really depends on the nature of your business. If you are in F&B (Food & Beverages) business, you can use Facebook and Twitter to post photos of your food and drinks, attracting people with the appearance of it. But if you have a software product or a do-it-yourself furniture, it would more make sense if you open a YouTube account, so you can post how-to videos to people. It is better to have more than one channel of social media to be able to amplify the wave of your marketing activity.

Question 3: My company managed to form a community of customers, but it does not turn out exactly what we were expecting. Some people other than the intended target group are also in it, so the focus of the community is a bit off. What can we do?

Answer: Bear in mind that social media is a democratic place. You cannot tell people to do what you want them to do. Instead, you have to serve their needs in order to be engaged with them. If your community is somewhat different than what you planned before, do not appalled by it. Go with the flow. Seek the reason behind it, why those people are even in the community. They might have certain needs that you do not expect before but you can fulfill. It might changed the initial goal, but that is the beauty of social media: democratisation of information and communication. Make adjustment and deliver things to them better than what they are expecting. Trust will be gained, and you might received the effect of viral marketing more than you can imagine.

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Social media as marketing tool