Social Media Marketing

Introduction

The term social media can be defined as “Many online tools that allow people with similar interests to share information, learn from others, or network in an open process. The information found on these sites is commonly referred to as ‘user-generated content’, which means anyone is able to post with minimal restrictions or oversight.”

Background

Social Media is a relatively new form of marketing that just about every business today is at least aware of, if not already utilizing it in some form or another.

The global fixation with social media, or social networking as it’s often referred to, can be easily compared to the hysteria of the Internet revolution in the 1990’s. As reported by Mangold and Faults (2009), this marketing medium differentiates from the traditional communication channels in terms of reach, frequency and immediacy, with the most obvious difference being user-generated content.

Consumer Choice and Motivation

A research study conducted by Mass Relevance that provides a social media curation platform to clients found that 59% of consumers will more likely trust a brand that has presence in social media and 64% of the consumers interviewed have already made purchases based on social media presence and reviews (Chaney, 2012). Appendix 1 shows the social media advertising effects on consumers (Source: Neilsen Survey:

Social Media Strategy

While social media has its benefits, it is important that businesses are acutely aware of their own social media strategies. One faux-pas might prove to be detrimental to brand image and performance. For example, an indepth study conducted by BusinessWeek (2009) discusses social media hype and the disadvantages it may have on a business. For instance, the potential risks social media marketing poses if employees waste their time on social networking sites instead of on productive tasks in the interests of the organisation. It also forewarns of blunders that could have a profound negative impact on the business itself. This statement is supported by providing evidence in the study that many social media campaigns fail and it sites the example of one such campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi’s campaign for Toyota Matrix, which led to a lawsuit of $10 million (Groth, 2011). If this happens with a small and medium enterprise, it may reap havoc on the business. The study by BusinessWeek (2009) also says that it is hard to quantify the outcomes that social media creates, such as trust and loyalty.

Conclusion

There is a lot of literature on various aspects including, but not limited to, the effects of social media on small and medium scale enterprises, identification of skill gaps in social media with specific emphasis to certain industries, general studies on implementation challenges, perception of social media on businesses, and barriers to adaptation of social media by businesses etc. Each researcher, however, talks about the importance of measuring the success of the social media activities on the business to enable further growth. They also discuss the importance of being able to fully understand the paradigm shift and having to constantly engage in effective ways of using SOCIAL MARKETING and how any mistakes might jeopardise the business, its image and the reputation that has been built.