Social media has changed a lot in the world of marketing.

Various forms of social media (Online.wvu.edu, 2016)

It allows companies to connect and communicate with a huge audience at just a click of a button, without having to spend a lot of money. Also with so many different forms of social media available, there is plenty of opportunity for companies to use this form of marketing.

In a recent survey by eMarketer, it has been established that 9 out of 10 US organisations use social media in some capacity for marketing purposes (Adweek.com, 2014). This demonstrates how vital it is as part of any marketing or advertising strategy, with 88 percent, so the majority of companies using it on a daily basis to help promote their products or work.

Social media could be incredibly effective when trying to launch a new product. Even before the launch of a product, social media offers the confectionery industry an unprecedented opportunity to leverage the voice of the customer in developing and delivering products that can attract, engage and retain loyal customers (Healy, 2011). Then to launch, for example a new chocolate bar, you need to attract consumers by telling them about the product, where the product has come from, therefore creating a hype surrounding product before it is released for sale.  This hype not only attracts consumers, but also extra media attention, further promoting the product, and social media is a great way to quickly spread knowledge and create a hype for a product.

Therefore here are some reasons as to why you should launch a product with social media:

1. Social media gets your product out to a huge audience instantly.

Companies can have huge followings on social media whether that be followers on Twitter, likes on Facebook or subscribers on YouTube. The minute they post anything on to these sites, it goes out to all of those consumers to be liked, commented on and potentially shared, leading to even more consumers viewing the post. Even if a company has a smaller online following, any posts for the campaign will reach the loyal consumers and as these are the ones most likely to purchase and recommend a product, they are the most important.

2. Social media campaigns aren’t expensive to run or maintain.

For many organisations, advertising campaigns can cost well in to the thousands which is not only a huge expense, but could limit the size of the campaign they are able to create. Using social media minimises all of these costs because there’s no production of an advert or advertising campaign, and no cost of air time or media space for the campaign to air and be put out to the public. Also the company can continually update their social media outlets which they aren’t able to do with a regular marketing campaign.

3. Many different channels of social media are available.

There is a huge variety of different social media channels available to access today, each one tailored specifically for a different purpose. There is YouTube for videos and vlogging, Instagram for photographs, Tumblr for blogging, Twitter for microblogging and Facebook for almost everything. With so much choice, companies have the ability to choose which path will be most useful and appropriate in order to reach out to their target consumers.

Cadbury’s Instagram (Instagram.com, 2016)

Kinder’s Facebook (Facebook.com, 2016)

4. Social media allows for consumer-to-consumer communications.

With so many companies and consumers using social media, the lines of communication have been vastly widened. This allows the consumers to not only contact the organisation, but also to get in contact with other consumers. The impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been greatly magnified in the marketplace as people can now communicate their opinions to hundreds if not thousands of other (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). They can provide reviews of the product to each other and make recommendations for the product, such as what works well with it and how they have used it previously. A prime example of this is the use of blogs for recipes involving particular confectionery products, which is extra promotion for the product and encourages customers to consume the product in different ways.

All in all, social media can be a great way of launching a new product in the confectionery market, especially in this day and age where social media is such a huge part of everyone’s lives.

References

Adweek.com, (2014). 88% of Companies are Using Social Media for Marketing [STUDY]. [online] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-companies/502447 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2016].

Facebook.com, (2016). Kinder. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/kinder/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

Healy, P. (2011). Using Social Media to Sweeten Confectionery Industry Growth. The Manufacturing Confectioner, (6), pp.37-46.

Instagram.com, (2016). Cadbury UK (@cadburyuk) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/cadburyuk/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2016].

Mangold, W. and Faulds, D. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), pp.357-365.

Online.wvu.edu, (2016). Strategic Social Media Minor | WVU Online. [online] Available at: http://online.wvu.edu/minors/StrategicSocialMedia/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2016].