Social media marketing can be an effective method of boosting consumer engagement however, as we all know there isn’t much reward, without any risk. We will be weighing up the benefits agains’t the risks of using Social Media Marketing in order to boost consumer engagement and really delve into whether it is currently an effective tool to do so.

1. Benefits

Recently ‘Firms are recognising the pressing need to focus on building personal two-way relationships with customers who foster interactions’ (Kumar et al., 2010) which has led to ‘spending on social media to continue to soar’ (Abeysekara et al, 2016).

2 Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Consumer Engagement include:

1. Helping Marketers Connect with Customers on a Human Level.

Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995) suggest that ‘The fundamental axiom of relationship marketing is that consumers like to reduce choices by engaging in an ongoing loyalty relationship with marketers” which has led to the growth and success of relationship marketing. This has been further propelled by the increase in technologies which led to the creation and boom of social media. In 2017 Hubspot highlights that social media produces ‘almost double the marketing leads of traditional outbound methods’ which shows its depth however also in 2017 Edgecomb, C notes that ‘you need to have a two-way conversation with your audience’ in order to engage them. She says that the conversation allows brands to ‘speak and listen to their audience, responding directly to their wants and needs’ rather than using a one size shoe fits all method. A great video which highlights this can be found >>HERE<<.

2. Gaining Analytics & Insight while Reducing Costs and Propelling Innovation.

One of the greatest revelations to marketing by social media was the ability for small firms to analyse follower trends and preferences on a much larger scale than previously possible, and all for free. Edgecomb highlights that ‘social media accounts will provide you with a ton of valuable, candid insight’ which has given firms the ‘ability to use social media as a platform for customer service, responding directly to concerns or gaining insight to improve’. In 2013 Chua, A et al found that ‘Starbucks redefines the roles of its customers through the use of social media by transforming them from passive recipients of beverages to active contributors of innovation’. This connotes the idea that multinationals are now focusing marketing onto the consumer, in a time where customers are now being seen as the experts, it seems as it is only rational to start using customer engagement, and social media analytics to propel business innovation. A great video which highlights this further can be found >>HERE<<.

A great blog which notes some more of the benefits of Customer Engagement through Social media is Carolyn Edgecomb’s ‘Social Media Marketing: The Importance of a Two-Way Conversation’.

2. Risks

Creating a social media account has some serious risks to take into consideration which include the portrayal of your company image and the effect it has on the way consumers engage with your brand.

2 Risks of Social Media Marketing for Consumer Engagement include:

1. Training Employees and Potential Effect on Company Image.

In 2013 Vetter, D suggests that ‘there is limited information about how to train the employees that are actually representing your company on social channels’. Bhattacharya, S. (2017) also says that ‘only one in seven companies has a formal process in place for the use of social networking in their businesses therefore your company could be at risk every time an employee uses social media. Also, a study done in 2013 by Grovo Learning, INC. found that ‘more needs to be done to improve employees’ know-how’ on social media as a test was done where participants gained an ‘average score of 72.1 out of 100’. ARAMARK, a market leading uniform company in the U.S. devised the graphic below which splits employees into 3 different segments. This highlights different roles and training needs. It is clear to see that there needs to be a lot of planning, training and time put into development of a safe social media employee who is able to engage effectively with clients. This could increase costs in the long run, and might not have a strong return on investment. A great video which comically highlights some disasters experienced over social media can be found >>HERE<<

2. Brand Hijacking and Negative Customer Engagement.

In 2010, IT governance group ISACA released a report which ranked brand hijacking as one of the top 5 risks to companies over social media which shows the potential it has to effect any business, big or small. In 2010 Meyer, R. suggests that ‘social media has empowered consumers like never before and they are wielding this new power to suit them’. This can be beneficial for brand growth and awareness however it drowns out the brands voice in space for the buyers therefore it is harder to engage with customers. It is also possible for consumers who follow you to be mislead through engagement with other followers, which could have a detrimental effect on customer experience and in turn consumer following. DMN talks further about the risks of social media on consumer engagement >>HERE<<

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References

Abeysekara, N. and Farook, F.S. (2016) ‘Influence of Social Media Marketing on Customer Engagement ‘, International Journal of Business and Management Invention , 5(12), pp. 115-125.

ARAMARK (2018) Homepage, Available at: https://www.aramark.com/ (Accessed: 7th January 2018).

Bhattacharya, S. (2017) 7 negative effects of social media that may kill your business, Available at: https://www.revechat.com/blog/7-negative-effects-social-media-may-business/ (Accessed: 7th January 2018).

Chris Collins Inc. (2018) 6 EFFECTIVE WAYS TO CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS IN A DEEPER LEVEL, Available at: https://chriscollinsinc.com/6-effective-ways-to-connect-with-customers-in-a-deeper-level/ (Accessed: 6th January 2018).

Chua, A.Y.K. and Banerjee, S. (2013) “Customer knowledge management via social media: the case of Starbucks”, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 237-249.

CNNMoney (2013) How Starbucks Utilises Social Media, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbOl9gx3fUg (Accessed: 6th January 2018).

Edgecomb, C. (2017) https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/social-media-marketing-the-importance-of-a-two-way-conversation, Available at: Social Media Marketing: The Importance of a Two-Way Conversation (Accessed: 6th January 2018).

Freifeld, L. (2013) ‘Training Employees on Social Media.’, Training, 50(6), pp. 8.

Hall, C. (2016) Social Media is Dangerous for Brands, Available at: http://www.dmnews.com/social-media/social-media-is-dangerous-for-brands/article/627845/ (Accessed: 7th January 2018).

Hubspot (2017) Growth Stack, Available at: https://www.hubspot.com/?__hstc=191390709.27b05bf4ddffeef24c97efac3b81c37a.1515330541073.1515330541073.1515330541073.1&__hssc=191390709.1.1515330541074&__hsfp=1384578979(Accessed: 6th January 2018).

ISACA (2010) Annual Report – Trust and Value, Online: ISACA.

Kumar, V., Aksoy, L., Donkers, B., Venkatesan, R., Wiesel, T. and Tillmanns, S. (2010) ‘Undervalued or overvalued customers: capturing total customer engagement value’, Journal of service research, 13(3), pp. 297-310.

Meyer, R. (2010) Brand hijacking in progress, thanks in part to social media., Available at: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/brand-hijacking-progress-thanks-part-social-media (Accessed: 7th January 2018).

Netbase (2016) Understand Consumers with Real Time Social Media Analytics, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dgjbiF1O-w (Accessed: 6th January 2018).

Sheth, J.N. and Parvatlyar, A. (1995) Relationship marketing in consumer markets: antecedents and consequences. Journal of the Academy of marketing Science, 23(4), pp.255-271.

TopTenz (2015) Top 10 Social Media Disasters of Well Known Companies — TopTenzNet, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk0jwbDh7QU (Accessed: 7th January 2018).

Vetter, D. (2013) Mitigating Risk In Social Media Engagement, Available at: http://www.briansolis.com/2013/01/mitigating-risk-in-social-media-engagement/(Accessed: 7th January 2018).

Word Stream (2017) Social Media Marketing for Businesses, Available at: https://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing (Accessed: 6th January 2018).