Social media and viral marketing
Social media is an important category which involves encouraging customers communications on a company’s own site or social presence such as Facebook or twitter.Social media marketing is related to relationship marketing where the firm needs to shift from trying to sell to making connections with the consumers (Gordhamer, 2009)
Research by eMarketer has shown that consumers go to social media sites to keep up with a brand’s products and
promotional campaigns (Mangold and Foulds, 2009; Leggat, 2010). Thus shows its a useful channel.
Companies can use Facebook or twitter to send messages to customers or partners that follow them.
(Smart Insights, 2018)
As you can see from the image above social media can reach a large audience which can be a lower cost then doing a offline campaign.
The cost of social marketing is fairly cheaper in comparison to offline marketing for example the reach is global compared to offline marketing.Social media marketing is also more targeted than offline marketing and other channels for example you can target customers that have been to certain locations e.g been to Zara thus more likely to like clothes that match Zaras style.
Kumar et al (2007) have discussed the potential value that can be generated through customer referrals in several case studies. Within social networks, major influencers can help spread the message more widely.
Viral marketing can be a benefit of social media marketing as social media naturally involves social media amplification where content is shared.
Small and medium sized business may also benefit from using social media in terms of improving their customer relationships for example replying to customers on social media allows customers to be heard as well as people that may have the same issue.Thus can potentially improve the relationship between a consumer and the company.
(Smart Insights, 2018)
As you can see 1/5 of internet users worldwide use social media this gives them the access to choice when choosing products or services.
Dee et al (2007) note the important of social networks influencing perception about brands, products and suppliers.Therefore today social media has become a core element for businesses. Social media communication has a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention.
Another benefit of social media marketing is data , for example if a clothing company shares a link on its Facebook , Instagram and twitter. It can see which social media channel is getting the most engagement and therefore focus more effort of the successful social media channel.
With data you can also see which area/age is getting the most engagement, from this businesses can choose to focus on the leading areas and why they’re getting more engagement or see why some areas are not getting as much engagement.
Disadvantages
One disadvantage of social media marketing is that there is no guarantee that the campaign will go viral or receive leads/sales in which case the investment would be wasted.
It can also be difficult to find the right content which will engage the audience for example some companies may not have enough financial resources to constantly update content on their social medias thus can lose potential followings. Consumers prefer to see updated content on social media. Thus, Google has changed the
algorithm of their search system to enable customers to see the updated content first (Freidman, 2011). This can therefore be difficult for smaller companies to compete.
Companies can also face backlash on social media. Although positive viral marketing can spread rapidly so can negative sentiments about a company which can affect a companies reputation for example delayed orders , bad reviews or bad publicity.
Companies that want to run effective social media campaigns should take into consideration the benefits, values,
advantages/disadvantage they offer to the consumers in their campaigns, what makes the consumers more likely to
become loyal to their brands.
References
Smart Insights. (2018). Global Social Media Statistics Summary 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/ [Accessed 16 Jan. 2018].
Erdoğmuş, İ. and Çiçek, M. (2012). The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Loyalty. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58, pp.1353-1360.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016). Digital marketing. Harlow [etc.]: Pearson, pp.529-534.