LinkedIn use in Car Marketing - Report Example

Social Technology Deep Dive(s): LinkedIn use in Car Marketing Name of Student Student Number University of Windsor Course Code Name of Instructor Date of Submission LinkedIn use in Car Marketing Introduction Social media technology is changing the world at a faster rate, which has also seen the business world transform tremendously. Information has been democratised across billions of users in various social media platforms globally, creating ease of information access and sharing (Anderson, 2013). Marketers alike have not been left behind in utilising these platforms to extend their market share and penetrate new markets. This has been made possible with the ease of social media use and the extent of reach from all corners of the world. This paper evaluates LinkedIn and specifically with respect to automobile and products marketing. The increased demand for cars among the professionals creates a sense that utilisation of LinkedIn would result into greater reach and market penetration. Problem Statement What is the most favourable platform to reach professionals globally? How effective can marketing strategies can be aligned to target the working class? The various social platforms that have become popular with tremendous upsurge of technology in the 21st century have prompted this idea of looking into the most effective channel to reach the professionals (Zhang and Moe, 2012). This is in respect to automobile and its products marketing which has of late been characterised with increased demand for cars globally. Increased used of social media and improvement of e-commerce and e-banking reveals a new dispensation of conducting business without physical appearance (Chen, Wang and Xie, 2011). Thus, utilisation of LinkedIn in promoting marketing strategies and product developing is a crucial step to penetrate new market share. Product Overview LinkedIn profile provides connection to millions of industry professionals with information being provided in the manner of presenting ones profile which is strategic to getting positive feedback (Anderson, 2013). With availability of various fields to highlight professional qualities, this social media platform stands out in presenting the various brands of cars to be floated by the automobile marketing agents. The platforms allows for company page where products are showcased, as well as groups where shared interests are presented with interactions being made possible (Schaffer, 2009). Amid the fact that automobile marketing can work effectively with other social platform, the utilisation of LinkedIn is aimed at ensuring targeting professionals whose demand for various brands of cars is possible. This venture is expected to spiral over through the professional networks, with the fundamental platform being LinkedIn. Underlying Technologies and Rationale in the Market LinkedIn contains Ads and Marketing features that allow the user to connect with the world’s largest audience comprising of active and influential professionals (Sammons, 2013). Further, availability of filtering options like ‘by job title and function’ enables one to target specific groups of professionals. Signal app comes out as the best option used in the manipulation of filters (Schaffer, 2009). The signals have the capability to combine filters with advanced searches with an aim of searching for specific keywords. This creates a focus on the competitors, products or other acquisition process related to the campaign at hand (Anderson, 2013). The presence of various application platforms presents a set of applications from different developers; which in turn aids in the corroboration on various projects with other users in a secure platform. Other features that are useful in this regard includes ‘slide share’ famous in sharing presentations, Triplt for helping organise online plans and Behance allowing users to showcase their works on their profiles (Schaffer, 2009). Solution to the Problem by Technology The increased use of social media technology has penetrated the marketing industry to a great extent and this essay looks into the changing concept of social media interaction. In this regard, penetrating the professional circles has been a tough task within social media since majority of them is pretty busy (Collamer, 2013). However, with utilisation of LinkedIn which is predominantly made up of professional people, marketing strategies and market penetration are perceived to gained ground. LinkedIn is a platform that focuses on business and is based upon social networking since 2003 to aid professionals to network effectively (Elefant, 2013). With presence of prominent professionals, sites and links to business associates, they present capable features to reach a high ranking market target. The features brings about the ability to set or join groups, as well as job section that presents the option of filtering customer targets. Standard Features and Tools Associated with the Product LinkedIn is associated with increased visibility in respect to brand, corporate goals and products (Collamer, 2013). The fact that potential customers and clients are professional, they will research on the background information of the presented body marketing the brands at hand. LinkedIn avails the visibility channels that allows brands to be accessed as well as the reputation of the company availed for ease of analysis (Sammons, 2013). This presents an opportunity of creating confidence upon the products floated for sale. To the user, LinkedIn presents the capacity to research on other organisations utilising the platforms, and hence determine the level of competition at hand (Elefant, 2013). Consequently, with the overlying facts that all details pertaining to the company activities can be accessed, it inspires potential customers creating emotional connections with people all over the world (Zhang and Moe, 2012). This works as a strategic move in market penetration to access new market share. As an organisation, the main standard feature perceived effective is that it increases visibility of brands and products; as well as, providing crucial information pertaining to other companies to create a sense of possible partnerships, customers and competitions (Susarla, Oh and Tan, 2012). However, benchmarking the content and patenting innovations is a sure way of protecting its profiled information and ideas. Risks and Weaknesses LinkedIn has potential risks of exposing ones content to global competition and stealing of ideas and innovation strategies. The posting of Ads and Marketing content is expected to benefit the corporate body, but with increased global competition, line industries may create a channel of undermining the hard toiled strategy to penetrate the market share (Zhan and Moe, 2012). The vulnerability to hacking jeopardises the privacy of company profile rendering the information susceptible to competitors. This is a disadvantage on the marketer as strategies laid out may be tampered with. To effectively overcome this, creation of effective back up and initiating strong passwords are worth measures to overcome the weakness. Security Considerations The aspect of security just like many applications within social media platforms calls for personalised accounts that possess security features (Chen, Wang and Xie, 2011). LinkedIn profiles are personalised and owners are responsible for the safety of information shared online. Cases of infringement and hacking are common in social media which in many cases impact negatively making people lose confidence with sharing sensitive data for fear of losing it to their competitors (Anderson, 2013). The release of Intro by LinkedIn has raised a number of issues pertaining to security measures, but the configuration is mainly aimed at enhancing visibility to all email texts by LinkedIn inserting itself among the server of an email, and the user by acting as the proxy for communication between the two (Schaffer, 2009). Nevertheless, LinkedIn has responded appropriately to technical security concerns in various updates released. Ethical Considerations Ethical considerations in this platform arise in respect to privacy of individuals as well as corporate matters (Elefant, 2013). Sharing of information online may raise ethical issues for a number of professions, but due to the fact that the aim of this analysis is to float marketing strategies, ethical considerations would only arise with regard to availing information as adverts to professionals who are after professional material. Thus, the Ads profiling ought to be carried out based upon the corporate associations backed with company affiliation and activities embedded in the company profile (Sammons, 2013). The target of the campaign carried on is to generate leads and create a connections among professionals on how to access automobile and products within their professionals networking platforms. Opportunities to Leverage Mobile Platforms Business development on LinkedIn has of late become highly effective in respect to social media channels for lead generation. In comparison to Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn beats them by 277% for generating effective leads (Chen, Wang and Xie, 2011). LinkedIn presents a high quality professional audience looking for information to further their career insights as well as solve their life challenges. With no time to do extensive research on the available sites on car dealership, advertising on LinkedIn presents a platform that surmounts the mere social media marketing without a specific group target (Schaffer, 2009). With the presence of new means of carrying out email marketing with LinkedIn, the venture is expected to deliver trusted, attention-grabbing contents directly to subscribers of this platform to their inboxes. Being the world’s largest professional network of 300 million strong following, LinkedIn presents a great market share ready for penetration (Collamer, 2013). The professional interactions create a network of relaying the contents presented to the users spilling over the professional bodies who offer a near sure market. Features and/or Enhancements Marketing professionals often look up to the trendsetters within the industry to comprehend the manner of improving their individual efforts (Susarla, Oh and Tan, 2012). Launching of content marketing score to aid in the understanding of marketers’ content influence, as well as their efforts in comparison to their competitors is a greater venture. Further provision of recommendations on the manner to improve their standings goes a long way in enhancing efficiency (Sammons, 2013). This will result to a new way of evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of an organisation’s content marketing efforts that have occurred on LinkedIn. This creates a chance of taking advantage offered by the platform, as well as the improved relevance and influence to reach far and distinguished professionals at the market front (Zhang and Moe, 2012). Future features ought to look into ways of sharing crucial data pertaining corporate growth and development without charges or fees. This will create the capacity to ensure that even upcoming business people are motivated towards utilising this platform. References Anderson, M. K. (2013, July 2). In good company: How best in class marketers’ use LinkedIn Company pages to grow their business. Accessed June 20, 2014 from . Chen, Y., Wang, Q. and Xie, J. (2011). Online social interactions: A natural experiment on word of mouth versus observational learning. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(2): 238-254. Collamer, N. (2013, March 9). Has LinkedIn crossed an Ethical line? Forbes, Accessed June 18, 2014 from . Elefant, C. (2013, August 30). Why New York’s recent ethics opinion on LinkedIn shows the folly of regulating the minutia of social media. In ethics and malpractice issue, future trends, social media. Accessed June 20, 2014 from . Sammons, S. (2013, September 11). How to build a LinkedIn marketing plan that delivers on- going results. Your guide to the social medial jungle. Accessed June 19, 2014 from . Schaffer, N. (2009). The windmill networking approach to networking: Understanding, leveraging and maximizing LinkedIn. Library of National Congress, Social networking in a web 2.0 World. ISBN 1-4392-4705-6. Susarla, A, Oh, J. and Tan, Y. (2012). Influentials or susceptibles? Analysing cascades of word-of-mouth conversations in online social networks. Working Paper, Accessed June 20, 2014 from . Zhang, Y. and Moe, M. W. (2012). The discontinuous diffusion of user-generated content. Working Paper, Accessed June 18, 2014 from . Appendices (Source: BusinessInsider.com) Read More