Social Networking in Marketing - Essay Example

Social Networking Introduction Social networking can be defined as the process of grouping of individuals into specific groups. (ESREA, Though the concept of social networking emerged in the physical environment such as workplace, universities, etc. it is now most popular in the virtual world through social networking websites. The reason for its extreme popularity in the internet is more than a million internet users’ quench for meeting people of similar behavior, establish friendship and relationships aimed at specific goals such as marketing, networking, job search, etc. For online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social sites. It is in fact an online community consisting of various kinds of internet users. The objectives and motives of each social networking websites are different from one another. The websites without any focus are often referred as “traditional”. At present, some of the most popular social networking websites are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Friendster and LinkedIn. Evolution of social networking The first Social networking system appeared a decade ago. The evolution of social networking is rather fascinating because nothing over internet had evolved to excellence in such a short span of time as the social networking did. But social networking has clearly defined traces of its evolution. The initial motive of social networking over internet was to connect to old school friends or other childhood friends. Following such beginner networking sites, many other providers evolved with similar motives. Unlike the objective ten years before, social networks presently are a Wikipedia of objectives; because it is been put to various innovative uses by many. Some of the factors that have enabled the evolution of social networking are as follows: Affordable internet High speed connections Low cost computers Smart phone revolution Accessibility to free internet Software revolution Affordable internet: Affordable internet at home is one of the major factors that helped the growth of social networking websites. Over year’s internet have become more and more affordable even for a basic family. Less are the days where people sit for long hours in the internet café’s for browsing through their favorite websites. Most families have internet at their home. The average internet usage per person in 1996 was ½ hour per month while as of 2011 it is 27 hours per month. This figure could define the massive change that had happened in the domain. High speed connection: Not only has internet become affordable over years but it has also become faster than before. As per reports, it took around 30 seconds for an internet page to load in 1996 while the average page load time as of 2011 is 6 seconds. This is a tremendous increase in the internet speed. With a low page load time, many people did not have the patience to spend time on the internet before. But as of now, everything appears on the web in the blink of an eye. This has helped the growth of social networking to a great extent. Low cost computers: Compared to a decade ago, the prices of computers, especially laptops have come down drastically. As a result of this more and more people are able to afford a personal computer system or laptop. This advancement coupled with low cost of internet helped the growth of social networking. Smart phone revolution: Mobile phones are another crucial factor that contributed to the evolution of social networking. From just a device to make wireless calls, mobile phones have now even become a substitute for a basic computer. Mobile phones became smarter over year and resulted in the evolution of smart phones. Some smart phones today are only less than 50% calling device. The rest is all based on applications; mostly social networking related. Accessibility to free internet: Accessibility to free internet constituted a great extent to the growth of social networking. Most public libraries permit unlimited internet connectivity for their members though the intended purpose is not to encourage social networking. Free internet connectivity is also allowed at most educational institutions at present. Laptops are mandatory for most professional courses and internet connectivity is available 24*7 in most such institutions. Such trends in the educational sector have also contributed to the evolution of social networking. Software revolution: Software revolution over the past two decades had encouraged innovations in the cyber space. Some technological universities and institutions are the highly motivational in terms of encouraging their students for innovation and entrepreneurship. The story of Facebook is a best example for the innovation that happened in the campus. Social networks in Marketing Social networks are all about making and maintaining relationships. Creating new connections, exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, etc. are some of the activities done on social networking. Social networks can be said as the fastest growing category of websites on the World Wide Web. As such social networking websites has become one of the most popular internet spaces for marketers of many brands. “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (American Marketing Association, 2004). Therefore, it is extremely important for marketers to have a platform where they can meet a large number of potential customers. Social networks provide best platform for marketing. Social networking has transformed the ways companies used to market products. Social network enables marketers to directly engage with customers and prospects. It is very beneficial for marketing. A social network can exert direct influence on the purchase decision of customers. Some of the areas where social networks had helped marketers are as follows: Marketing costs Product publicity Customer research Pre-launch campaigning Marketing costs: Previously, the most popular marketing and advertising media were always television and newspapers. Specialized journals were also popular. But the issue was that such medium could only be adopted by larger brands because of its high costs. One can hardly see the ad of a comparatively small brand in a television. This is where the social media has brought in revolutionary change. Many smaller brands are now able to reach their target customers at very low cost and in some cases without any cost. Among them, Facebook and YouTube is the most popular medium. A Facebook page is an inexpensive way in which a brand can reach customers. The popularity of the page increases based on the likes they receive from the users. Product Publicity: The publicity campaign for a product previously required many rounds of roadshows or some other activities conducted on the physical environment. This is no longer required in this century. A publicity campaign can be very actively conducted on a social networking site from where it will reach to a million users through sharing. For instance the publicity for an upcoming movie can be started even before production starts. Most production houses does this through teaser trailers on YouTube which often will be seen and shared several times by the time the actual movie releases. Customer Research: Knowing the attitude of customers regarding an existing product or the expectation of customers from an existing brand; obtaining such information was pretty difficult and costly affair previously. With the help of social networks companies are able to gather such information very easily. Even if a company does not initiate such discussions, the internet users themselves will perform it. Pre-Launch Campaigning: The pre-launch campaign for a product can be conducted inexpensively with the help of social networking. This is extremely true in the case of automobile companies. Even before the launch, companies are now able to reach the customers through various contests like guessing the price, etc. through social networking sites. Social networking in job search Social networking sites are for building powerful networks. Social networking websites not only enable networking and marketing but it also helps in job search. Creating a profile on a social networking website and building an active network is all you need to enable job search on a social network. Through social networks, one can get connected to professionals of various industries and also to the online communities of certain companies. Therefore, social networks are a good platform for potential job seekers. In the current economic downturn where employment opportunities are limited, social networking plays a crucial role in obtaining jobs. The positive and negative impact of job social networks on job search can be described as follows. Positive impact: Social networking sites play an indispensable role in job search at present. The social networks such as Face book, Friendster, Twitter, etc has added more platforms for people to communicate and connect with each other; these sites are traditional networking sites which also help in job searching. LinkedIn is an example for a social networking site that is purely intended for job search and other professional networking. Through social networking sites, the job seekers are able to post their questions to potential employers. Candidates can also build networks with professionals of their target employer. LinkedIn provides a best platform for candidates in this regard. It is also an opportunity for them to present their profile online. Social networking sites also provide the job seekers, information about the culture and other attributes of an organization. For the corporates too, social networking is an important ground for aiding their recruitment drive. This can mostly be done through committed pages or communities. An example for a company that benefited greatly from this is Ernst & Young. Ernst & Young is now heavily capitalizing its online presence for their recruitment drive. Organizations ranging from Multinationals to small scale businesses can create their own communities in LinkedIn. Both general and premium services are available for the members. The members can avail the best service based on their requirement. Negative Impact: We can make Social networking sites into an important networking and job searching tool if used properly. Otherwise, social networks can also impact job search negatively. Most of these negative impacts come as a result of certain inherent features of social networking sites. The major negative impact is the transparency of social networking sites. The profile of a candidate can be easily accessed by a prospective employer through social networking sites. By going through such profile pages, albums, personal details, activities posted and shared, comments made, etc. an employer can identify something that does not suits their organizational culture. Thus, a candidate will stand to lose the opportunity for getting the job. This is from the point of view of a candidate. For job marketers, social networking sites can equally be a disappointing platform because of its transparency. Any offensive comment about a company, its work culture or compensation details, can be viewed by millions of users online. Thus, the companies might stand to lose many prospective employees for their company. Friendster vs. LinkedIn Friendster: Friendster is a leading social network which was created by Jonathan Abrams. Friendster was initially considered as a social networking gaming website until it was lately revamped as a pure gaming platform. It helps the users to stay in touch with people. The software and functionality of Friendster is different from other popular networking sites. It is a social gaming website popular in Southeast Asia. Unlike other social networking sites, providing space for gaming platform is what differentiates Friendster from other websites. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is entirely different from Friendster in terms of design, function and objective. LinkedIn is enables people to create a professional online profile. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network as of 2012. (Williams, 2012) Through LinkedIn a person can manage his/her professional identity. It helps an individual to create and maintain a professional identity. Benefits of Cloud based systems Cloud computing, as the name signifies is a virtual domain for users to get access to hardware and software without having to possess or own them. Such services are provided by third party providers upon fixed or varying fees. The advantage of cloud computing is that the user is managing neither the hardware nor the software. Therefore, a cloud based system is advantageous for the user both personally and professionally. Cost advantage is the major benefit for the user of a cloud system. The user need not pay for owning or maintaining the system. He/she has to only incur cost based on the usage. The user also has the advantage of unlimited storage of data in the cloud. Also, back of data is comparatively easier in the case of cloud system. References ESREA (2012). Networking. Retrieved October 24, 2012. From http://www.esrea-renadet.net/networking.htm Lake, L (2012). Social Media Marketing: Put It to Work For You. Retrieved October 24, 2012. From http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/a/socialmediamrkt.htm American Marketing Association (2012). Definition of Marketing. Retrieved October 24, 2012. From http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Pages/DefinitionofMarketing.aspx Williams, N (2012). Your LinkedIn Playbook: Tips for Tackling the World’s Largest Professional Networking Site. Retrieved October 24, 2012. From http://blog.linkedin.com/2012/10/22/your-linkedin-playbook/ Read More