The Role of Social Media as a Mode of Market Communication - Essay Example

? The role of Social Media as a mode of Market Communication in the U.K Insert (s) The role of Social Media as a mode of Market Communication in the U.K Background of the study Social media is one of the most important emerging phenomenons of the recent history which have allowed users all over the world to communicate congregate and share funs with both friends and communities. With the modern technological advancements, the United Kingdom has increasingly become on of the countries with the highest number of social media users and new ideas, technologies, business models and other applications have continued to evolve in social media. According to many experts, the primary difference between social media and the mainstream mass media is that in social media, anyone has the opportunity to comment on, create as well as add something to the content in form of text, images, video and communities (Skiera, 2010, p.87). With the current enormous number of users internationally, social media can be a planned marketing communication tool to service providers, including the hotel industry. Businesses take advantage of the omnipresent platform where cost is efficient to set their advertisement (Hackley, 2010, p. 318). In the current years, there has been rise of social media channels such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and Google which lets users to take a more dynamic role as market players and get in touch with almost every person at anyplace and anytime. This research proposal will seek to determine the role of social media in market communication in the United Kingdom. Research Objectives The primary aim of the proposed research is to establish the role of social media in market communication in the U.K. Generally, marketing communication in the United Kingdom has increasingly faced a number of challenges particularly as a result of the rapid technological changes that have been witnessed in the last few decades, changing preferences and multiplicity of communication channels. For example, the traditional mass media such as Television, radio, newspapers and magazines have been loosing out to internet on their importance as the preferred advertisement medium to target consumers. This has been largely attributed to the increasing number of channels as well as the rapidly reducing number of people watching television. As a result social media has played an important role in helping marketers and corporate organizations to better understand the buying behavior of consumers, indentify their needs and consequently provide them with the right information during marketing. Another important objective is to determine how various social media platforms are currently used in market communication. In many parts of the world, users of social media platforms such as Facebook, tweeter among others have been able to create and develop networks among families, friends, celebrities and people who share different common goals and characteristics. Integrated marketing communications has provided marketers with important tools for direct marketing, public relations, personal setting as well as to enable them to communicate with their potential customer through various ways such as focused integrated messaging. Lastly, the research will also attempt to establish the challenges of using social media as a tool for marketing. Research Questions 1. What are the key advantages of social media over the traditional media? 2. How are social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter used in marketing? 3. What are some of the contemporary challenges facing the use of social media in market communication? 4. What is the future of social media in the marketing communication? Literature review Social media play a very vital role in while enhancing an effective market communication. It has in the recent years come up with an idea of a fully integrated marketing communication system which is an approach based on branding and upgrading marketing communications where the different approaches in the social media work collectively to create anall-in-one experience for the clients (Gordon, R. 2010, p.271). These targeted customers thus are exposed to a similar tone and style that strengthens the branding core message. Integration system is to some degree a goal to make all facets of marketing communication such as sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, direct marketing online communications and social media function together as counterparts and as a united element rather than authorizing each other to work in segregation. This has greatly make the most of cost effectiveness for the social media and the consumers are like one element hence whatever the social media bring to the consumers in terms of sales promotion will be to some extent highly appreciated. According to many experts, the control of social media marketing has greatly grown and is still anticipated to quadruple by 2015. Social networks like Facebook with 750million users, newbie Google plus which have about 30 million users and the tweeter with 200 million users very quickly and effectively makes a great and steady pay courtesy (Clow and Donald 2007). This development of social media usage brings about its own emerging cottage industry of experts, traditional organizations and experts who strive to guide business run-through and generate revenues from organizations participating in social media marketing. The social media as well may hysteric into the other communication determinations made and undertaken by firms such as; public relations, corporate branding and even advertising. For example if there is no one talking about the firm and supporting its band image, communication will brings about damages in the brand rather than supporting it in the market communication system (Sledgianowski and Kulviwat, 2009). Integration of marketing communication is therefore the only remedy across every aspect of communication where whether non-verbal or verbal, traditional or social media a strategic understanding of the products and the market is mandatory. Other serious issues solved by social media in the market communication are the organizational issues; integrating marketing communication is structural especially where different agencies create and disseminate information through communication process. A public relations department therefore is well charged with the creation of several departments which will work as groups in controlling advertisement for various brands and social media may be controlled by technology administrators rather than marketing department for it is the most vital department in the marketing communication system. Technology managers will have respect for the Facebook users for they believe they are the potential customers unlike the traditional media which have pint-sized respect for folks they see as playing about on Facebook all day (Mantymaki and Salo, 2010). There are as well several elements of integrated marketing communication through the social media therefore everything firms do in form of communication from images, words and matters of their promotion must revolve around social media. There are several ways thus of incorporating marketing communication in this era of social media for it is the backbone of marketing. Colour structures and logo are some of these important social elements where logo implies that a corporation uses the same badge throughout the company communications in the social media. Stationary websites, business cards and social media ought to have the matching logo. Finally, the branding colour should be very heavy-duty for the logo, printed materials and everything the firm produces should have the same colour scheme. This will enhance an effective marketing system through the social media bringing a direct marketing tool where the logo and colour scheme are appropriately selected. For along time communication of the intended message to the customers has been done through a look and feel mechanism majorly put forward through television and radio advertisement as well as product branding, These aspects have been beneficial but through development of other relevant modes that ensure quick customer feedback social media has become an important component of market communication. Social media such as facebook and you tube as well as twitter have increasingly been used by various marketing strategists to yield quite substantial gains in marketing as a whole. (Clow and Donald, 2007) As commercials on the social media increase market share through friends referrals of preferred products and services it has enabled market penetration to other areas that the conventional methods of marketing communication could have not been able to penetrate. (Deis, and Kyle , 2010). The other role of social media as a mode of market communication has been associated with innovations that are as a result of customer feedback. Through interaction of relation officers with the customers they are able to get relevant feedback almost immediately as compared to conventional modes of customer interaction and as such through this kind of interactions such innovations and inventions are realized. According to Skiera (2010, p.312), It is also through such quick responses that the customers feel appreciated and feel good when associated to organizations of such kind. Through the use of social media therefore the customer feel valued and on the other hand the relations officer at the organizations use such strategies to respond quickly to customer complains and such instill confidence in the general public. To a large extent increased use of social media as a tool of customer interaction has also played a role of creating strong brands of the organizations as well remain competitive hence creating customer loyalty and brand association which is beneficial to the organization. Technological improvement in terms of use of video conferencing has played a key role of reducing associated costs of advertisement and travelling more so if the distance is quite far. Through use of social media and video conferencing facilities such costs are eliminated and as such result to increased profitability. In addition some of the small companies have been able to make their product and services known to the wider public through social media majorly due to the fact that the traditional media of communication such as bill boards have proved to be expensive. Therefore social media has played a vital rule of making such small companies or organizations known which could have been difficult if they were to use other forms of market communication. (Deis, and Kyle, 2010). Organizations have realized how fast and extensively marketing communication methods have developed over the most recent decade moreover, media has become even more perceptible and effective transmitters of the marketing communication. Marketing communication channel has changed from the media, electronic channel to the social media in the virtual freedom where communication on the social media connects information and presents in diverse forms such as experiences, jokes, photos, video and remarks from friends. In summary, a though the role played by social media is vital in marketing it requires proper integration of other modes of market communication to be used so as to achieve maximum potential. Through integration of these modes taking into consideration social media has a wider customer base the effectiveness of such communication in marketing can be achieved. Methodology To achieve the research objectives, a qualitative research method involving the use of interviews and surveys will be employed. The participants in this research will consist 200 respondents selected among the ordinary consumers using random sampling and a further 10 respondents from a recognized marketing agencies and corporate communication departments of U.K companies. Upon getting their consent, the respondents will be requested to complete a set of self administered questionnaire surveys. The survey instrument will consist of both structured and unstructured questionnaires will be used to determine the opinion of both the consumers and marketing agents regarding the important features of social media that they commonly use. The survey questionnaires will be divided into two categories. This is particularly because the role of social media as a mode of market communication has been the provision of information to the customers as well as create awareness. In addition this liking of social media has not only expanded the markets for most important goods but has also helped in increased posting of profits by various organizations. The first category (A) will be sent to the selected marketing agents and corporate organizations in the United Kingdom while the second category of the questionnaires will be used on a selected number of ordinary consumers. Lastly, with regard to data analysis, the collected data will be analyzed manually as well as through the use of statistical package (SPSS). Additionally, a descriptive analysis of the data will be employed to report the profile of the respondents while on the other hand; inferential analysis through the use of Pearson correlation will be applied in the examination of the research hypotheses regarding the role and use of social media in market communication in the United Kingdom. Ethical Considerations There are a number of ethical considerations involved in the use of social as a mode of marketing communication. With the current popularity of social media platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and twitter as marketing forums, the first important ethical consideration is the privacy of the social media community. For example, although it is perfectly acceptable to use social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to redirect online traffic to an organization’s site, it is considered unethical for companies and businesses to use spam programs, auto friends in their marketing campaigns. Ethical consideration in the social media especially in marketing practices is a very complex and crucial matter. Professionals in this sector insist on ethical considerations in the social marketing to enhance proper personal data so as to do away with the impasses that data privacy brings. There are numerous moral concerns about how social networks apprise users of what their confidentiality levels are, to what extent their data is considered public. This has brought a lot of consideration relating to ethical issues for some data in political and lawful circumstances might be at jeopardy if their identity is exposed. Furthermore there are several ethical concerns around the use of social media data for brand marketing purposes by the team involved in product promotion. According to Turban (2008, p.45), compromising the privacy of consumers is a punishable offence under the U.K laws. Additionally, it is also important to note that although the data on the individual consumers is an important resource to business organizations; it can only be a win-win if it is done properly. In this regard, the use of unethical means such as malicious programs can only serve to drive away potential customers even when the privacy breaches are unintentional. As a result, several social media companies such as Facebook have increasingly stepped up their fight against business scammers are even banning them completely from their social network. Generally, good ethical conditions in the social media provides a well-equipped channel for product promotion through the social media for customers believe in the product they are being offered by the social media for they are in close contact with it. Ethical consideration in the social media should be put in place because if to some extent problem of bad ethics goes beyond control in terms of bad public relations, the question for marketing in large organizations brings a bad brand image. Ethics in social media during marketing does away with vulnerable recommendations this implies that if any form of compensation like free product compensations it should be covered in all social Medias. Another important ethical consideration that should be taken into account when using social media as a mode of marketing communication is ensuring that the online contents posted on the social media are a genuine value to the other members of social network community. For example, companies need to avoid using luring clicks from other members or overdoing their titles to avoid ruining their social media communication and the possibility of being banned from the social networks. Considering improper secrecy and comprising consumer’s discretion, ethical issues should be well-thought-out on the data obtainable on individual customers for it acts as a reserve that companies are justifiably trying to mine winning customer’s loyalty. On the other hand it may be appealing to have agencies as a company to comment secretly on online forums to encourage products and as well raise questions about rivals which must be done putting into considerations good ethical pictures in mind. Finally, users should always be aware of copyright laws when posting on social networks. This is particularly because copy right and intellectual property infringement in social media campaigns may result in serious repercussions. Project plan and timetable i. Plan The proposed research will be carried and completed within a 12month timeframe. Immediately after submission and the consequent approval of this preliminary proposal, I will immediately get into the next important phase of developing the research questions to be used during the survey. As earlier been noted, the survey questionnaires will be divided into two categories whereby the first category will be designed for marketing agents and corporate organizations while the second category of the questionnaires will meant for taking the responses of ordinary consumers. The next stage will be collecting for the research using the questionnaire surveys. A team of 12 members will be required to assist the researcher in carrying out the entire investigative research process. The collected data will be recorded and analyzed to help provide some important insights regarding the role played by social media in marketing communication. Next, the researchers will spend large part of the project time comparing the findings with the information obtained from the review of newspapers, books, journals and other recent publications related to the topic of the study. One of the expected outcomes is that Companies have a vast visibility and improved skill to respond promptly to competitor’s actions, due to extensive internationalized and technologically industrial markets. Furthermore, the rising number of operators has encouraged a market place where products have become similar among each other. This has been the reasons for various businesses to center on the physical products. After the compilation of the results, the final findings of the research will be written, reviewed, published and submitted. ii. Tentative project Timeline Activities     2013 2014 March Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March                       Research proposal/Literature review                     Preliminary research                     Analysis of the collected data                                           Writing of the findings of the project                     Draft review                     Submission of the final report                     References Bregman, S. 2012. Uses of social media in public transportation. Washington, D.C.:Transportation Research Board. Clow, E & Donald Baack. 2007. Integrated Advertising Promotion and Marketing Communications", 3rd Edition, Upper Saddle River, Deis, Michael H., Kyle, H. 2010. Using social media to increase advertising and improve marketing". Entrepreneurial Executive: 87. Gordon, R. 2010. Creating Community-Connection Experiences, in Medill on Media Engagement. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press Hackley, C. E. 2010. Advertising and promotion: an integrated marketing communications approach. Los Angeles, SAGE. Mantymaki, M., & Salo, J. 2010. Trust, Social Presence and Customer Loyalty in Social Virtual Journal of Management and Marketing Research Social media,1(3), 6 -7. Skiera, B. 2010. The Impact of New Media on Customer Relationships. Journal of Service Research, 13(3) 311-330. Sledgianowski, D., Kulviwat, S. 2009. Using social network sites: The effects of playfulness, critical mass and trust in a hedonic context. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 49(4), 74-83. Turban, E. 2008. Electronic commerce 2008: A managerial perspective (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Read More