Analysis of Social Media - Assignment Example

Analysis of Social Media Introduction Social media is a common concept and term especially in marketing circles. The term is a creation of the new media that presents uses with the liberty to interact with billions of other users spread all over the world. Social media refers to specific social media sites that allow people to communicate with others (Dutton, Ashford, O’Neill & Lawrence, 2001). In such sites, users create accounts, which they use in managing all their communications and interactions with others. Among the common social media sites include Facebook, twitter and Instagram among many others. Besides the social media, the new media created blogs, which are yet other interactive online platforms that enable people to communicate and interact with others. The intense interactivity on social media coupled with the specific features that help monitor the activity on such sites makes the sites effective tools for marketing. The New Horizons Agency should therefore embrace the use of social media in marketing since the networking sites have effective infrastructures for marketing enhanced with yet practical tools that permit the application of the practice-evidence-translation-application-validation thus enabling the marketers monitor the activities on their sites as the discussion below portrays. New Horizons Agency requires a consolidate team of young marketers who appreciate the role of ICT I the contemporary society. Among the factors determined to hinder the use of the social networks in the company is the fact that the managers at the company are old and do not therefore understand the dynamics and use of social media in marketing. Changing the marketing team at the company will ensure the integration of the new technologies among many others given the dynamic nature of online businesses. As the management portrayed during the board meeting, most of the board members are old and therefore fixated on the previous marketing techniques that required the use of the traditional media. The contemporary social media has numerous advantages over the traditional media especially in marketing a feature that makes it a vital tool especially for corporate organizations such as New Horizons Agency. Using social media in marketing require an effective understanding of both the nature of the media and the operations of the business. Understanding the nature of the social media includes analyzing each of the various social media operational in the contemporary society thus understanding their strengths and weaknesses. Twitter and Facebook for example are among the most popular social networking sites with more than three billion users. The large audience thus makes the two among the most favorable sites especially for use in Europe, America and Africa. The other famous social networking site in China and the East, which also have more than a billion users, is Alibaba. This implies that understanding the dynamics of the marketing is yet another vita requirement that enhances the effectiveness of any marketing tool used. With such information, the marketers will understand select appropriate social networking sties to use in respective markets. Marketing is a fundamental function of management mandated with the determination and sustenance of an adequate market for a company (Kormanik & Shindell, 2009). This corroborates the need for the marketers to understand the nature and operations of the company in order to enable them position the company and its products strategically. As such, the management of New Horizons Agency requires a functional marketing manager who understands the intrigues of the social networking sites. The likes of Jim Ferguson who ask mundane questions about social media may understand the operations of the company but cannot take over the control of the company’s marketing department. The company should therefore hire a young marketing manager who understands the use of social media in marketing. The marketing manager is a top-level manager who influences the other operations of the company. The scholar-practitioner model (practice-evidence-translation-application-validation) Just as explained earlier, social media has unique features that permit the implementation of the model in observing its use at the company. Various statistics present the ever-increasing use of the various social n4tworking sites globally (Cook, Cook & Landrum, 2013). Corporate organizations continue to embrace the use of the social media as they grow their target market. People spend most of their time online in social networking sites. The sites are interactive and introduce the push-pull communication model. The model allows the generations of information from diverse sources. This therefore requires the communicators to understand their target audiences thus position their messages strategically. Additionally, social media marketers must have desirable personalities and abilities in order to develop functional groups, pages and accounts in order to communicate with their target audiences effectively. He social networking sites have statistical tools that capture and present the activities on the site to the marketers. Through such statistical tools, the marketers will monitor the size of their target audience and the number of people they interact with at any given time. Such statistical interactions enable the marketers understand specific demographic features about their target audience thus employ necessary tools in increasing the effectiveness of the communication. The marketers will use the social networking sites to increase traffic on the company’s mainstream website besides advertising the company’s products and services. The multifunctional nature of the social networking sites makes them the most effective marketing tools. Marketing functions of social media at New Horizons Agency The features of social media make them useful in advertising or product promotion. The marketers will use the social media to introduce new products and advertise the existing products. The media permits the marketers to post every type of information about either the product or service. Advertising on the social media is cheaper than in the traditional media. The social media permits marketers to carry out effective market researches and analyses. Researching the market enables the marketers to obtain vital information on the performance of a company and its products. New Horizons Agency will therefore use the social networks in obtaining feedback on the performance of its products and services thus using such information in influencing the development and modifying the existing products in order to improve their preference by the target market. Through the intense interactions on the social media, the marketers will engage their target audiences thus obtain essential information about the prevailing trends in the market. New Horizons Agency can use social media in enhancing its public relations. Public relations are fundamental functions of marketing that increases the reputation of a company in a particular industry. The interactivity on social media allows corporate organizations to obtain feedback from their target audience thus resolve the issues the target audience raises on the use of the company’s products. New Horizons Agency must develop a functional public relations department, one that will act expeditiously to resolve the issues that the audience raises on the use of the company’s products and services. Advantages of using social media The social media have more audience than any other media globally. As explained earlier, people most of their time online in different social networking sites. The subsequent development of smart phones has increased the traffic on the social media since. The use of smart phones made the social networking sites portable and most convenient tools of communication. The youthful generations therefore spend most of their active time on their phones chatting with their friends on the various social media. The use of social media is cheaper than using the traditional media in marketing. Companies spend billions of dollars in running media adverts on television and radios. Such adverts reach a limited audience given the restrictive nature of such adverts. Radios and television sell airtime while newspapers and magazines sell space. The social media on the other hand sells audience. The social media provides unlimited space, airtime and more importantly audience. The effectiveness of communication and interactions on the social media relies on the aggressiveness of the marketers (Wasserman & Kram, 2009). Social media gives the marketers absolute control of both the messages and the interactions thus the future of either the product or service. Facebook and Twitter accounts require constant supervision with active communicators who keep positing and responding to comments from the audience. Such is a feature that no other media offered. The increased interactivity makes social media effective in various functions within the company. Blogs are like personal entries, which therefore require personalized attention. The marketers must develop appropriate content, build audience for their content and hold functional discussion in such media as they interact with their target audience. Conclusion In retrospect, social media is a fundamental aspect of marketing that New Horizons Agency must integrate in its marketing department. The discussion above presents the effectiveness of the social media key among which arises from the billions of users on such media. Additionally, the social media gives the marketers direct control on the marketing process. The marketers will use the various search engines on such platforms to develop a substantial and functional audience, which they categorize geographically among other demographic factors that influence the appropriateness of an audience. The social media creates a market of its own. The market is often global since the internet overcomes the geographical barriers in any communication. The use of social media in marketing will therefore offer New Horizons Agency an additional platform to sustain its profitability. References Cook, B., Cook, L. & Landrum, T. (2013). Moving research into practice: Can we make dissemination stick? Exceptional children, 77, 163-180. Dutton, J., Ashford, S., O’Neill, R. & Lawrence, K. (2001). Moves that matter. Issue seling and organizational change. Academy of management journal, 44. 716-773. Kormanik, M. & Shindell, T. (2009). Perspectives of HRD scholar practitioners: possibilities and next steps. Advances in developing Human Resource, 11, 536-547. Kram, K., Wasserman, I. & Yip, J. (2012). Metaphors of identity and professional practice. The journal of applied behavioral science, 48, 304-341. Wasserman, I.& Kram, K. (2009). Enacting the scholar-practitioner role: An exploration of narrative. The journal of applied behavioral science. Vol45, 12-38. Zaplin, R. T. & Blohoviak, D. (2011). “Believing is seeing”. In (eds.). Shillabeer, T. B. & Rousseau, D. (Eds.). Public management: Practices, issues and prospects. (pp. 59-75). New York: M.E Sharpe. Read More