Social Networking Marketing - Essay Example

?What are the ethical implications social networking marketing? How does it impact the 4 ps of marketing? In a technology driven world, it has becomeimperative that social media marketing is a part of the marketing mix of any product or service marketing. The various social networks on the internet have attracted a very high number of users and therefore, it is has become a crucial place where effective marketing can be carried out. Marketing on social networking or social media platforms has its own advantages because of the uniqueness offered by the internet (Keller and Berry, 2003). It is much easier to judge the effectiveness of a marketing campaign as well as ensure its reach to a very high population. Hence, marketing through the social media and social networks has become very important. However, as this method of marketing is becoming increasingly popular, various scholars and researchers have had concerns around ethical implications. Many marketers also feel very sceptical about the way in which it is difficult to preserve ethics followed in conventional form of marketing, when it comes to social networking marketing (Li, 2008). In this research, the attempt is to find out what are the ethical implications of social networking marketing and how it impacts the ‘4Ps’ – product price, promotion and place of marketing. The study would explore how this new age marketing has ethical implications on the traditional methods of marketing. Marketing and its Changing Dimensions Many scholars have tried to understand and define marketing as well as its changing connotations in the light of technology driven approach. American Marketing Association has defined marketing as a key set of process that is necessary for creating, delivering and communicating value to customers as well as maintaining and growing relationships with the aim of growing the organization, its user base as well as its stockholders (American Marketing Association, n.d). Here, the tenets of marketing centre on the concept of ‘value’. This definition provides a good overview because it also talks about customer and organizational growth. With social networking marketing, there are high chances that the meaning of ‘value’ may undergo a change because of the high scope of strategies like bulk marketing and privacy violation. According to Kotler, marketing can be defined as a social process through which individuals and groups can get what they want and need by creating as well as exchanging the products and value with the others (Kotler, 1997). The important aspect to note here is how marketing is considered to be a ‘social’ process. However, in recent times, marketing has a more business related approach, rather than exchanging. In fact, the activities of a marketer are centred on how to improve brand image as well as profitability with the help of value creation. This definition becomes very narrow in today’s sense because marketing is no longer about exchanging products or services, but in fact it has a higher focus on customers as well as profitability. However, this high focus on brand image and profitability has often resulted in compromises in terms of ethics in social media. According to the definition provided by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, marketing is the management process that is crucial in identifying, anticipating as well as satisfying the requirements of the customers in a manner that is profitable for the organization (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, n.d). In this definition, this focus is given on customers and the agenda of marketing revolves around the needs and the satisfaction of the customers. In addition, while this is a good approach to adopt, presently, focus is much higher on the profitability of the company, which can be illustrated by the increasing violation of ethics in social networking marketing. Hence, it is clear that the definition of marketing, its operations and the way in which it is perceived has undergone a considerable amount of change over the years. The organizations have adapted to newer trends increasingly. Marketing has proceeded to become a concept which has multiple dimensions and meanings at multiple levels. Social Networking Marketing Social Networking marketing can be defined as marketing on social network sites. Social networking sites are online portals where individuals or groups can interact with each other and thus, build relationships. These websites also provide a forum of products, services or companies to join so that people can interact with the product, service or the company. This level of easy interaction with individuals on the web platform proves to be beneficial for the users as well as company (Owyand, 2008). For both the users as well as the company, this proves to be a personal interaction. Social networking sites can prove to be a very effective way of marketing. It not only encourages personal interaction, but provides a platform to build business presence on the internet. Therefore, social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have are not merely sites for social interaction, but they have becomes medium of online marketing as well. There are several ways in which marketing works on social networking websites. Through company or product profiles, companies can show case their products, inform users about new launches, and promote offers and sales and so on. In addition, they can also make use of the advertising space available on these websites by the service providers. It allows individual users to repost the comments or statements about the product being promoted. When a user reposts the comment, all the users who are connected to this user would be able to see this message and hence, the message would be able to catch a higher number of eyeballs, with very less investment. If the number of reposts are higher, it becomes what is known as ‘viral marketing’, which can be compared to the way of how way-of-mouth advertising works in traditional marketing approaches (Calicchio, 2007). The main advantage of using a social networking website for marketing is also follows. High reach and low investment – Social networking has a very high reach with a very high number of active users. Users are not only looking for personal network connections any more, in fact they use social media to carry out myriads of activities such as searching for user opinions, looking for business information and so on. Marketing on the social network also is relatively less expensive when compared to marketing programs in traditional media such as television advertising and print advertising (). Hence, for small businesses, marketing through social media has come as a big boon because they can get a higher visibility at an affordable budget. Power of word of mouth – If the users of the social network find something exiting, they share it with their personal network and hence, the word spreads out like fire. Therefore, the marketing happens by itself, just as it happens with word of mouth (Smith et al, 2007). It is much easier for the information to pass on among the different networks that users have on these social networking sites. In addition, a positive review or a recommendation by users also makes a very high impression on other users. Hence, social networking offers a platform where information and marketing methods can spread very rapidly. Better accountability and Tracking – With any marketing efforts, it is possible to find out many important details regarding the users who are interested in your product. For example, with paid advertising, there are many analytics related products available, which give you information about the location of the user, how long the user was on the website, did the user click the ad or not. This is critical information because the company or the user can identify a demographic and geographic based audience, and then reaches out to them in a much more effective and customized approach (Sterne, 2010). Reaching a more targeted audience – One of the biggest advantages that is offered by social networking marketing is that it offers an audience that is more targeted. This increases the chances of the marketing efforts being successful. For example, online ads on social networking sites are shown only to users who have expressed some level of interest in the product or service, either by mentioning it in their networking or by searching for it. Therefore, the marketing efforts get a huge advantage because they get a refined audience who may have some interest, in the product offered. However, as there are certain disadvantages also when it comes to social networking media. For example, negative reviews and opinions can also spiral and become negative publicity for the product. The user generated content related to the product is not very reliable. Hence, social networking marketing requires constant monitoring (Gardner, 2005). The internet is also very dynamic and approaches and methods change very constantly. In addition, there is also a higher concern related to how much of ethical considerations are kept in mind when marketers aggressively move towards this method of marketing. Ethics and Social Networking Marketing As technology driven social networking marketing is gaining immense popularity and as it has become a very important component of marketing plans, there are many concerns regarding the ethical implications of how marketing works. Social networking websites are store houses of personal information, even with privacy settings. At any point in time, a marketer or the social networking site itself can use this information. While for some users, this may be perfectly alright, for some others it can mean intrusion of privacy and violation of an ethical code of conduct (Travis, 2001). To respect the users and the community online, social networking marketing should focus highly on disclosure, authenticity, trust and transparency. In a traditional marketing method, these four aspects come very naturally, however; in the online sphere, additional efforts need to be taken by the marketer. Many marketers feel that in social networking sites, users will not come to know about factors such as trust and transparency and hence, indulge in ethical violations. In social networking marketing, trust is built after a lot of efforts on the part of the marketers. First step is to create a profile, after refinement and details, this profile becomes the identity, by creating more targeted connections, and a reputation is built (Hogg and Williams, 2000). All these steps are important in building trust. However, many marketers try to take a shortcut in creating a reputation and building trust, thereby ignoring any ethical considerations. One of the main issues that the current cyber community is facing is how to define ethics when it comes to social networking or social media. This confusion has resulted in different marketers having different perception about the ethics in social networking, creating difference on what is acceptable and what is not. Social networking is a very subjective concept because different individuals have different expectations from it (Falls, 2009). For some users, it is just for maintaining connections, where as for some users it provides business information. In the same manner, ethics on social networking marketing also becomes very subjective and hence, it is not easy to define what is acceptable and what is not. Given that, there are many common issues that are considered to be a violation of ethics in social media platforms. Here are some main issues that have given rise to concerns regarding ethics in social networking marketing. Respecting Privacy and Community – Marketing in a social network should always have enough respect for the privacy of the members. While targeted advertisement is popular, it is important to make sure that this does not violate the privacy (Finn, 2009). While privacy is a subjective term in the internet parlance, marketers should make sure that they do not use extremely personal information of the individuals for marketing purposes. This will create doubts about the level of trust that users put on these social networking websites. The ideal way is to use collective demographic or geographic information so that privacy can be respected adequately. In addition, it is also important to understand that the social network’s foundations are based on community principles. Online communities work in the same way as usual communities and hence, business or marketing should not invade the privacy. It is unfair to be extremely pushy in the online marketing campaign because that can have a severe detrimental image on the brand being promoted. Bulk Emailing/ Spamming – Most internet users are offended by the bulk emailing or spamming approach to marketing (Parr, 2009). While bulk emailing reaches a wide range of audience, the response rate and the rate at which it reaches a targeted audience is very low. Hence, these emails are less targeted and result in the users being annoyed. In addition, more internet users are now aware of the concept of bulk emailing or spamming and hence, they have negative perceptions about this method of marketing and consider most cases as a fraud or scam. There are widespread scams on the internet that have adopted bulk emailing; hence users have developed mistrust towards this method of marketing. Understanding Competition – Social networking marketing has given an opportunity for very small businesses to come online and create a marketing presence. This has naturally resulted in a higher competition. While the social network provides immense opportunity to freely post views and opinions, it does not mean that marketers should focus their efforts on highlighting the negative information about their products (Falls, 2009). Competition should be taken in a healthy manner. It is good to know the efforts of the competitors, however, using social networking to negatively impact the reputation of the competitors is not considered to be a fair and ethical practice. Ghost Writing – Ghost writing is the way in which marketers usually put up fake reviews and Recommendations to create an opinion in the minds of the users (Fleet, n.d). For example, it is a known practice to create fake users or websites like Facebook and then post good reviews and recommendations about the product marketed. While this creates a false impression in the mind of the users, this may not be successful in the long run. This is because sometime very soon, genuine users would feel disappointed with the fake reviews and may being to mistrust the product and brand as such. Hence, it is not ethical to consider ghost writing in social networking marketing. Copyright Violation – Copyright Violation is an important concern in any form of internet and social media advertising. As the internet is so vast, it is very easy for the marketers to indulge in copyright violation, which is a clear violation of copyright protection. In addition, copyright laws in the cyberspace related to information and advertising is not yet clear and laid out in a precise manner (Finn, 2009). Hence, many genuine marketers feel that their efforts are copied and reposted on the internet which is an ethical violation. As sensible marketers, efforts should be concentrated on creating genuine plans and not indulging in copyright violations. Using paid advertising and profiles unethically – Paid marketing is a good way of getting a very high visibility in the social network, the biggest advantage being that companies or products can reach a targeted audience at a very low cost. However, as the competition has increased, there have been issues of how this medium has not been following ethics. For example, the number of ads related to miracle cures of diseases had increased on the internet, giving a false impression to the users. This has become an issue for genuine advertisers because it is unethical to tempt users through false advertising. It is not only paid advertising, but many companies and products have created their web identity by making false claims and enticing the users with these false claims (Parr, 2009). It is natural for the users to feel cheated with such information. Sometimes, these false claims also result in monetary scams where users are cheated. Even though social networking sites are coming up with some guidelines to prevent such scams, this unethical practice has created mistrust among users, even for genuine marketers. The four Ps of Marketing and Social Networking Marketing While the dynamics of social networking marketing have resulted in a huge shift in the way in which marketing is conducted, it is necessary to take a peek at how the traditional tenets of marketing have been impacted by the unethical implications of social networking marketing. The basic principles of marketing revolve around what is known as the 4Ps of marketing. As there is increased marketing efforts through social networking, the four Ps of marketing have also changed in implications. To understand this better, it is important to know more about the 4Ps of marketing. The 4Ps are the element of the marketing mix (McCarthy, 1960). A marketing mix can be defined as a concept which encompasses all the different aspects of marketing that have the common goal to create awareness, create customer loyalty and make the product achieve its desired goal. This concept was created by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960s. Marketing efforts are no longer conventional and are very dynamic because of the huge influence of the internet and social networking in particular. Therefore, it is natural that the way in which the marketing mix operates also has undergone a considerable amount of change. Here are the 4 Ps of marketing and how they have undergone change. Product – Product can be defined as either the physical goods or the services, around which all the marketing efforts would be centred. Product can be tangible such as a toy or a bag and intangible such as hotel services or loan services. The properties or the uniqueness of the product is very important when it comes to marketing. Each product or service goes through a life cycle and it is important to create differentiation so that the product retains its place in the market and stands out differently from its competitors (Priddle, 2004). The other components of the marketing mix are highly dependent on the product. However, with the advent of social networking marketing, there is a shift from the product and higher focus is given on how the product is promoted. For example, false claims and ghost writing are used to cover up any incompetence of the product. Price – Price is the amount that the customer has to pay to purchase the product. The price of the product typically has to be higher than the investment made, so that the product is able to make a good profit margin (Vignali, Davies, 1994). The product owners may make changes to the price depending on its reception in the market. For example, at times, prices are lowered because of high competition. The determination of price is a long drawn process and involves many different factors such as cost of raw materials/investment, competition in the market, estimation of the demands at specific times and so on. Price has an important place to play in social networking market too, where showcasing attractive offers has become one of key ways of promotion. It does not have any direct ethical implications because pricing works in the same manner, even if marketing happens through social networking sites. Place – In marketing mix, place stands for the location where the product can be purchased. In business parlance, place is often called the distribution channel also ((Vignali, Davies, 1994). Place of availability of the product can be different – from brick and mortar stores, to the internet to the service provider, depending on the nature of the product. The place of availability also depends on the scope of the product. For example, skiing equipment is available at those places where there is snow fall and scope for skiing activity. However, necessary items such as toiletries or even bank services are available at all places across all seasons. Place of purchase has undergone a paradigm shift when it comes to social networking marketing because it has become an important medium on directing users to purchase pages or websites. This has made it easier for the users to find what they require. However, misleading advertising and enticing the users to click the ad, but taking them to pages that are not useful have been considered as a violation of advertising ethics. Promotion – Promotion stands of all the different efforts that are taken by a marketing professional. Many people confuse promotion with marketing or advertising. However, promotion in fact has different key components that are advertising, public relations, direct marketing, sales marketing, publicity events and so on. At times, some of these different elements can be fused or combined situation, based on the requirements (Yudelson, 1999). Advertising or over the line promotion stands for promotion that is carried out through paid efforts such as news paper advertising, TV and radio commercials, internet advertising and so on. Public relations or under the line promotion stands for the promotion that is carried out without making payment in a direct manner, such as press releases, media events, exhibitions and so on. n most cases, it has been noticed that social networking has a higher impact on the way in which promotion is carried out, because it is a very powerful medium to attract interested users. The ethical issue with promotion on online social networking sites is that many marketers resort to short cuts thinking that those methods would provide easy marketing. However, it negatively affects both the genuine marketers, the social networking site as well as the users on the site. Similarly, instead of focusing on improving the promotion of their own products, it has been noticed that on social networking sites, there are activities related to creating a negative impression about the competition. This also is considered to be an ethical violation and has raised many apprehensions in the online marketing community. Any promotional agenda has a wide range of goals or objectives depending on the product and the company. Some of the common goals include increasing sales, getting the new product accepted in the market, improving the brand image, retaliating to competition, creating a place for the product in the market and so on. However, if ethical considerations are not kept in mind, then one or more of these attributes may be negatively impacted over a period of time as users may feel disappointed. It is always necessary to remember that users have a strong vocal presence on social networking site. Conclusion This research has shown how marketing has reached new dimensions because of the immense popularity of new-age marketing through social networking and social media. This change in approach has also resulted in some ethical implications that have raised concerns. However, with time, better and stronger cyber laws will emerge that would create guidelines on ethical marketing in the online sphere. This is necessary to streamline the process so that marketing ethics are preserves during social networking marketing. The organizations also should realize the importance of ethics in marketing, both in online and off-line spheres. References American Marketing Association (n.d). Marketingpower.com. Retrieved August 3, 2011. http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=M Calicchio, S. (2006). Pass the Virus! How to exploit the viral marketing to give an uproarious success to your own ideas. Raleigh, N.C : Lulu Publishers Falls, J (2009). 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