How can a firm use social media in branding - Research Paper Example

?Running Heading: How Can a Firm Use Social Media in Branding? How Can a Firm Use Social Media in Branding? [Course] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Social media marketing is growing at rapid pace and is gaining high popularity among organizations and different people. Several organization are using the technique of social media marketing in order to improve the overall branding strategy and fasten the process of growth and development (Chan-Olmsted, 2011). It is important to consider that the social media marketing strategies should be formulated keeping in consideration the other marketing strategies of the organization and the needs and requirements of the target market (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Apple Incorporation has big name in the industry. The company has been able to capture considerable market share on the basis of its innovative and high quality products. However, the company is not able to reap the benefits of the social media marketing and lacks an effective and efficient social media marketing strategy. In this report the relationship of social media marketing strategies with the overall brand image of the organization has been analyzed and evaluated. In this regard, the current marketing strategy of Apple Incorporation has been evaluated along with proposing several recommendations. For this purpose, secondary and primary research has been conducted by the researcher. The research study concluded that there is direct relationship among the social media marketing and branding, as the social media marketing directly influence the behavior and attitude of the consumer. BACKGROUND: Apple Incorporation is a big name in the computer and electronic industry. The company is known for its continuous innovation and innovative products. Apple is famous for the different ideas and strategies in comparison to the competitors and as a result create a clear edge competitive advantage in the market. In this section, the social media marketing strategy of Apple has been evaluated along with the explanation of the consumer issues and needs. Marketing Strategy Problem: Social media marketing is gaining popularity rapidly among different organizations. It has taken important place in the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategies of the organizations. Social media marketing allows the organization to communicate and interact with the target market in more easy and convenient manner (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Different social media sites and blogs provide the organizations with the platform to interact with the customers directly. These social media platforms also allows the customers to raise any query or issue related with the products of services of the organization. Owing to the high importance of social media marketing, it is being used by almost all organizations as a branding tool in order to formulate and communicate the brand image and identity (Chan-Olmsted, 2011). The brand image and brand identity of any organization or product is directly dependent on the perception consumers built about that particular product or organization (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2009). In this regard, the online presence of the organization contributes towards formulating consumers’ perception. Apple Incorporation has been coming up with different marketing and promotional strategies in order to attract more and more customers. However, it is important to acknowledge here that the social media marketing strategy of the company has been under serious criticism by different analysts and also the customers. The management of Apple has been only focusing on maintaining the online presence through the itunes and Apple Application store. The main focus of the organization is on the different innovative and high quality electronic products (Subramanian, 2010). Apple does not have any official facebook fan page and twitter account. Although, Apple maintains some discussion forums, which are for replying to the queries and questions of the customers, but unfortunately the staff and employees at Apple are not able to respond to the queries raised by the customers (Subramanian, 2010). This means that the company has not well planned and effective social media marketing strategy and staff. This in turn results in leaving negative impact on the overall brand image of the organization. In context of the consumer behavior, this marketing strategy issue related with the impact of the social media on branding can be related with the affective, cognitive, and behavior component of the consumer attitudes (Neal, Quester, & Hawkins, 2004). The consumer attitude is defined as the perception, thinking, and feeing people have about different objects of factors. There are three main components or parts of attitude which are (Hawkins & Mothersbaugh, 2009): 1. Affective: the feelings or emotions of the consumers with respect to particular factor or object. 2. Cognitive: the knowledge and beliefs of the consumers about a particular factor or object. 3. Behavior: possible explicit actions and reactions of the consumers to a particular factor of object. Consumers have established belief that the organizations which are more responsive to the customers and have more online and social media presence are more effective and efficient and in turn these companies have good brand image. At the same time, the social media interaction of the organization with the consumers, results in creating positive feelings among the consumers with respect to the respective organization. Lastly, the organizations with social media marketing encourage and motivate the consumers to indulge in different online activities and as a result buy the products being offered by the organization. Hence, social media marketing directly influences the consumer behavior and decision making process and in turn facilitates in the process of creating positive brand image and identity. Consumer Issues: Although, social media marketing can be used to capture any group of customers i.e. of any age and from any geographic location, however this mode of marketing is mostly used to attract the youth and teenage target market. Apple main target market also falls in the same category i.e. youth and youngsters. High potential value is associated with this segment of customers for Apple. The people belonging to this customer segment are more vibrant, energetic, and addicted to new technologies and social media tools. The best way to attract and target this market segment is to reach them through social media. In this age of internet and technology, youth has the habit of growing through different reviews and feedbacks about the products through several blogs, forums, and social media sites before taking the purchase decision. Apart from this, the consumers want more direct communication and interaction with the organization, which can be provided with the help of different online forums and blogs. It is important for the organizations to come up with more effective and efficient social media marketing strategies in order to make sure that the changing needs and requirements of the target market are being fulfilled. Youth, today, wants that their favorite brand and product is there to respond to their queries instantly through different online mediums. They like to interact with the organization through the profiles and pages of different social media sites like twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc. Along with this different blogs and forums are also beneficial in this regard. The target segment of the customers wants more direct response and attention from the organization to their issues and queries. It is also important to consider that the internet penetration rate is increasing day by day and more people have shifted towards different social media sites and prefer looking for different information and news through these sites. Hence, majority of the target customers look for answers to their queries on different online sources and social media sites. As, this segment of the consumer holds high value for the organization, the management of the organization should be considerate in order to fulfill their all requirements and demands. This in turn makes it important for Apple Incorporation to incorporate the social media marketing strategy into the overall Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategy. CONSUMER ANALYSIS: In order to understand the impact of the social media marketing on the consumer behavior and to evaluate the relationship between the reactions of the consumers and the social media strategies, a short term research has been carried out. This section describes and defines the research objectives, research methodology, and research findings associated with this research study on social media marketing and branding. Research Objectives: The main research objectives which will be tried to accomplished in this research study are: 1. To evaluate the impact of the social media presence on the consumer behavior. 2. To interpret the relationship between the social media presence and consumer trust. 3. To identify the relationship between the social media marketing and brand image. Research Methodology: In order to understand the consumer behavior associated with the social media marketing a small focus group survey was conducted. The research is descriptive in nature as it tries to describe the current situation and marketing scenario (Sekaran, 2006). At the same time it can be said that the research can be said to be explanatory as it tries to establish cause and effect relationship among different variables (Patton, 2002), i.e. the social media marketing strategies, branding, and consumer behavior. Hence, the research purpose of this study is ‘descripto-expalnatory’ (Saunders, Thornhill, & Lewis, 2009, p.140). The research study has used the scientific research approach which is based on the deduction. This approach will make sure that the researcher is not directly related with the research topic and is unbiased (Jankowicz, 2005). The data has been collected through focus group survey consisting of 7 participants. The participants are selected on the convenience basis. Important Findings: The focus group survey facilitated the researcher in the process of accomplishing and attaining the defined research objectives. Different questions were raised during the focus group which generated healthy discussion among the participants. On the basis of the answers of the participants and the discussion during the focus group survey, the researcher has been able to come up with some important findings. There is increasing awareness of the social media among the people. More and more people are making sure that they have online presence on different social media sites. This increasing popularity of social media can also be contributed to the busy and fast life of the people, which has made it difficult for the people to indulge in different social activities and as a result they prefer to interact with other people through social media sites. Along with this, due to lack of time and busy routine the people look for different products and solutions online. According to the customers they feel more educated and informed, as different social media sites and forums provide them with all required information and data about a particular topic or product. Also, customer place high trust on the different opinions and feedbacks provided by other customers and company officials regarding the products and services. The participants of the focus group survey concluded that the companies and organization who have visible social presence through different social media sites, forums, and blogs can be more trusted and are more friendly. The organizations and companies provide useful information about the products and services to the customers through the social media. Apart from this, most of the people take part in the different contests and promotional activities run by these organizations on social media sites. All these activities contribute in the formulation of strong brand image and identity among the consumers, which in turn directly influence the decision making process of the consumers. In the today’s modern and fast pace age, consumers prefer to go through different reviews and feedbacks about the product online before indulging in purchase. People like to see their favorite brands and organizations interacting with them directly and responding to their queries and problems. Apart from this, according to some of the participants of the focus group survey they have tried new products and services only on the basis of their facebook profiles or blogs. As these profiles and groups through different effective and efficient promotional strategies, directly influenced and motivated them to indulge in the purchase. It is important for the organizations to consider the importance of the social media marketing strategy on the branding. The social media activities of the organizations along with the word of mouth circulated through different social media sites, forums, and blogs directly influence the consumer behavior and attitude. RECOMMENDATIONS: Summary: Hence, on the basis of secondary and primary research conducted by the researcher in this research report it can be said that social media marketing is highly important for the organizations. Almost every other organization is integrating social media marketing with the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategies. Different organizations have been able to reap several advantages and benefits on the basis of well thought and well formulated social media marketing strategies. It is important and beneficial for the organizations to establish interactive and effective online presence in order to create a competitive edge in the market and remain competitive. The war or competition among the organizations have taken the form of online competition or war. Recommendations for Apple: Apple Incorporation is leading the electronic market in term of new and innovative products. The company already has strong and positive brand image in front of the customers. However, the management of the company should also pay attention to the formulation of social media strategy and capitalize the opportunity. In this regard, the organization can take different steps and measures. Market Segmentation: First of all the company has to reformulate the market segmentation on the basis of their preferences and social trends. This will result in deciding for the value of different important segments and identify their needs and requirements. On the basis of this assessment the organization can come up with different social media strategies and activities in order to make sure that larger share of different consumer segments is captured. Market Positioning: The company has to modify its market positioning and will have to increase the social presence on different social media sites, along with the itunes and application stores. This in turn will allow the company to target larger segment of the market and also to establish strong and positive brand image in the mind of the customers. Marketing Mix: Within the marketing mix, Apple needs to revise and modify the two elements only i.e. promotional strategy and distribution strategy. The products of Apple are still of high standards and innovative. Promotional Strategy: The organization have to start different online promotional campaigns through different social media sites and blogs. This will result in attracting more people and hence resulting in increasing the overall sales. The promotional strategy of the company should be integrated with the social media strategy in order to come up with more effective and efficient strategies. Apart from this, the staff of the organization will be trained to respond to different queries of the people and should be friendly and interactive. Distribution Strategy: The organization has to revise its distribution strategy and have to incorporate the different blogs and online forums along with the social media profiles into the main system. The company has to establish a harmony between the online presence and traditional brick and mortar store. Future Implications and Research: The social media marketing strategy can be beneficial for building strong brand image in front of the customer in long run. This in turn facilitates in the process of growth and development of the organization. The research study had several limitations due to lack of time and financial resources. Future researches should be conducted in this regard in order to understand the concept more thoroughly. For this purpose, the comparison of the social media marketing strategies of different companies should be done in order to understand the impact of the social media marketing on the overall branding strategy in more effective and efficient manner. REFERENCES Chan-Olmsted, S. (2011). ‘Media Branding in a Changing World: Challenges and Opportunities 2.0.’ International Journal of Media Management, 13(1), 3-19. Hawkins, D., & Mothersbaugh, D. (2009). Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill. Jankowicz, A. (2005). Business Research Projects. London: Thomson Learning. Mangold, W., & Faulds, D. (2009). ‘Social Media: the new hybrid element of the promotion mix.’ Business Horizons, 52(4), 357-365. Neal, C., Quester., P, & Hawkins, D. (2004). Consumer Behaviour: Implications for Marketing Strategy. Australia: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications Inc. Saunders, M., Thornhill, A., & Lewis, P. (2009). Research Method for Business Students, London: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Sekaran, U. (2006). Research Methods for Business, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc Subramanian, K. (2010). Apple’s Approach to Social Networking May Not Work. Retrieved February 23, 2012, from Read More