New Media and Consumer Behaviour - Essay Example

? New media and consumer behaviour BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE New media and consumer behaviour Introduction Social media is changing how marketers relate to their customers over that of traditionalist customer relationship management practices and advertising. It has even been suggested that marketers are losing brand control and must therefore participate in more active, social media conversations in order to gain brand loyalty and brand equity. Consumer behaviour patterns are changing in the 21st Century due to transformations in society as well as the presence of social media outlets that alter the dynamics of consumer relationships with one another and with the organisations that provide products and services. This paper provides a critical discussion of how the presence of social media influences or shapes consumer behaviour with real-world examples of social media as a contemporary marketing and relationship-building tool. The dynamics of social media and consumer psychology Smith (2009) identifies that blogging, video-sharing and social networks are entering mainstream and are no longer a niche market activity in multiple demographic groups. User-generated content materials have improving the ability of consumers to publish their opinions about products and services and also improve the relationships with the global and local communities. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow for instant publication of thoughts and ideas whilst also providing consumers with a new visibility, especially related to video-sharing, that fulfils their needs for affiliation. Bainbridge (2009) informs that consumers are also demanding portability with their electronic devices, thus advancements in smart phone development and similar devices give portable access to social networking to serve as a form of diary for their current thoughts and impressions on a variety of different subjects and social commentaries. This contemporary access to new media is effective in satisfying consumers of many different socio-cultural and socio-economic backgrounds due to inherent needs and motivations that are shared by virtually all consumers globally. “A whole range of psychogenic drives stems from our social environment, culture and social group interactions” (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009, p.5). These psychogenic drives are status-related needs or simply finding a sense of serenity regarding one’s place in the social stratification system. According to psychologists, one of the basic motivational drivers is the establishment of a sense of belonging, believing that one must be recognized by peers and general society through group affiliation. Under most models, establishment of higher-order psychology cannot be established without this affiliation. “The satisfaction of the need for esteem produces self-confidence, prestige, power and control” (Gambrel & Cianci, 2003, p.146). People in global society also need to feel as though they are having an impact on their environment as it relates to power and control (Gambrel & Cianci). These inherent needs for recognition from society and peers are also present in youth consumer markets. According to Berten & van Rossem (2008) adolescents are especially influenced by peer relationships and feedback with whom they have strong interpersonal connections as well as their desired reference group. This is important to understand as it relates to youth markets since they are considered to be “one of the most cynical, fast-moving and fragmented markets brand owners can hope to crack” (Forsey, 2009, p.21). Usually trend conscious, the youth market is a concentrated user of social media and thus understanding their psychological make-up is important to critically assess the role of social media for modern marketing practices. Therefore, it should be said that social media is not just a recreational past-time anymore for youths and older target markets, but represents a lifestyle activity that is mainstream and a conventional social outlet. Through the use of blogs and video-sharing, multiple demographics satisfy their inherent psychological needs related to social attachment and group membership. There are currently billions of consumers all across the world with access to the Internet (Aziz & Yasin, 2004), thus social media opens opportunities to gain new market attention and expand brand presence domestically and overseas via this technological interface between marketer and customer. Why market using social media? The current global recession is causing marketers to reconsider the more costly production of advertising materials utilised traditionally, such as print, television and catalogue production. Marketers are attempting, based on economic conditions, to get the most value on limited budgets and consider public relations to be a better value (Goodkind, 2010). Because social media has gone mainstream, and since incorporating a web presence with inter-linkages between high volume social media sites is an inexpensive activity, it represents considerable opportunities to reduce costs and improve relationships between customer and the brand. Where building a successful brand once took significant time investment and capital investment, today businesses can position themselves as a means to more quickly establish brand recognition and brand loyalty. Positioning is the process of creating an image on how the brand wants to be perceived, defining unique and differentiated qualities from competition, and then building a reputation (Business Link, 2009). Social media gives marketers the ability to instantly upgrade and update information about the brand without the high costs of information technology support expertise and also to maintain positioning control in response to competitor behaviours with ease. According to Gerber (2008, p.1) the process of building a brand requires “quality, well-blended communications, credibility and positioning”. Social media as a tool for marketers allows the business to maintain real-time or interactive communications with customers in multiple markets as a means to build the brand through relationship development. For example, many marketers segment their desired markets through psychographics. This is grouping individuals based on their priorities, lifestyles, personality, and many other interests (Rodoplu, 2008). This type of segmentation is often utilised by cruise ship companies, musical artists, or even sports marketers. Since many individuals who use social media tend to congregate in the same forums based on lifestyle and recreational interests, it becomes easier for the marketer to simply join in these discussions with ongoing conversations about the brand as it relates to these values and lifestyles. By giving the brand more visibility in an environment that is already interesting to the target audience, marketers who join in these social discussions are able to show how the business mission, vision, or product can suit their activities. ASOS, a fashion retailer in the United Kingdom with a large young adult target market, is one example of how social media has improved revenues and brand recognition as well as brand equity. The business launched its own website that collects consumer opinions, both positive and negative, that are left by customers in real-time (McEleny, 2009). ASOS is a fashion retailer that provides pure play fashions that are more trend-conscious and contemporary over other competition. Social media, in this case, is used as a form of marketing research to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their product line or brand and then comment on these testimonials using social media as a platform. What this does is give ASOS more transparency in its target market and also the buzz generated creates more customers through the word-of-mouth that such comments impress upon the media users. For the more upscale markets who purchase, for example, clothing as part of ostentatious consumption (a means of expressing their wealth and status through fashion), social media is an excellent outlet for improving brand visibility. Consumers have grown sceptical of ad agencies that provide promotional materials for the fashion industry, due to their perceived lack of knowledge of the importance of intimacy and prestige needed to develop effective ad campaigns (Williams, 2009). Fashion is highly-specialized and requires profound interpersonal relationship development to gain loyalty and avoid brand defection. Social media provides this opportunity for exhaustive and personalized service in a way that was once only achievable through costly in-store salespersons. Additionally, for the luxury fashion purchaser, discounting is considered to be a dirty word and promotion of cost reductions is avoided at all costs, thus producing no in-store sales posters (O’Connor, 2008). Liberty of London and Net a Porter, as two examples, invite customers to private sales during periods where revenues are down or when the recessionary environment demands it for price-sensitive buyers (O’Connor). Where once these private sales were delivered by costly direct mailing literature or website development, the business can now promote discounting through social media aimed at their clients’ Facebook pages or other similar media sites to avoid losing control over their brand as an exclusive product. As a tool for promotion, social media provides this particular industry opportunities to avoid publicized knowledge of deep discounting when it must occur, therefore protecting them from brand degradation related to elegance or poshness. Since most upscale fashion consumers also share these values of muzzling price reductions on their pretentious and showy merchandise, it serves to meet their psychogenic motivations and represents a win-win scenario for marketer and customer. Of course, it is not only the fashion industry that benefits from social media as a new customer relationship management tool or relationship-building platform. Multiple industry leaders can utilise many social media sites to promote incentives, such as coupons or buy-one-get-one free offers, to act as motivations for consumers that look for value and low cost. According to Bainbridge (2010, p.31) the recession has changed the habits of restaurant diners in the UK that has reduced the frequency of their eating-out and also created a voucher “frenzy” related to coupon incentives. For this particular industry, restaurants can remain competitive using social media as an outlet for voucher publications, perhaps over a limited time, to invite customers to frequent their facilities or gain new market interest related to coupon offers. Some eateries even use Twitter to print electronic messages that, when shown to staff members off their mobile devices, can provide free drinks or other discounts. When it comes to incentive marketing, social media provides instantaneous transmission and updating of vouchers and other discounting practices during difficult economic periods to motivate more customer volume. Social media also provides opportunities to develop a value proposition, a statement of values related to the brand and the benefits the service or product can provide. “Authenticity is key in the value proposition. It is continuously signalled through every manifestation of the company’s brand” (Picoult, 2010, p.41). Using sites like Facebook, a marketer can establish its authenticism through publication of the value proposition and then link the site back to their corporate website to gain more information. This is just another example of social media as a promotional tool that does not necessarily require real-time conversation and discussion. Even though there are critics that conversations are required, if authenticity can be established in a forum with high social media usership, it serves as a very low cost promotional platform for virtual groups that will share similar brand values. Conclusion It was established that social media maintains very mainstream adoption by multiple demographics of consumers for many different industries. The psychology of affiliation and group membership has been identified as a primary motivator that leads to more important self-discovery such as self-confidence and perceptions of control over the environment. Since many consumers are turning toward social media outlets as a means to improve their relationships with the global community and therefore are constantly present real-time, it is an excellent opportunity to gain more mastery over the brand positioning and gain competitive advantage in the process. Whether using incentives, publication of private sales or value propositions, or simply as a tool to engage consumers, so long as the brand representatives understand where their desired target market congregates, they will gain more brand recognition and brand equity through social media. There does not seem to be any contemporary drawbacks to using social media as a marketing tool. It is not a niche activity and represents diversity at the socio-cultural level in a platform that provides many opportunities for connection and affiliation between the brand and the consumer audience. Consumer behaviour is affected by social media for its social collectivism and because the marketer can establish legitimacy and interface in a real-time manner whilst still satisfying promotional budgets. References Aziz, N. & Yasin, N. (2004), The influence of market orientation on marketing competency and the effect of Internet-marketing integration, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 16(2), p.3. Bainbridge, J. (2010), Still earning a crust, Marketing, London, 24 February, pp.30-32. Bainbridge, J. (2009), Function over form, Marketing, London, 23 September, pp.28-30. Berten, H. & van Rossem, R. (2008), Mechanisms of peer influence among adolescents: cohesion versus structural equivalence, Sociological Perspectives, 54(2), pp.183-204. Business Link. (2009) [internet] Business Link in the South East [accessed October 31, 2011 at [http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?site=210&topicId=5000802291] Evans, M., Jamal, A. & Foxall, G. 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