Social Media Marketing - Essay Example

Social Media Marketing Understanding Social Media Social media has been d to be the medium that is believed to improve the aspect of communication along with the structure or rather the pattern of the societal attachments with regard to individuals. This form of medium is not regarded to be a fresh notion as the existence of the concept of letter writing has been found to date back to several years. However, the arrival of computers has been found to introduce an array of fresh forms. Therefore, it can be stated in this regard that social media aids in facilitating the facet of mediated form of communication (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2009). Social media has been stated to relate to the aspect of technology that is supposed to be supported by web and is also interactive in nature along with referring to tools of communication as well. The feature of social media is known to entail various types that are made use of for varied functions. This particular form of media has been learnt to be sorted out into three key groups and they are the sites of social media, media applications relating to the social media and the widgets as well as the blogs (Donath, 2004). Social Media Measurement The measurement of social media has been stated to relate to the actuality of trailing the diverse and assorted content associated with the various types of social media on the whole. This particular process is observed to be carried out for ascertaining the specific quantity and attitude and reaction with regard to a particular brand in terms of the social media by the concerned marketers. Social media is being increasingly considered to be a popular form of marketing platform for the marketers owing to which the facet of measurement is considered to be quite a decisive constituent for the purpose of attaining success. This particular aspect of measuring or rather gauging the social media has been mentioned to be quite unripe as the concept of Web analytics during the period of 1990s. A huge popularity towards the usage of Internet was recorded during the period of 1990 among individuals. The Internet was started being used as a social medium for various purposes which called for the requirement of web analytics. This particular notion has been stated to be related to measurement, evaluation, compilation and providing details in relation to the internet statistics with the intention to comprehend and to optimize the degree of usage associated with the web (Lovett, 2011). The process of web analytics not only entailed the function of a measuring instrument in order to ascertain the web traffic but was also used for the purpose of business as well as market research. This stated measurement technique also aided in evaluating along with enhancing the efficacy of a definite web site. The web analytics were known to involve two groups and they were the off-site as well as the on-site. However, it needs to be mentioned in this regard that the advanced measurement tools in relation to the social media are believed to incorporate the two groups with regard to web analytics into tools that have been found to satisfy the functions related to both the groups. The freshly developed tools for the reason of measuring the social media are believed to offer the organizations with a complete 360-degree analysis and outlook with respect to their respective online marketing endeavours. The present measurement forms of social media are learnt to differ from the ones that existed in the period of 1990s as the traditional measurement forms were only found to provide a quantitative insight regarding the social media. The present measurement tools are known to provide a qualitative insight regarding the thinking, sentiment, behavior and demographics of the viewers. Therefore, the modern measurement tools entail the amalgamation of both the qualitative aspect along with the traditional quantitative aspect. Therefore, the modern measurement tools of social media are considered to be increasingly effective as it assists in providing an effective access to the customers along with effectually developing associations with them (Lovett, 2011). Social Media & Consumer Empowerment Social media is learnt to completely change the dynamics of modern consumer behavior. It has become amongst the most dynamic tool for consumers to voice their opinion about anything on earth be it a political issue, a film review, fresh brand launch and latest trends. It has been phenomenal in empowering consumers since they can openly share their respective opinion about various brands and directly become a part of the success or failure of a brand. Contrary to the time when consumers relied on feedback from their close and near ones to get feedback about a brand, social media has helped consumer get a global perspective about a particular brand (O’Brien, 2011). Consumers express their opinion in the form of retweets and likes. The voice of the consumers has never been given such importance by brands before. The companies regularly keep tracking the blogs, posts and tweet of consumers so that they can position their brands according to the consumer tastes and thus lead the competition (O’Brien, 2011). Brands have grown to be increasingly aware of the impact that social media could have on its success or failure and accordingly try to woo the consumers with the best they can offer. For example the “LG- Find Your Bliss” campaign was successful in creating 80000 fans in the fan page in relation to Face Book, was published in more than 100 blogs and was tweeted more than 75 times in a time span of merely 4 weeks (Social Media Marketing, 2011). Social media has aided consumers’ voice to reach to their desired targets. Although consumers had voice, social media has assisted it to become louder and spread quicker than before. Brands have always had time to react to consumer complaints but with social media becoming more powerful every day, brands don’t have the time to waste. They have to work on their offering and live up to their promise every moment in order to delight their target consumers. Before the advent of social media, consumers never had the option of expressing their opinion in public and reach a wide target in a very short span of time. However nowadays it does not take much of a time for a consumer to express his satisfaction or dissatisfaction to a huge number of audiences irrespective of whether his peers are known or unknown. Consumers are able to freely share their opinion even with acquaintances, strangers and a diverse group in a fairly comfortable manner. The purchasing behavior of consumers depend on tweets , feedbacks and posts in social media channels rather than promotions done by brands in channels of customary media (Social Media Marketing, 2011). In today’s world of consumer empowerment marketers are left with little choice other than changing customary approach to transformational approach. The long-established push system of marketing is a passé. Transformational marketing means using modern tools to comprehend the outlook consumers share about the brands and accordingly design consumer focused marketing strategies so as to lead in the competition (Hamelin, 2011). References Donath, J. (2004). Social Media. Sociable media group. Hamelin, G. (2011). Consumers power transformational marketing. Retrieved from http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/The-Tipping-Point/Consumers-Power-Transformational-Marketing-77057.aspx Interactive Advertising Bureau. (2009). Social media ad metrics definitions. Category overview, pp. 1-11. Lovett, J. (2011). Social media metrics secrets. United States: John Wiley & Sons. O’Brien, C. (2011). The emergence of the social media empowered consumer. Irish Marekting Review, pp. 32-40. Social Media Marketing. (2011). Social media case studies. The social media marketing agency leader, pp. 1-2. Read More