Social media platforms create a lot of value - Essay Example

Social media is a new communication dispensation that has revolutionised the marketing landscape during the contemporary period. According to Brown (2009), social media such as Facebook, Tweeter, Flickr and YouTube are very effective in as far as marketing communication is concerned. These communication tools are very common and they are accessible to quite a number of people across the globe. Kotler & Armstrong (2010) call this kind of communication online marketing. It can be observed that social media platforms create a lot of value which is shared by the platform, marketers and users.

The value sharing differs with traditional media in that social media platforms provide a two way communication channel where the marketer and the receiver of the message can interact directly. In case of traditional media such as newspapers, it can be seen that communication is mainly one way which entails that it moves is from the sender to the receiver. There is little opportunity for the receiver of the message to get in touch with the marketer and this is where value can be lost. In traditional media, the marketer is usually in full control of the marketing process where the targeted receiver of the message has little input or cannot influence the information that is disseminated by the marketer.

The marketer tailors the message in such a way that the intended meaning is conveyed to the targeted consumer. However, it can be seen that in terms of new social media platforms, value is created through interaction of the marketers and the targeted customers. The marketers are in a position to interact directly with the targeted customers such that they can get feedback and they can freely exchange views about a particular market offering. In other words, the consumers who use social media are not passive consumers of the messages that are disseminated t them by the marketers since they can also respond to them.

In as far as social media is concerned, it can also be observed that communication is referred to as “free” since all the people involved can freely interact and the message can be accessed for free (Brown, 2009). Any person who needs information related to a particular product of market offering is free to access it and is also free to respond the way they like. In case of free marketing caused by the use of new social media mentioned above, different people involved in the communication process can freely express their ideas and these also help the marketers to design effective programs that can help to influence the behaviour of the targeted people towards the products offered.

Brown (2009) states that many people spend huge chunks of their time on the internet particularly social sites. Therefore, marketers can easily use these sites to target many people if they have a market offering. It is also possible for the marketers to carry out market research in order to establish the needs and interests of the targeted consumers. The marketers can use the feedback they get from the targeted consumers in order to develop products that will fulfil the interests of many people.

This significantly helps in creating value of the products offered. The products offered are also likely to appeal to the interests of many people given that they would have been consulted by the marketers about their expectations in terms of the new product offering. References Brown, A. (2009). “Engagement Marketing Revisited: How to Embrace the New Social Media Tools.” Viewed from: . Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of Marketing. SA: Person.