Integrated Marketing Communications - Assignment Example

Lecturer: Social media marketing Introduction In a time when technology has prevailed, entrepreneurs along with marketers have developed a need to catch up with the increased speed of change, or they risk being outmoded. The days when inflexible business models thrived are long gone thus they cannot survive the prevailing market set-up. It has become almost impossible to develop a marketing strategy without paying attention to social media as social media has developed to become an important gradient in the present day market mix especially in promotions (Bashar, Ahmad and WASIQ 88). A key strategy for all the business involves the business adapting to some form online marketing through social media particularly in the industries where the trends are regularly evolving like the fashion industry. The usage of social media sites in the marketing strategy of the company continues to increase with the advancement in technology. Despite the popularity associated with it, the information that exists which seeks to answer questions that are concerned with efficiency and measure the return to investment, is still limited (Pradiptarini 1). Social media has provided a broad array of new opportunities for companies to engage in the promotion of their brands, goods as well as services. The personal autonomy as well as the freedom that is offered by the internets has allowed the active connection of people which, enables them to share their experiences and opinions concerning products and services. The benefits that are associated with social media in regard to businesses and the techniques that used to achieve success are yet to be fully understood. This essay will strive to enhance the understanding of social media marketing benefits to a business. The concept and notion of Social media The phenomenon referred to as Social media began in 1978 through the exchange of information via telephone cables using the Bulletin Board System. Presently, social media marketing and especially social networks have increased in significance in regard to the purchasing decisions of the customers simply because they broaden the scope of marketing. In the future, they may become more significant than the use of advertisements as a reliable source of product and company information for the customers. It should be noted that when marketing is done through social media, the marketers do not have absolute control over the message as well as positioning (Celine 12). Social media may be considered as a self-generated, genuine communication that occurs between persons concerning a specific subject of common interest, based on the thoughts and experiences of the individuals participating in the conversation. Therefore, the main aim of social media is sharing and attaining a collective vision that seeks to develop a more informed choice in the long-run. Additionally, social media continually evolves over time since it is part of internet technology, and this gives people a chance to create content in an engaging manner whenever they have a need to contribute. Social media deals with a broad array of social networking platforms that include discussion forums, blogs, survey and rating websites and discussion boards among others. Social networks which are considered the key players in the social media industry can be defined as online communities of individual people sharing a common activity therefore providing a variety of ways that the users can interrelate while having the capability to facilitate communication. Social media is progressing every day and even though approximately ninety percent of the people who use the internet between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four use social media via a variety of devices at least once in a month, social media influences all the age groups with increased rates for the people who are over the age of thirty-five. Social media and marketing This form of marketing puts most of its emphasis on people rather than the products. The company with numerous qualitative features, as well as proportional devices, may present the products, but emphasis is placed in on the comments that the consumers leave on these sites. Individuals are responsible for the provision of content, and this is what makes social media a scary area for marketers. The marketers have no ability to regulate the marketing content and negative information may be spread all over the world in only a few minutes. With the increase in internet-based messages that are carried through social media, they have become a huge factor in most of the features of the behaviours associated with consumers like knowledge, collection of information as well as attitudes and opinions. International marketers are required to acknowledge the power and nature of the interaction that is held by customers who use social media. Accordingly, the capability to inspire the people effectively is the key quality that is required by the team responsible for marketing. Another critical factor associated with social media marketing is that the person responsible for marketing will be able to listen and evaluate the information that has been shared on the social media sites so that they may be able to enhance the message that has been offered and adjust it more to the requirements of the customers. The effect of social media marketing on the marketing strategy of a company can be evaluated and assessed with relative ease. Social media marketing impact on customers Presently, it has become important for customers to get enough information concerning the companies and products they are interested in before they decide to make a purchase so that they can compare them to other brands and companies. While the prospective customers do this, they get a chance to communicate with other people, search the product on the internet and read about the experiences that other consumers have had with the particular products in previous events. As the internet has become a popular device, the consumers can employ it to access information associated with products that they consider purchasing. Apart from the feedback from family and friends, people utilize the internet as the best source of information before they can make a decision to spend their money (Celine 14). Without much effort, people are interacting on the internet about the products that they have used while sharing experiences they got from these products whether positive or negative. One-third of the conversations that take place online touch on a brand or a product and these opinions are more significant and trusted than the information that comes from the marketers of the same products. Word-of-mouth is perceived to be the most reliable source of information when compared to other all other information that originates from the marketer. Thus, social media greatly influences the purchasing decisions of customers since the consumers try to find other views, as well as approvals. Almost one-third of the global consumers find the recommendations by other consumers to be more trustworthy than any other means of communication. This is because the judgement of the consumers is more objective when compared to the message which, is sent by the company itself. Integration with other platforms in marketing Some managers are anxious that the social media campaigns they develop can influence the number of visitors to their main websites as more customers will switch to social media. If the social media campaign is properly implemented, the visits to the main website not affected by the increase in traffic in the social media channels of the company. The social media channels may have a link that can direct the main customers to the company’s website thus making social media marketing a means of increasing traffic to the website where the company’s e-commerce platform is located. For example, the web traffic to Starbucks main website has remained steady even with the increasing number of people who are liking its Facebook page. To avoid cases where the social media channels cannibalize other media that is associated with the company, the companies should make sure there is a clear distinction between the features they offer on all the media they have. Social media marketing is supposed to be integrated to the website that is run by the company as well as the rest of the platforms like television and advertisements on print media (Chitty 227). Organizations should involve other media platforms during the promotion of their participation on social media websites. Through the involvement of the public relations department, organizations may attract more customers towards its social media channels while maintaining a connection with these customers which, will impact the efficiency of the firm (Chitty 227). Social media needs patience and determination making diversification an important component of the entire set-up. If social media marketing is executed in the correct manner, it becomes one of the most effective and least costly platforms while providing ever-increasing opportunities for the business. This is because the customers are likely to trust other customers who influence them to make certain purchases as compared to the advertisements that are put up by the company. Social media allows these recommendations by other clients to reach numerous other clients all over the world making a regular browser become a dedicated buyer. Limitations of social media marketing Social media marketing provides businesses with numerous resources in terms of communication channels as well as a broad array of advantages like brand exposure along with traffic targeting. Nonetheless, social media marketing also needs considerable effort and determination and has its own barriers that may prevent it from achieving its goal. In essence, this form of marketing is not often easy, fast and inexpensive as in some of the cases based on the size and age of the business, hard efforts have to be directed at particular areas. To start with, the company needs to commit both human and time resources to the management of their presence in social media which requires a full social media team that has the ability to react to the feedback given by the customers as well as their complaints promptly. The social media staffs need adequate training so that they can be qualified to respond to the queries of the customers and deal with negative comments before they can go out of control. The team also has to develop new content on a regular basis so that the customers can remain engaged throughout. It is critical to remain active on the social media sites so that a continuous interaction can be maintained with the audience in order to create long-lasting connections. A marketing strategy that is based on the social media also needs to be controlled or a regular basis so that the areas that are working properly can be identified while those that are not working can be corrected. Some of the social media channels may be more efficient than others while some take a lot of time to implement compared to the benefits that they bring. Particular campaigns also need to be evaluated, and the effect of all the posts assessed to make sure they are successful. Nevertheless, it is difficult to evaluate the return on investment when social media marketing is used to increase the sales of the company as the phenomena that is supposed to be assessed is difficult to follow. Creating particular objectives and solid foundations is important to the calculations of the return on investment. This means that the companies should have direct objectives and examine the foundations prior to the measurement of the outcomes. Damage to the repute of the business is among the main risks that are faced by businesses that employ the use of social media marketing. The audience who might decide to ignore the business, and its presence in the social media set-up usually takes excessive advertising and pushing for sales without engagement negatively. Furthermore, workers can damage the image of the company effortlessly through demonstrating negative behaviour on the social media channels or putting across information that may be damaging to the company. This makes reputational risks a factor that may quickly equal and surpass the advantages that are associated with social media marketing. Social media also develops risks in regard to privacy, security and intellectual practices among other factors and the social media team should be able to understand the laws the govern information technology prior to the creation of the social media legal plan. Tracking the future and current workers using social media sites has legal implications and a business may experience issues that result from rejecting job candidates on the basis of information that was accessed on the internet. The chances of security breaches occurring increases when a company increases the use of computers and malware as well as viruses may be downloaded without the knowledge of the employees. Summary The main advantage associated with using social media marketing are increased exposure of the brand as well as management of the reputation, optimization of search engines as well as the generation of leads among others. Even though social media marketing is very cost-effective, it is mostly dependent on channels that are employed. Majority of the businesses have already employed the use of social media, and their social media presence is just beginning to mature. Companies are aiming at creating more engagement with the customers and developing connections with the customers who might inspire loyalty. All the channels that are involved in social media marketing are constantly evolving, and this provides marketing aspects that are more valuable for the business. New social media channels are also being developed, and this offer newer possibilities in business and other areas of marketing. Additionally, mobile marketing has begun changing the future trends of in social media marketing as most of the people own mobile phones. The internet has become available to most of the cell-phones and access to emails has now been made relatively easier. People can now access their emails faster than they did before, and most of these emails are accessed through mobile phones. This has revived email marketing and the investments in email marketing are likely to increase when business find ways of blending social media marketing with email marketing. Recommendations Social media channels are highly likely to attract customers through brief statements and therefore lead the customers to prospective and valuable content that is available in the company website. Consequently, the website may motivate visitors to interact with the company through prominent connection to social media channels. A company may decide to review the website so that it can complement the social media strategy that is already in place and implement the conversations that have been held with the clients. The company may also make sure it maintains a communications style which is consistent and maintain a steady flow of advertisements in order to keep the customers informed. So that the company can influence the prospects as well as the customers, the sales efforts must reflect a process that captures and transforms the prospects through the implementation of steps such as coming up with appropriate context for messages, creating proper draws and providing sample offerings to the clients. The company must also ensure that it follows up and requests interaction from the customers to make sure that an engagement is maintained. Work cited Bashar, Abu, Irshad Ahmad, and MOHAMMAD WASIQ. Effectiveness Of Social Media As A Marketing Tool: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Marketing, Financial Services \& Management Research 1.11 (2012): 88--99. Print. Celine, ARCA. Social Media Marketing Benefits For Businesses. (2012): n. pag. Print. Chitty, William. Integrated Marketing Communications. South Melbourne, Vic.: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Pradiptarini, Charity. Social Media Marketing: Measuring Its Effectiveness And Identifying The Target Market. UW - L Journal of Undergraduate Research XIV 9 (2011): 1-11. Print. Read More