Digital Marketing Communications - Assignment Example

Digital Marketing communications Introduction The term digital marketing means promoting products and services through different forms of electronic platforms. Digital media is considered as an important part of marketing strategy. In the modern business environment, people are easily influenced by various types of digital media strategies. Internet, mobile phones, social media, electronic billboards, radio, TV etc are considered as important channels of digital media. Different platforms of digital media influence organizations in developing effective marketing strategies. Digital media communication contributes immensely in the growth and development of the company. This communication process provides various growth opportunities to the firms. Digital; marketing communication is more effective than traditional marketing system. By incorporating this process the companies are able to reach maximum numbers of customers within a short span of time. The organizations are also able to save its different resources by digitalizing its marketing strategies. Popular digital marketing activities are search engine optimization (SEO), influence marketing, e-commerce marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing etc. All of these marketing activities contribute in improving the communication process of a firm. With the help of interesting advertisements the companies are able to communicate their messages directly to the customers through digital media channels. Benefits of interactive platforms are enjoyed by the organizations by communicating with potential customers through digital channels. Social media has become a vital channel for the firms in reaching maximum number of customers. In this essay the impact of social media on developing business strategies, stakeholders’ relationship etc will be discussed in details. The importance of digital marketing communication will also be explained here. Impact of information on Social Media The platforms of social media like Facebook, Twitter, PinInterest, and Google+ play significant role in communication information in an interesting way to the people. In the present times, these social media platforms are used by a large number of people. They mainly interact with each other through these sites. The social media platforms facilitate the companies in promoting and advertising their products and services in different online sites (Barnes & Hunt, 2013). A firm first selects its target customers and after that it analyses the percentage of its target customers who use these social networking sites. Based on the analysis the company develops its social media strategies for influencing large number of people in purchasing its products or services. The organizations get to know about the modern tends followed by the people from social networking sites (Bendavid, Lefebvre, Lefebvre & Fosso-Wamba, 2009). This knowledge facilitates the companies in establishing effective marketing strategies which can easily influence people. In social media sites, companies create their pages and profiles where they directly communicate with the people. The profile or the pages help the firms in making people aware of their products, services, offers, activities etc. The organizations continuously update their social networking profiles for influencing more people to become their potential customers. People often follow the social media profiles of different companies which indicate their popularity. The companies monitor the popularity of each other among the people by analyzing their number of followers (Cavusgil, Knight, Riesenberger, Rammal & Rose, 2014). The active efforts and the performance of a firm in social networking sites for influencing large number of customers can be observed by other company and the basis of that it often develops its social media marketing strategies for holding its position in the competitive market. The behavior and reactions of people can by understood from social media platforms. In these platforms, users directly interacts with each other, expresses their views and opinions about different matters, post pictures etc. These things facilitate the companies in understanding the behavior and mindset of their target customers. By observing different social networking sites in details, the firms analyze the strategies which can easily influence their target customers (Helms, Ahmadi, Jih & Ettkin, 2008). The information gathered from social networking sites facilitates organizations in developing strong and effective digital marketing strategies that contribute in their growth and development. Companies profile on social networking sites help them to resolve various doubts of the potential customers and influence them in purchasing their products and services. Direct interaction with the customers makes the firms aware of their deficits and the places where they need to improve. The organizations are able to collect feedback from the customers with the help of social networking platforms. A wide range of information is collected by the companies through this process. As a result of this they are able to understand their position in the minds of the customers (Hennig-Thurau, Malthouse, Friege, Gensler, Lobschat, Rangaswamy & Skiera, 2010). The firms also understand about the expectations of the customers by communicating through these platforms. Social media contributes in enhancing the value of business by facilitating companies to connect with their potential customers all around the world. In the modern era, companies focus on connecting with people of different places for increasing their customer base. Different social media sites are highly popular in various nations. The firms use those sites in for making their products and services popular in different nations (Kshetri, 2008). The firms share interesting messages and pictures which facilitate them in influencing customers of different nations. Events and contests are also conducted by them for keeping people engage with their products and services. News and information are transferred to people easily through digital platforms and in the modern era social media plays a significant role in this. Transferring knowledge instantly to people has become easy for social media (Lee & Park, 2009). This contributes in increasing the value of companies. They are able to make the potential customers aware of their services and products on time with the help of social networking sites. Impact of Social Media on marketing strategy, competitive advantage, marketing mix In the present times, marketing strategies of the companies are strongly influenced by social media. The organizations want to get maximum benefits of digital marketing and for this reason they are focusing on social media which is considered as a significant channel of communication. Social media platforms contribute in analyzing people and this helps the companies to consider it as an essential thing in developing strategies. Companies develop effective strategies for getting benefits and advantages (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Strategies help a firm in achieving its long term objectives. With the help of effective strategies organizations are able to generate more revenue. Presence of the companies in social media sites provides them platforms in displaying their products and services. This marketing strategy facilitates the companies in reaching their target customers by incurring low cost (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand & Lampel, 2009). Earlier the firms used to focus on the traditional ways of marketing their goods and services but now they emphasize more on digital mediums in attracting customers. The use of internet has increased drastically in the recent years. Social media is considered as an important reason for the increasing use of internet. In the busy world people mainly communicates with one another via social media. Their constant presence in social media sites, influence companies in focusing more on their online communication systems (Meraz, 2009). The trends which are followed by the people and highlighted in social media sites are analyzed by the firms. On the basis of that they develop marketing strategies for influencing maximum number of customers. Companies experience different types of competitive advantages by creating their presence in social networking sites. A company experiences competitive advantages based on their core competencies. Strong marketing strategies and power facilitate it in achieving competitive advantages easily. Establishing business in social media platforms involves less amount of cost. When a firm tries to establish physical store then it needs to spend huge amount of money but for doing business in social media it requires efficient employees and internet (Onkvisit & Shaw, 2009). The organizations are able to save huge amount of financial resources by establishing their business online. This acts as a strong competitive advantage to the companies. Popularity of a company rises when it creates profile on social networking sites. This competitive advantage facilitates the firm in attracting large number of customers. Effective social media strategies contribute in increasing the traffic in the websites of the organizations (Panneerselvam, 2012). If large number of people visits the website or pages of a particular firm then the sale of its products and services tends to get increase. The companies try to experience this advantage by maintaining its strong presence in social media platforms. Different other digital media channels are not able to create strong impact on the customers like social media. The people of modern generation are mainly influenced by the trends social media (Pardalos & Tsitsiringos, 2013). Therefore this digital marketing channel facilitates organizations in creating strong impacts on its target customers. Communicating via social media benefits the firms in increasing the number of loyal customers. Interaction process becomes very easy through various platforms of social media and for this reasons the firms are able to make customers understand about their objectives and efforts (Percy, 2008). This helps the companies in influencing the purchase decision of the consumers and as a result of their loyal customer base gets increased. Marketing mix Product: A product can be launched easily in social media sites. Companies conduct various events and campaigns while launching their products in Facebook, Twitter etc. The activities performed by the firms for launching a product make the users of social media aware of it. Price: Organization often develops its pricing strategies by comparing its products with competitor companies through social networking sites. The companies operating its business through these sites mention the prices of their products or services. Firms before launching a product can analyze the prices of its similar goods which are advertised in social networking sites (Porter, 2008). Place: In the modern era, internet is considered as a best place in launching any new product or service. Digital platforms facilitate companies in attracting large number of customers. The digital platform of social media provides various growth opportunities to the companies. Promotion: Social media advertisement is considered as an effective promotional tool in increasing the awareness of the people regarding products or services. Unique features and the benefits of a product are highlighted effectively in social media sites which help in attracting the attention of potential customers (Safko, 2010). Impact of Social Media on Customer acquisition and Customer relationships Organizations create their presence in digital platform for acquiring maximum number of customers. The digital platform of social media contributes immensely in the acquiring customers and maintaining relationship with them. Firms advertise about their products and services in interesting and attractive ways for getting noticed by maximum number of people. Popular social networking sites are selected by the companies for reaching maximum number of customers. Effective advertisement campaigns are developed by the firms for influencing the target customers. Important and interesting messages are conveyed through the advertisements which contribute in acquiring customers. Both pictures and contents are used by the companies while posting ad in social media platform (Teece, 2010). Now a day firms also post video advertisements on social networking sites for creating greater impact on the customers. Promotional offers, features, quality etc of a product in highlighting in this platform for providing knowledge to people regarding it. All of these processes are done very effectively by the firms for increasing their customer base. Acquiring customers by incorporating only traditional marketing techniques and processes has become difficult for the organization in the modern competitive environment. Most of the people do not get time in watching TV or going to any event. Individuals maintain contact with each other by using social networking sites. Therefore advertising the products or services in those sites facilitates firms to reach their potential customers. People are becoming very tech savvy. They are using various advanced devises which help them in accessing social media sites easily. Therefore effective advertisements in social media platforms create positive impacts on the buying behavior and purchasing decision the potential customers. The advertisements create an urge among them in purchasing particular product or service. In the competitive business environment, companies need to communicate effectively with all its stakeholders for operating its business successfully. The stakeholders of an organization play vital role in its growth and development process. They continuous support the company in achieving its objectives. Therefore the firm needs to know and consider the opinions and views of its stakeholders for developing its marketing strategies. A company is able to maintain strong relationship with its all stakeholders by communicating with them effectively. Social media sites help the company in this process. With the help of these sites, the firms are able to interact with its customers suppliers etc and focus on developing strong relationship with them. Strong bonding between the stakeholders and the company is developed as a result of this. Maintaining good relationship with customers and other the stakeholders facilitates the firm in building good reputation about itself (Watson, Berthon, Zinkhan & Pitt, 2008).  This contributes in increasing the revenue of the company. Customers having strong relationship with the organization tend to influence other for consuming products and services from that company. Therefore maintaining effective relationship with the stakeholders by social networking sites helps the companies in enhancing its business processes. In the era of digitalization, advanced technologies and processes are used by people for making the communication process easier. The platforms of social media help in developing quick and effective communication among the people. Organizations are also taking the benefits of different social networking sites for communicating effectively with their target customers. Transparent and simple communication facilitates a company in creating strong impact on people. The advanced technologies used in social networking sites make the communication process interesting (Zott, Amit & Massa, 2011). Both the companies and the customers need to spend less amount of time interacting in social networking platform for the use of advance technologies. Conclusion Digital media has become an inseparable part of business. Every company is digitalizing its business for reaching potential customers of different places. It is considered as an important strategy in enhancing the growth opportunities of a company. The electronic platforms enable firms in effectively acquiring large number of customers. Among different channels of digital marketing, social media is considered as a most important platform which provides various benefits to the company in generating more revenue. Firms are developing effective marketing strategies and implementing them in the social media sites for achieving their objectives. This essay highlighted that the present business strategies of the organizations are strongly influenced by social media. The companies are focusing more on creating their strong presence in Facebook, Twitter etc for getting noticed by maximum people. The social media sites provide different types of information to the companies which help them in improving their business processes. The information provides long term benefits to the firms. The competitive advantages which a business receives from this platform are discussed here in details. In the present business environment, the organizations strongly depend on social media sites for acquiring customers and maintaining strong relationship with them. References Barnes, S., & Hunt, B. (Eds.). (2013). E-commerce and v-business. NY: Routledge. Bendavid, Y., Lefebvre, E., Lefebvre, L. A., & Fosso-Wamba, S. (2009). 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