Social Media's Increasingly Use for Public Relations, Advertising, and Marketing - Case Study Example

Using SM for Advertising and Marketing Social Media is Increasingly Used for PR, Advertising and Marketing – How Has This Changed Our Conceptions of the Marketing, Consumers and Audiences? Table of Contents Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Traditional Vs New Communication 5 Case Studies Related To Social Media 10 McDonald’s Making Use Of The Social Media 10 Ford Making Use of Social Media 11 Analysis of the Case Studies 12 Conclusion and Recommendations 13 References 14 Introduction Advertising can be identified as one of the most imperative components of marketing in the current era. It can be referred as a type of communication process used for the purpose of endorsing or persuading the audiences to continue or to take certain actions regarding the product and/or services offered. Notably, in the current day context, social media is being used increasingly by the marketers in order to promote the offered products as well as services. It is basically a concept which is utilised referring to the online technologies as well as practices utilised to share views as well as information, endorse discussion and develop relationship with the customers. It is also quite significant for the communication staffs as well as policy officials for the purpose of generating awareness regarding the product. Social media services can make use of numerous formats such as text, video, audio as well as pictures for attracting the customers towards the product. In the similar context, public relation can be identified as a distinguishing function of the management that assist in the development and administration of communication, cooperation, comprehension and recognition between organisations along with community members (Palaniappan & Ramachandraiah, 2010). The main objective of the paper is to identify the increasing role of the social media as one of the means of advertisement for modern organisations. The study will also intend to demonstrate how the advent of the social media has altered people’s conception regarding marketing. Case studies will be taken into concern in order to demonstrate the increasing usage of social media by the companies to attain the objective of the paper. Literature Review According to Hamill (1997), integrated marketing communication can be explained as the set of rules that is followed by marketers to communicate within the concentrated market and thus make the people aware regarding the product/service rendered. Integrated marketing communication intends to synchronize and arrange the numerous components of promotional mix such as advertising, publicity and direct marketing, personal selling as well as sales promotion in order generate a combined customer-focused message and therefore attain the determined marketing related objectives of the organisation (Hamill, 1997). It can be stated that the tools as well as the strategies that have been utilised for the purpose of communication in the modern times have undergone tremendous changes because of the discovery of social media. It is also known as consumer-generated media. Such media demonstrates various new sources of online information that are generated, instigated, circulated and utilised by the consumer goal on enlightening each other regarding the products, brands, issues, personalities and services (Thackeray & et. al., 2009) Social media comprises numerous forums such as online forums, word-of-mouth forums, company-sponsored discussion boards and chat rooms. In the 21st century, a detonation of internet-based messages passes via these media to generate awareness about the offered product. They have been a major factor in creating an impact on the different features of consumer behaviour along with consciousness, acquirement of the information, opinion, feeling, post-purchase communication as well as evaluation (Zwick & Dholakia, 2008) Traditional Vs New Communication In the context of traditional communication concept, the components of promotional mix are coordinated in order to create an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategy. The content and the frequency timing as well as the medium of communication were dictated by the organisation in association with its paid agents. It is worth mentioning that the flow of information outside the boundaries of the paradigm had been generally restricted to face-to-face communication, word-of-mouth communication among the individual consumer. As stated by Mangold & Faulds (2009), in the context of social media, the control of the marketing manager upon the content, frequency and timing of information was being eroded severely. This information is observed to be highly dependent upon the knowledge of the individual customers and their actions by means of traditional promotion mix (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Nonetheless, numerous social media platforms, most of which are generally independent upon the sponsoring organisation(s) along with its agents, increase the capability of the consumer to communicate with each other. Mangold & Faulds (2009) state that this assumption had an impact upon all aspects of the consumer behaviour which in turn empowered the consumers with greater authority that was not practiced in the market previously. Hence, it becomes quite significant for the marketing managers to identify the power as well as critical characteristics of the discussion which takes place amid the targeted consumers making use of social media. Most of the times people tend to communicate by means of word-of-mouth as well as social media while getting involved with the product, idea or service. In the traditional times, IMC was generally considered as a one-way communication process by its nature where the flow of information was only in one direction from marketers to consumers. Unlike the current phenomenon, in the traditional times when the organisations as well as its agents used to develop the message and transferred it to the potential consumers who might or might not be willing to participate in the process of communication (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). According to Thackeray & et. al. (2009), numerous tools are utilised by the marketers in the present times in order to promote the products comprising advertising along with other modes of promotion such as sales promotion, publicity, personal selling and public relation. With the discovery of advanced technology and the ensuing emergency, there is a high potential for social marketers to increasingly make use of the internet for the purpose of promoting the products. The three main motives of promotion have been to enhance the product awareness, to encourage people to buy the product and to make the people aware with concern to a specific service or product served in the market. The choice regarding which promotional tools can be selected in order to attain the objectives of the organisation is generally dependent upon numerous factors such as marketing goals as well as objectives along with consumer preferences and resources allocated (Thackeray & et. al., 2009). Marketers increasingly make use of Web 2.0 social media in numerous ways in overall social marketing plan. With the use of Web 2.0 social media, the users are offered with advanced technology to generate and distribute information among their peers. Collaborative writing, content sharing, social networking, social bookmarking as well as syndication are permitted in the social media with the virtues of the technologies. The main reasons behind the popularity of Web 2.0 social media is that it permits social marketers to involve the consumers directly in the creative procedure of selling. In this regards, one of the major advantage that can be obtained by persuading the customers to be part of the creative process are that it helps in the enhancement of the buy-in as well as loyalty programs. Along with it, they may want to discuss with their friends as well as associates regarding the product. In addition, Web 2.0 social media assist enhanced viral marketing which is also referred to as word-of-mouth or buzz marketing (Thackeray & et. al., 2009). It is worth mentioning that information technology revolution has caused a significant impact upon the behaviour of international business. It was further stated by Thackeray & et. al. (2009) that the most significant development in this context has been the explosion of international marketing activity upon the internet along with the related emergence of the global information superhighway. The rising popularity of the international business upon the World Wide Web (WWW) has also given rise to numerous significant issues for international marketing educators which include barriers to internationalisation confronted by the small and medium-sized enterprise, enhanced internationalisation, the significance of overseas agents, as well as distributors to export success (Thackeray & et. al., 2009). The internet offers a fundamentally distinct environment for international marketing. In simple words, internet can be defined as a network of interconnected computers throughout the globe that tends to operate on a standard rules and regulations permitting the data to be transferred between otherwise incompatible machines. Moreover, effective internet marketing tends to offer numerous benefits to the marketer as well as consumers. It generally assists in improving the corporate image because of the advanced sue of the technology, offers enhanced customer as well as investors relation, assist in locating the prospects, stimulates visibility, reduces the cost, expands the market and also assists in enhancing internal communication. The companies tend to receive cost efficiency or savings while substituting the internet for other channels of communication with vendors, information providers and business partners. The companies also intend to receive performance enhancement benefits from the widespread organisational utilisation of the internet in order to coordinate information resources, endorse the virtual teams and assist in distributed decision making along with organisational flexibility (Hamill, 1997). It has been observed that most of the companies are trying to establish their websites as a means of distributing the products and/or services of the company and other pertinent information to the potential customers. It further permits gathering feedbacks from the customers. With this concern, companies can make use of social websites for the purpose of advertising along with participating in brand name acknowledgments, public relations, corporate sponsorships, direct sales, and technical assistances. The way to attain these benefits is by means of well created websites and effective marketing of the site in order to make sure that there is high number of audiences (Hamill, 1997). Marketing library services has been an area of interest of libraries. Nowadays, it is by means of marketing strategies, a library can aim at enhancing its visibility and image, thereby luring significant number of users to make use of its materials as well as services. The companies conduct numerous activities such as developing ad-posters to demonstrate any new events to investing in newspaper advertisements and also to make personal solicitations. According to Xia (2009), marketing has a role to play in publicizing library services. One of the well known facts is that library marketing strategies react to the alterations taking place in terms of socio-cultural, political as well as technological conditions of a particular period. With the discovery of the internet, library marketing is also facing stiff challenges, but simultaneously it has gained opportunities as well (Xia, 2009). The internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo have permitted the student with easy way to access the material and they do not need to visit the library physically. On the other hand, the librarians who are concerned with the usability rates of the library have greater flexibility in conducting marketing efforts taking the advantage of internet thereby increasing the horizon of locating new ways of advertising the services offered. The topmost preferences of the librarians in the recent times have been observed to enhance the visibility of library by means of advanced technologies. One such advanced technology is often regarded as Facebook that has been coordinated into library marketing efforts to a large extent as it is quite famous among the students of the colleges and has huge number of users and is one of the most popular websites in the recent times (Xia, 2009). Case Studies Related To Social Media McDonald’s Making Use Of The Social Media Mr. Rick Wion, the director of social media for McDonald’s Corporation states that social media sites such as Twitter helps in enhancing the condition of the restaurant and also assists in making the restaurant experience warmer and more friendly. He further states the fact that social media is not about how many people follows whom. Nonetheless, social media is more prone towards the degree of involvement and the mutual association between the customer as well as the company. Wion stated that the company has two specific departments such as communication department and customer satisfaction department whose task is to identify the number of visits that has been made in the page and to make the relationship among the customer and the company stronger. Wion further revealed the fact that his objective on making use of the social media comprises of three main components. They are developing the business by means of social media, handling of inquiries of the customers and targeting the demographics (Loc, 2010). Ford Making Use of Social Media Among the many successful consumer brands like Dell, Zappos and Pepsi that tend to use social media space, Ford Motors has been one of the significant companies. It has been noted that Ford Fiesta movement was capable of generating greater awareness for a car through social media that was not available to the public previously. Consequently, such social media inspired the members of the community to involve, create content and continue discussions regarding the Fiesta with more than seven million views of the video. Since last hundred years, Ford Motors has been capable of becoming a distinct company. In the present times companies are not supposed to be merely innovative, they must have the capability to innovate quickly and connect with the customers in a proper manner when it comes to effective marketing and selling strategies. In this regards, it has been identified that Ford Motors is quite committed at building effective and meaningful relationships with its customers by using the social media such as Facebook. Hence, it can be inferred that the company’s decision to pay attention towards the local social media marketing proved to be quite beneficial for the company to attain competitive advantages and sustainable growth as well (Yammer, 2011). Analysis of the Case Studies It has been analysed from the above case study that the companies such as McDonald’s as well as Ford Motors are increasingly making use of the social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in order to promote their products and/or services. From the literature review it has been apparent that the main objective behind the promotion is to augment the product awareness, to support people to buy the product. It is because of the efforts made by the companies to boost their presence in the social media sites that they have been capable of leveraging the overall organisational performance (Taylor, 2011). It is in this context that because of the arrival of the social media sites, the companies are capable of finding innovative ways of marketing their products and/or services. Such a way of working can be identified as mass collaboration which is considered as one of the major virtues of social media. In this regards, creation of the mass collaboration cannot be considered as luck, but can rather be considered as an association of leadership, culture, technology and readiness which if subsists together in a collaborative manner can offer the employees with the scope to enhance and amplify the ideology as well as the contribution of the individuals into organisation-wide change (Taylor, 2011). The case studies referred apparently dictates that the companies use social media in order to handle the enquiries of the customer and to target the potential customers in the short period of time. Furthermore, it has been found that social media sites help the companies to innovate new products and ideas and are capable of getting involved with the customers in a short span of time. Conclusion and Recommendations The popularity as well as utilisation of the social networking sites using numerous devices such as PCs and Smart Phones in order to gain access to these sites has been at the rise. Most of the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and a few others have become a significant part of daily lives. Social networking sites have been utilised by most of the corporations as well as individuals for many purposes such as prospecting to competitive advantages from an organisational perspective and for searching jobs to networking in individual level. It is worth mentioning in this context that the companies are increasingly opening their shops in Facebook, advertising via Linkedln and offering deals on Twitter. However, it has often been criticised that such social networking sites lack privacy which may undermine the trust of the public from sharing information through these sites. Therefore, companies need to be highly conscious while offering their personal information over the social media sites (CISCO, 2012). References CISCO, 2012. How to Improve Social Media Security. Products and Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solutions/small_business/resource_center/articles/secure_my_business/how_to_improve_your_social_media_security/index.html [Accessed March 19, 2012]. Hamill, J., 1997. “The Internet and International Marketing”, International Marketing Review. Vol: 14, Iss: 5, pp: 300-323. Loc, T., 2010. McDonald’s Hires its First Director of Social Media. iMedia Connection. [Online] Available at: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/26489.asp [Accessed March 19, 2012]. Mangold, W. G. & Faulds, D. J., 2009. “Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of the Promotion Mix”, Business Horizon. Vol: 52, pp: 357-365. Palaniappan, N. & Ramachandraiah, A. M., 2010. Training Programme on Public Relations. Trainees Handbook. [Online] Available at: http://persmin.gov.in/otraining/UNDPProject/undp_modules/PublicRelationsNDLM.pdf [Accessed March 19, 2012]. Thackeray, R. & et. al., 2009. “Enhancing Promotional Strategies Within Social Marketing Program: Use of Web 2.0 Social Media”, Health Promotion Practice. Vol: 9, Iss: 4, pp: 338-384. Taylor, P., 2011. Making Use of Social Media for Business. The Connected Business. [Online] Available at: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c95c362a-e0b1-11e0-947a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1pcu2mqru [Accessed March 19, 2012]. Xia, Z. D., 2009. “Marketing Library Services through Facebook Groups”, Library Management. Vol: 30, Iss: 7, pp: 460-478. Yammer, 2011. Ford Motor Company. Customer Case Study. [Online] Available at: https://www.yammer.com/pdfs/case_study_ford.pdf [Accessed March 19, 2012]. Zwick, D. & Dholakia, N., 2008. “Info Transformation of Markets”, Journal of Macro-marketing. Vol: 28, Iss: 4, pp: 318-325. Read More