Use of Social Media Marketing Techniques to Build Brand Relationships - Coursework Example

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TECHNIQUES TO BUILD BRAND RELATIONSHIPS Contents Introduction 3 Social media marketing techniques 4 Importance of social media in building brand relationship 6 Examples to support the analysis 10 Conclusion 12 Reference 13 Introduction The social media marketing is a program which is usually done for creating different contents which encourage the viewer or social media and attract their attention. The contents are shared across all the social networking sites by instant messages, news feed etc. This result in creating electronic word of mouth related to any statement that the customer share through social media sites about products, events, company, brands, service etc. These underline messages are considered to be trusted as it comes from third party source which don’t have connections with the company or brand. This process of marketing is more associated with earned media than the paid media. In these social networking websites individuals interacts with each other and builds relationships. Different companies joint these social channels for directly communicating and interacting with the consumers. These interactions are not traditional type of marketing and advertising methods. Rather theses have a personal touch in it which increases the loyalty feelings among the customers. Blogs and social networking sites allow the people to follow, repost comments on pictures, product or things which are promoted by these sites. All the users of these are able to see these activities which help the company to reach its maximum customers in a short span of time. Sometimes social networking sites play the role of word of mouth. The company can increase its traffic by showcasing their product on these networking sites. These sites have a wide range of information about the services and products in which prospective customers and feel interested. By the use of Semantic Analysis technologies the buying signals are detected by the marketer through the analysis of the questions posted by the people and the content shared by the people. The understanding and analysis of these buying signals can help- in estimating sales of the company for which they can run various campaigns. Mobile phone has also become an important part in the social media marketing process. In the present time most of the mobile phone supports different social networking sites. With the help of this individuals are aware of the happenings on these sites through their mobile phones. The constant touch of the users with these sites gives opportunists to the companies to update their products and services in this platform and being followed by people. Social media marketing techniques Social media marketing is commonly known as the word of mouth marketing or the buzz marketing. It is a strategy adopted for development of the process where different interested people can market to each other. Social media has served the customers with their own voice to respond actively towards a particular brand. Social media marketing can be done through mobile based mode, internet which allows the users to communicate and share their views and opinions. Social media marketing also involves in developing the communities and the networks and encouraging the participation and involvement of its customers (Miller, 2011). The techniques or the strategy adopted for social media marketing are as follows. Multimedia Marketing: Now day’s consumers get attracted towards the product or towards the particular brand which includes the pictures and videos. The picture and the videos can influence the customers. Videos serve as a very useful and powerful source or medium in explaining the customers more accurately about the features and the benefits the product offers. Multimedia is replacing the old marketing technique of sales by business person to its consumers. Multimedia marketing creates a friendly environment Integration of the online and offline advertisement: Some small and medium sized enterprises adopt offline marketing such as marketing through radio, cable or print. The integration of the online and offline marketing not only helps in the process of conversion but it also leads to the development of the community. When the consumers are introduced to the social profile of the company, m the consumer will come to know about the features of the product or the service offered its brand value in the market. The consumers that are connected presently will become or convert into potential buyer in the future (Fowdar, 2013). Adaption of Message: when the business becomes more developed by adopting social media marketing they gain and develop more online channels. The companies generally communicate the same message in all channels rather than adopting and developing different message for different channels. The social channels or the platform has their own ecosystems. The enterprises should develop and formulate different and unique message for each individual site which will help the company in developing their brand value in all respective sites. It only spreads message but it facilitates the customers in receiving variety and unique information about the brand through different sites (Neti, 2011). Local Social Networks: The small business forms adopt local social network for marketing their product. Even the big companies and the enterprises should also add their brands in the local social networks so that the consumers are able to find the products or the services offered during the time of necessity (Bashar, Ahmad and Wasiq, 2012) Discounts and contests: Developing the community and driving sale is the basic concept of marketing. But in order to provide excitement to the community the company or the enterprise is required to conduct contest and offer discount to its customers. In order to create a craze for the contest the article is required to publish through the social media (Jothi, Neelamalar and Prasad, 2011). Importance of social media in building brand relationship In the present world the power of social media is immense and undeniable. The social Medias like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are the main leaders who have changed the ways by which the society functions. The social media sites have also become important as it has become a strongest way of communication between the public and the brand. In the present time the companies have made these social networking sites as an important tool for developing its marketing strategies and PR activities. These networking sites help to move the brand messages and create exposure of the brand. It helps to grab attention to the people in every sphere. Brand relationship with its customers is well maintained when the company interacts with the public (Linke and Zerfass 2013). With the help of constant flow of information’s through these correct communication channels make the brand popular among the mass which help the company to generate more sales and more revenue. Public relation is associated with building brand relationship. It manages the reputation of the company by establishing good relationship between the brand and its customers. Earlier the PR activities of a brand were a one way flow. The company communicated with its customers through various forms of press release. But now with the help of social networking sites two ways communication is possible. People directly can communicate with the companies. A brand’s presence in social media allows it to achieve the stage where the customers of the brand create positive PR about the brand. The social networking sites help the brand in maintain a personal relation with its consumer. By the recommendation of the existing customers a company gets many new customers. These networks provide the way to get connected with the influencers. It helps in building relationship with the people who have an influential presence in social networking sites. This is an important method of brand building. In the social networking sites everybody can place their opinion and they are instantly visible. It provided a wide area for scrutiny. The brands are also a part of discussion and they become aware of the people views. This help in the creation of the brand relationship. The company gets a quick response from the consumers which have a great impact on establishing brand relationship. This type of engagement develops brand loyalty among the customers. The people are now very fond of this engagement. As a result the absence of few brands from social media creates a negative impact on them. Brand’s prompt response helps to maintain correct information in its social sphere avoiding many rumours. Social media has also become a very important tool of managing the crisis of a brand. These networking site have become a search engines by themselves. They provide transparency to its users which build trust in them about different brands. When brands are openly engaged in the social media it creates accountability toward its customers. By the intensive use of social media brands can create a perception of proving great products and services to its customers. It can also strengthen the relationship of the brand with its customer by maintain trust through entertainment. Through these networking sites the brand can provide fun to the users through apps, contests, videos, sweepstakes etc. These things attract more traffic on the pages of the brands which results in creating a strong relationship with the brand. The social networking sites also serves as a platform for showcasing and performing social activities by the brand. It helps to create an idea that the brands not only care about them but also they care about others. People get to know that brands have the intention to create a good society. This promotion is done by the brand to have a strong social interaction for establishing a better relationship. The application of social media network allows its user to build their personal websites. Other users can assess those sites and can exchange their opinions. Therefore it helps in cultivating relationship with the users. The brands can develop a long term friendship with its customer by these sites. Social media acts as collaboration between the online customer and the brands. There would be no important engagement between the brands and the customers without the information flow. The diagram below explains the collaboration. This Figure explains that a brand communicate different people through the social media networks and passes information to them which helps in establishing and maintaining relationship with its potential customers. The social networking sites are very cost effective. It gives the brand the opportunity to advertise its goods and services at a very low cost. For this reason many companies now a day are maintain a dedicated team for improving and developing their social networks platforms. This helps to focus even on the minute things affecting the brand’s reputation and its relationship with the people. The relationship of social media network between the brand and the network community having online presence helps to develop the business and enhance its values. With the help of these networks the brand can address the topics which matters most to its audiences. This will help to develop interest among the people. It leads to the establishment of relationship with the brand. The social media also acts as a strong tool of the consumers for sharing influential statement about the brand. The reality of the brand is created by their opinion. Therefore both customer and brand maintain their relationship through various social media networks. Building relationship with the people is the most important thing for a brand. The relationship genuinely encourages the conversations (Michaelidou, 2011). It helps the brand to know its customers and provides the reason to get engaged with the brand. Through the social networking sites the brand gets involved in real engagements with the people. Its customer can see the brands effort for satisfying them. These sites help many brands to provide useful contents and solutions related to different customers’ issues, ask questions etc. It influences to establish dependency of the customers on the brands. Social media gives more facilities to the brand in building its relationships along with less fabrication (Lefebvre, 2012). In the present market consumers are very selective about choosing a brand. Through the social networking sites they get almost full information about the brand which often influences them to follow the activities of the brand. As a result brand equity is developed for this. The social media networking sites helps to address the need of the people in the early stage which shows the effective nature of the brand. Brand follows different marketing philosophy for establishing relationship with its customers. By the use of the social networking sites brand gives attention to its customers and the recent marketing trends. When a person feels valued a brand he will instantly create a good brand image of that company and will help to spread the goodwill of the brand. These are the importance of social media networks in building brands relationships (Kotler, 2011). Examples to support the analysis Success in social media is a very important thing to achieve for a business. Many businesses are using various social networking sites for building its brand relationship with its customers. The Atlantic Canadian company Martell Home Builders maintain a very good relationship with its customers through the social networking sites. Earlier the company had to depend a lot on various realtors for growing its business (Hill and Martin 2013). But with the development of different social networking sites the company started directly communicating with the people by its social media pages. The brand got a very good response from that and its brand name also became very popular. The company used blogging strategy and focused on the needs of the homebuyer. Martell Home Builders also published the pictures of their buildings which attracted a lot of traffic on their page. This facility of the social networking sites helped the company to established a model of direct –to-consumer when the company directly contact with its customers not depending on any middleman. It helped the company to establish a strong relationship with the people and generate more revenue than before in a cost effective method (Schau, 2009). The famous online company Zappos sells clothing, shoes, and accessories. It is one of the popular brands who have given a huge effort for creating a strong relationship with its customers and fans. The company implemented strategies by which the like button is clicked by its fans and they can see the products of the company in that site. The company gives a lot of emphasis on its strategy named as fans only contest where it disclose its content after someone become fan of the brand. This customer engagement process helps in popularising the brand. It creates an interactive relationship with the fans. Zappos also focuses on its customer’s welcome tab where people can post or comment about the company’s product or can recommend anyone for purchasing Zappos product. The best strategy followed by the company for building its brand relationship is holding the contest of fan of the week. This contest encourages its fans to be in touch with the brand (Mohr, 2012). Giantnerd sells equipments for outdoor activities like biking, hiking, snowboarding etc. Till now one of the best companies in the integration of social media is Giantnerd. The company has created a social network on its own site which is totally different from other social networking platforms. It has an easy and fast process for joining people in the company’s group or network. The company makes the process interesting by offering discounts to all its newly joined members. This helps in promoting the brand and increases its followers. Giantnerd also implement many social methods for receiving feedbacks from other buyers. It helps in the establishment of both way communications (Mangold, 2009). Oreo is using social media networks a lot for its cookies. They are implementing very innovative techniques in various socials networking sites for building its brand relationship. Oreo has reached many social media home runs. They have created a very interesting and interactive page on Facebook, Twitter etc which seek attention of many people using those sites. Oreo is doing an innovative kind of advertisement in the social media sites which is popularising the brand. Its ad is generating more than 16000 retweets. They are also conducting daily contest through which many people are getting attracted with the brands. Oreo is also launching different video campaigns for creating a unique relationship with the people (Kirtişa and Karahan 2011). The ford Motor Company gives more3 emphasis on its social media marketing techniques rather than other marketing efforts. Every time when the company publishes new blogs the company pull the image and the comments of the readers on the front page of its website. This thing help the people who are new to Ford’s site or browsing sites for purchasing new cars. They get to know about the company and Ford’s culture from the view point of third parties. In its Blog the company maintains a unique layout where viewers can read the comments of other people without reading the entire article. It creates a friendly impression of the company on the mind of the viewers. Thus Ford creates a strong relationship and presence of the brand. (Erdem, 1996) Conclusion In the present world social media is has become an important marketing tool for all the brands. Development of brand relationship through various social media site like Facebook, Twitter, and Pin Interest etc has become an important trend for the companies. It provides the opportunities to the companies in knowing its customers in a better way. The brands can become aware of the various market trends which affects its customers perceptions. Through these network sites the brand develops relationship with the people. It helps to identify the needs and demands of the people. Interaction in this networking sites are very fast. Therefore the brands can reach its maximum customers through a small span of time. The social networking sites are very cost effective. So the brands can easily deliver its message without making huge investment. Earlier press was the only option for the brands to establish relationship with the people. But with the introduction of this networking sites the brands have got various ways developing their relationship with the people. With the advance3ment of technology the present of social media networking sites has become very wide. So the users of these sites can follow, post comments and like different brands at any time and from any place. They are always notified about the present state of the brands through these sites. 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