Social Media in Event Marketing - Essay Example

Social media in event marketing Introduction Marketing as a management activity and academic discipline is to ample transformations over the years. Globalisation of industries, media proliferation and innovation in information and communication technologies has affected marketing dynamics significantly and advent of internet has made noteworthy contribution therein. Internet has empowered consumers and other individuals to have greater access to information than ever while weakening monopolistic power of various corporations in the market (Christopher, 1989; Wind and Mahajan, 1997; Rha et al, 2002; Bush, 2004; Urban, 2005; Harrison, Waite and Hunter, 2006). Contemporary communication tools and technological development has resulted in revolutionary changes in the way social communication occurs in the society. Internet and communication tools have result in development of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging. Interestingly, social media is gaining increasing importance as a digital marketing tool and is being used extensively by different organisations for various marketing activities such as event marketing, developing brand loyalty and product promotion (Erdoğmuş and Cicek, 2012; Jucaitytė and Maščinskienė, 2014). The paper reviews and analyses various scholarly journals and articles for developing insight regarding development of social media in event marketing and its impact on young adults. Literature review Concept of social media Social media is a relatively recent development in the communication sector and correspondingly has earned different theoretical definitions from different scholars. Angelo (2007) indicated that social media is a fairly broad subject accommodating various aspects that has so far not been discussed under traditional media. The author appended that social media is a unique platform that is influenced by personal opinion, views and attitude of users. Garnyte and de Ávila Pérez (2009) voiced that social media is a internet based communication tool that enables individuals to create or develop various contents, provide live feedback and have live chat sessions and exchange various information by uploading and/or downloading. Cross (2011) added on this notion that social media has brought about a major change in the way individuals generally undertake social interaction. Propagation of social media has also brought individuals from different parts of the world close. Web 2.0 and social media has been discussed in the common parlance while author such as Robinson (cited in Erdoğmuş and Cicek, 2012) exclaimed that social media is only a tool that has Web 2.0 communication attributes such as participatory capability, collaborative, knowledge sharing and user empowerment. Kaplan and Haenlein (2009) defined social media as a compilation of internet based applications that have been developed on the principles and technological foundation of Web 2.0. They further defined Web 2.0 as set of web applications which aids interoperability, collaboration, user defined design and information sharing. Kaplan and Haenlein (2009) presented a very useful classification system regarding different kinds of social media namely, social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace; blogging and micro-blogging sites such as Twitter; Content communities like Flicker and YouTube. In this regard other authors contributed by adding other forms such as instant messaging applications, virtual worlds, podcasts and wikis (Dalsgaard and Sorenson, 2008; Masterson and Tribby, 2008). Impact of social media on communication Jucaitytė and Maščinskienė (2014, p. 492) explained that “Social media acquired its name because of its social origin of internet as communication channel”. Social media has gained importance as a source of communication over traditional media such as broadcast media and print media because traditional media limits the scope of expression for the second party while in social media, equal opportunity is presented to every individual in terms of expression of views, opinion and feelings. Prior to social media, traditional media served as the key source of communication between corporations and society. However, traditional media became obsolete choice as social media present marketers with numerous choices and scope of innovation regarding message dissemination (Jucaitytė and Maščinskienė, 2014). Besides facilitating two-way communication, social media is also preferred as a communication tool because it is known for stimulating consumers’ interest and activity, involvement and openness to participation (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Social media is vastly different from traditional media and consequently require careful evaluation and strategic integration for delivering marketing success. Based on its attributes, social media marketing is often related with relationship marketing as it is more focussed on building connections instead of mere selling of products. Survey by Info-graphics revealed that a large number of Facebook and Twitter users prefer purchasing, recommending and/or reviewing a company’s product only when they are able to engage with the organisation on social media (cited in Erdoğmuş and Cicek, 2012). Promotion of product, service, idea, event and others have been simplified with the development of social media because social media facilitates information sharing between peers (who can also be consumers and potential consumers) regarding products, services and others (Erdoğmuş and Cicek, 2012). The interaction can be considered as a kind of virtual word of mouth promotion without the organisation investing any amount in direct promotion. Many authors have suggested that social media as communication technique enhance brand loyalty and brand image (McKee, 2010; Gunelius, 2011). Growth of social media in marketing arena Wide spread usage of social media is not limited to a particular country or a specific economic zone or geographical location. Instead, presence of social media was observed to have intensified worldwide. Most countries exhibited high usage of internet connectivity and involvement in social networking with exception of countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan where internet usage is as low as around 10 percent (Rothschild, 2011). Band and Petouhoff (cited in Rothschild, 2011) determined from their research that at least four out of every five adults in the US express themselves by means of social media and at least once every month they are engaged in pursing online creative activities. The report also revealed that interest in social media is not limited to youth but also can be observed among adults belonging to age group 35 years and above (Rothschild, 2011). Social networking has been determined as the most prominent aspect of social media as more and more users are becoming part of social networking sites. Research suggest that presently Facebook is the most popular online social networking site with presence in more than 70 countries and with user count above 600 million (Ramsaran-Fowdar and Fowdar, 2013). Ramsaran-Fowdar and Fowdar (2013) and Acar and Polonsky (2007) revealed that Facebook not only allows individual users to create personal profile and scope of developing insight regarding interests and lifestyle of others but also provide opportunity to business organisations to create profile and promote their brand, product and disseminate other information. Many authors argued that it is a futile effort for firms to stay away from social media for business promotion and expansion. Continuing on this notion, Bernoff and Li (2008) added that consumers are strongly connecting with other consumers on social media irrespective of unfamiliarity and location and as a result, are developing perception regarding a corporation and its offerings which is often different from what the corporation wants to project. However, a number of companies such as Starbucks are cashing by marketing on social media; similar examples comprise that of Dell and Victoria’s secret. It was also gathered that event marketing organisations are also enjoying benefits of social media for growth (Constantinides, 2014). Social media as a marketing tool Mangold and Faulds (2009) debated that social media is an necessary component of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and frequently is pointed as a hybrid element because of containing features of traditional as well as non-traditional marketing techniques. IMC has become an important aspect of marketing management because it strives to establish coordination among various promotional tools such as direct marketing, personal selling, public relations, sales promotion, publicity and advertising and control them for delivering a cohesive consumer oriented message (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). The authors along with Ramsaran-Fowdar and Fowdar (2013) further highlighted that social media marketing is not limited to a specific source. Instead, it can be pursued by means of any online application using any kind of telecommunication device such as mobile devices, desktops, laptops and tablets. Another reason for social media to gain importance as marketing tool is that it is considered as a comparatively reliable source of information with respect to corporate sponsored communications (Foux, 2006). Constantinides (2014) pointed that social media as a marketing tool can adopt two approaches, namely, active and passive. The active approach focuses on engaging consumers on social media for developing public relation and direct marketing to influence consumers and have personalised impact. The passive approach focuses on implementing social media as a tool for market intelligence and voicing consumers’ requirements. Albors, Ramos and Hervas (2008) articulated that social media as a marketing tool empowers consumers to have a relatively more refined search and selection of products and services and sophisticates their purchasing experience. Zabin (cited in Constantinides, 2014) established by means of survey that social media enhances consumers’ likelihood of recommending a product or service, improves return on marketing investment and also increases consumer acquisition rate. Social media in event marketing De Vries, Gensler and Leeflang (2012) put forward that social media can be considered as an exceptional vehicle for fostering strong consumer relationship in various business sectors. It was determined from the article that social media is being increasingly used for marketing of any kind of tangible and intangible products. De Vries, Gensler and Leeflang (2012) tested and appended that social media marketing is very useful in increasing recognition and demand of musical bands. Particularly, social networking sites in this regard have proved extremely useful. Hudson, et al. (2014) argued that social media plays an important role in developing and managing consumer relationship in musical festivals. The author further established that various social media are crucial for conducting destination marketing and event marketing. On this note, Mossberg and Getz (2006) contributed that social media marketing can be useful for promoting any kind of event including various festivals. Hudson, et al. (2014) observed that promotion of tourism by means of social media at times also result in promotion and branding of a location. Consumer collaboration and engagement is relatively high in case of social media marketing and therefore it is apt for event promotion and marketing (Hudson, et al., 2014). Rothschild (2011) established that about 57 percent of organisations in event management and entertainment sector has a stable social media strategy and as a result experience comparatively high revenue with respect to those who have not embraced social media for event marketing. Cruz and Mendelsohn (2010) stated that brand awareness and preference is enhanced tremendously by means of social media marketing. In this regard, Zhou and Wang (2014) established that social media is very useful in undertaking marketing of a place. As tourism can be indirectly linked with event activities, therefore, it can be suggested that Social media may prove useful for marketing of any kind of event. Development of academic work regarding role of social media in event marketing is in its nascent stage; therefore it was not possible to gather concert supportive data in this regard. Issues and challenges in social media marketing Social media marketing or usage of social media in various marketing activities is an emerging concept and its implications have not yet been profoundly researched upon. Commercial use of social media in marketing is often viewed as a premature decision because social media is a recent development and its impact has only assessed with respect to one or more products in one or more locations. Its importance cannot be provided unbiased support due to lack of sufficient data in this regard (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013). Social media marketing may prove to be a very powerful medium of personalised marketing of products and services but as a relatively non-personalised medium, its contribution has not been examined deeply. It was also determined that increasing use of digital media marketing and social media marketing in business activities resulting to act as a threat to existing business models. Another challenge that was recognised in social media marketing is that it predominantly targets the younger consumers while ignoring consumers belonging to older age groups. Social media promises to enhance brand image, reputation and health but the risks of negative impact is equally high (Leeflang, et al., 2014). Other underlying challenges with respect to social media marketing are difficulty in assessing effectiveness of marketing activities on social media, development of an appropriate social media marketing strategy, making appropriate use of data regarding consumer response and feedback from social media about products and services, developing awareness regarding social media marketing among employees of an organisation, integrating marketing strategies related to social media with other departments of a firm, controlling online image of a brand and protecting marketing activities on social media from online security breaches (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Scope of event marketing by social media in Sheffield Sheffield is located in South Yorkshire, England having a population of around 0.5 million. The city is one of the eight largest English cities in the UK. Sheffield is fairly known for various events in the city. For instance, Sheffield is known to be the home of the first football team of the UK. Additionally, the city hosts the World Snooker Championship every year since 1977. Sheffield is also known for being home to various musical bands and artists. The universities of Sheffield accommodate more than 50000 students and the city has been voted as one of the reputed destinations in the UK. Furthermore, Sheffield ski village is also known as one of the most preferred ski destinations in the Europe (Primary Facts, 2015). The above data suggests that the scope of having event activities in the city is relatively high as there are universities, ski resort and the city itself is home to football team and musicians; as a result, event marketers may require the need of social media for promotion as traditional marketing techniques may prove insufficient and incompetent for addressing the mass population. Furthermore, present-day students and adults are technology savvy which will contribute significantly in alleviating role of social media as an appropriate means for promotion of the events. Summary The literature review brings together the worlds of marketing and social media for developing scope of social media marketing in context of event. In the assessment, the paper evaluates various aspects of social media and its integration in the marketing communication process. It was observed that the development is in its nascent phase and require stronger evidence for supporting its implications in event marketing. Most authors were observed to have pursued work related to specific events or activities, therefore it can be suggested that the literature review has a gap in determining significance of social media on all kind of events. Additionally, most researchers have conducted research with respect to general consumers irrespective of their age group. Only a few addressed the age factor and suggested that social media targets youths more over other adults. Therefore, social media marketing’s impact on youths could not be supported with concrete evidence. Reference list Acar, A. S. and Polonsky, M., 2007. Online social networks and insights into marketing communications. Journal of Internet Commerce, 6(4), pp. 55-72. Albors J., Ramos J.C. and Hervas J.L., 2008. 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