Use of the Internet in Social Marketing - Case Study Example

Use of Internet in Social Marketing Name Class Unit Introduction Several studies have shown that technology have impacted social marketing. There has been a great shift from traditional media towards the second generation internet based applications. The users of the second generation applications have been able to control social marketing with successful campaigns (Menne, 2009). There have been a rise of new ideas and technologies that have led to great promise for the social marketers. Internet and social media have been able to put the consumers into center of the business world. Internet has also been a tool for behavior change. Relationship between social marketers and consumers has been enhanced through internet. The consumers are able to use social media to share their experiences on products. Internet has been considered to be the most effective channel due to its ease of use (Smith & Taylor, 2004). Social marketing organizations have captured this opportunity and are capable of informing consumers through online activities. There are websites, blogs and newsletters which apart from promoting behavior change are an important marketing platform (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). The platform is competitive and promotes social marketing and behavior change. Internet has been playing a crucial role in designing social marketing and behavior change platforms. This essay looks at the internet as a tool to support social marketing initiatives and behavior change. The discussion analyses how effective internet has been in supporting social marketing initiatives and behavior change. The essay proves that internet has been used to support social marketers to inform audience about social issues and promoting behavior change The human behavior is a very vital aspect of wellbeing for the whole society. For example, smoking behavior affects users as well as those who are near them. This is a good implication that changing a personal lifestyle has a great impact on the wellbeing of the society. Social marketing offers an avenue where one is able encourage others to change from undesirable behaviors (Menne, 2009). Social marketers can use online platforms to influence others on behavioral change. The main areas of focus are in health, safety and community development. Using the internet, it becomes possible to implement programs that can help in enhancing change in community and individual level. The use of internet in social marketing started in 2005. The rise of internet use made it hard for the social marketers to ignore it as a successful tool of influence to society in behavior change (Menne, 2009). Online social marketing refers to the online tools used by the social marketers. This can be demonstrated by the fact that there have been specifically created online channel dedicated to bring a certain change in a society. A good example is the Canadian One-Tonne challenge in 2004 which was dedicated to help reduce greenhouse gases. The program involved active online websites that encouraged the citizens to help reduce the carbon emission in the country. Social marketers are supposed to select different channels which can help in reaching their audience. When the main target is composed of online users, internet plays a vital role (Smith & Taylor, 2004). The rapid rise of internet usage in many countries has been able to benefit the social marketers (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). Though the field of social marketing has been late in adopting internet in their activities, they have been able to maximize its usage. The social marketers had initially shown little interest in adopting the internet in their activities. This led to promoters of wrong behaviors to take advantage of the situation. The advertisement of the unhealthy eating habits increased at the time when social media had less use of the internet. This led to some earlier social marketers to view the internet as a threat to their activities rather than an advantage (Menne, 2009). For example, some of the earlier social marketers complained that tobacco use of online marketing was complicated, which required the social marketers to act fast. The social marketers realized that they were being left out of the advantages that internet offered (Andreasen, 2006). Use of online channels has made it easy for them to differentiate themselves and create their own activities (Mccombs, 2004). Through online activities, it has been able to bring the best for the organisation. For social marketers, they have high chances of creating long term relationships with consumers. This has made most of the social marketers to conduct their business online. Internet has been cited as a reliable communicating tool due to its high number of users in most countries. Social marketers have been able to change their marketing strategies in line with the rise of technology (Smith, 2009). Market, target consumers and the market environment is defined by existing communication formats online. There are several online channels for marketing such as intranet, e-mails and message boards. To make the best choice in selecting a channel, social marketers take into account the type of message to deliver. An example is the “VERB” campaign which targeted teenagers. The campaign used social websites since they are common among teens to encourage teenagers to be more physically active. The channel has the capability to create an image for the organization, hence an impact on the social message to be delivered (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). The organisation can only achieve good results if they are able to invest in creating the best online messages. Creating the best message has a positive impact on the organisation. Then organisation is able to benefit from having fresh and interesting content which is able to retain consumers (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). The growth of web 2.0 in the 2004 was a major influence for social marketers since it enabled audience participation. The internet application based on web2.0 was offering the social marketers platforms such as wikis and blogs which could reach the users more effectively. The rise of web 2.0 led to the rise of social network sites which could reach wider audiences. The use of technology proved that it is possible to engage a wider audience. This was a radical transformation for the social marketers. The social marketers were able to view their e target audience as their partners rather than their passive targets (Menne, 2009). The social marketer’s use of the internet meant that the audience had powers to choose what they want to look or to listen to. If the marketer’s campaign was not able to impress the customers, they could choose to ignore it and do other things. Being able to engage audience helps the social marketers to have a good relationship with the customers. The engagement has been achieved through use of having online exchanges. The exchange can be generated by the audience themselves, such as use of surveys and interactive interfaces. An example is the “Own Your C” tobacco prevention campaign which uses an interactive user interface to generate user content. The target audience hence helps by contributing information that can help in shaping the campaign. In this case, the social marketers are responsible for creating an intervention network and maintaining it. The audience part involves contributing the content (Fogg, 2003). Use of internet has enabled social marketers to use volume metrics which involves use of hit raters, time spent online among other indicators to monitor the success of social marketing. The metrics can indicate how the customer has been able to benefit and the quality of the interaction (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). The website metrics give information on the audience profiles, relevance and their credibility. The metrics gives a good indication of why and how the consumers are engaged. Social marketers have been customizing the metrics depending on the campaign involved. Using volume metrics, it becomes easier to monitor the social marketing campaigns than using the traditional means. Use of the internet has made it easier to identify the real brand community and have a great impact on their influence on the consumer behaviors. There have been creations of tools with the assistance from the brand communities that are aimed to the existing community in order to empower them from behavioral change (Fogg, 2003). Prior to 2005, social marketers’ online social marketing moistly addressed tobacco smoking ventures online. The markets had no online strategy to respond to the threatening campaigns from tobacco. After shift to the internet based platforms, social marketers changed their view on public communication (Weinreich, 1999). The social marketers were enabled through the internet to provide opportunities to people in order to join the debate rather than being passive recipients. The online channels have been replacing the traditional media channels. Channels such as newspapers and television have become less effective than use of internet. Use of internet is determined by the audience being targeted. For example, the use of internet among the youth is higher than aged. It has been proved that the main source of national news today is through internet (Mccombs, 2004). Most of the population with internet access prefers to access news online. Researches have proved that online interventions have been able to surpass traditional interventions. For example, it was proved that using online intervention in health promotion campaigns enabled the participants to get knowledge on health related issues more easily. An example is “safe in the city campaign” to reduce HIV infections by the CDC. It has been also proved that using computer based intervention methods on health helped the participants to improve their knowledge and attitudes as compared to other means (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). Online channels are a source of opportunity for the community as well as individual. It is also easy to personalize and automate online messages to increase engagement. The users can be provided with anonymity which can make them more active (Smith, 2009). For example, it has been proved that consumers have been using internet for health assistance more when anonymity is allowed. An example is the “online doctors”, where users are advised on healthy living. The use of online engagement is only effective for the audience which has access to internet (Andreasen, 2006). Despite the fact that not everyone have internet, majority of the population have access to it. This implies that a small change in population effected through internet have a large impact on the society (Nass, Steuer & Tauber, 1994). For example, most governments have realized that it’s very cost effective to use internet and market healthy lifestyles than to treat its outcomes. Online engagement platforms have provided an opportunity where services such as e health solutions can be offered. E-health solutions being offered include behavior change and prevention tools (Fogg, 2003). The low cost that are associated with online intervention have made it to be adopted by the social marketers. For example, use of tailored online smoking prevention campaign can help to save more than use of traditional counseling (Smith & Taylor, 2004). Most of the online channels are modeled on basis of one too many. Information disseminated is pushed to the audience in a given direction. There are also models which are designed to be one with one. This is where communication is two way with the user being able to get feedback. The feedback from the audience forms the basis which is used for the purpose of intervention. Use of group campaigns has been engaged in social media by the social marketers (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). These are campaigns which are designed with an intention to utilize both generic and targeted communication. Use of generic communication by social marketers uses a lot of information which is passed through a single channel. The users of the channels are supposed to go through a lot of information in order to get what is relevant for them. If the consumers are highly motivated, they are more likely to invest in looking for the information. Use of targeted communication by social marketers is aimed at small groups which have similar characteristics. This means that the information that is passed to them is common. An example is the “World Water Day guerilla campaigns”. The common message used in the campaigns made it cost effective. Use of personalized communication has been able to target customers with personalized information (Andreasen, 2006). All these have helped the social marketers to save cost. Use of internet communications has helped the social marketers to offer tailored communication. This is through organizing mass interpersonal campaigns which have reach to wider audience. This form of communication has enabled the social marketers to offer interpersonal relationships with the customers (Weinreich, 1999). Creation of a website has helped the social marketers to have a wider influence in to the community. An example is the “Benetton campaign on social consciousness”. The campaign utilized mass interpersonal campaigns which had a reach to wider audience. This has enabled them to influence the brand community and have a great impact on the prospective consumers (Menne, 2009). Use of internet has enabled social marketers to reach their goal more easily. The ultimate objective of social marketing is behavior change. For a behavior change to occur using online means, there are two levels of behaviors that needs to be addressed. The online campaigns are intended to change the offline behaviors. The behaviors that need to be targeted are micro and macro behaviors. The primary behavior that online intervention aims to change is macro behavior. Micro behavior refers to the routine behavior that the consumers have online which have the capability to lead to macro behavior. For example, a consumer who wants to reduce weight has to register for weight loss program and also eat healthy diet (Andreasen, 2006). The act of registering is the micro behavior while macro behavior refers to the dieting (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). Through internet process, it has become easier to address behavior change. Use of internet provides social marketers with a more precise procedure for behavior change through design. For the online intervention to be successful, the social marketers are supposed to enable the consumers change in micro-behaviors. The online campaigns encourage those participating to compost (Smith & Taylor, 2004). The main aim of the micro behaviors is to increase clients’ visits to the sites. The success of social marketers in online channels has been associated with the capability to use small number of activities conducted online which have great impact. The role played by the micro behaviors in success of social marketing is vital. Social marketing websites have been able to highly utilize micro behaviors such as the number of visits to the websites. Most of the online social marketing campaigns have been successful in leading to behavior change due to their design (Fogg, 2003). Despite the success of the online social marketing, there are challenges such as lack of trust and increasing competition. The threats such as cyber crime, phishing and misinformation have led to the consumers losing trust with the online social marketing. It has been hard to differentiate a legitimate and a fake website (Hart, Greenfield & Johnston, 2005). Loses due to online crime have been high leading to some of the consumers being wary of online scams. It has been proved that online users may lack trust to websites due to scams and loss of privacy. All these challenges have made online services to be considered risky by some of the consumers. Online social marketing are in a highly competitive field. This is due to a lot of alternatives that compete for the consumers’ attention. For example, the social marketers are supposed to compete against the tobacco companies on the internet. It has been proved that social marketing using internet has been facing tougher competition than traditional marketing (Andreasen, 2006). The efficacy of the online social marketing has been described using the number of site visits and page views among others. Despite this, it has been hard to define online engagement efficacy using the impact on behavior change. Most of the reports on social marketing are based on processes that were used instead of the achieved results. Despite this, it has been proved that social marketing have a positive impact on behavior change and influences the users’ psychology (Andreasen, 2006). Despite the few shortcomings of online social marketing, there have been various online innovations that have made it more successful. The fact that online communication channels have been replacing traditional means of communication makes it prudent to use internet. Online usage has been able to promote interactivity (Menne, 2009). Research done have proved that online social marketing have been a success. This is due to fact that online channels have enabled social marketers to reach a wider audience and at a lower cost. It is important to note that not all online intervention on behavior change has worked. The social marketing which is aimed at raising awareness has been successful if it uses the mass media approach. This refers to use of one too many campaigns. For example, health awareness campaigns can be very successful through use of mass media model (Abroms, Schiavo & Lefebvre, 2008). Internet based communication acts as a hybrid channel. This is due to fact that it combines both persuasive aspects of the interpersonal media and the mass media. It has been proved that using the traditional media have been inappropriate as compared to the massive communication that is carried out using online channels. The online social marketing has enabled the individuals to act as collaborative partner with the marketers which have created a good communication platform enhancing success (Andreasen, 2006). There are several motivations that have led to online social marketing being a success in behavior change (Varcoe, 2004). Common values and personal interests have been drivers for online campaigns. There are also other reasons such as contributing to the event and also the tangible outcome from the campaign (Peterson, 2004). If the social camping and the personal interest of the participant match, there are higher chances of success of the online campaign on behavior change. People cannot participate on online campaign if they are not interested. Websites have the capability to persuade consumers to participate (Peterson, 2004). For example, the visual design that the markets use in these websites attracts the consumers. There is also clear communication in the social marketing websites which encourages them to participate (Andreasen, 2006). The fact that online social marketers have been able to note that credibility and trust of their websites is central to their success. Marketing managers are supposed to be keener in ensuring that their social marketing websites are credible and trustworthy. The managers are supposed to know that online participation is affected negatively if the websites are not credible. This has a great impact on the user behavioral impacts (Mccombs, 2004). Managers who are able to address web credibility and trust during early stages are able to carry out successful online social marketing campaigns. For the social marketing to be more successful, the managers have to ensure they are able to engineer website credibility. Occurrence of mistrust can undermine a good campaign (Peterson, 2004). The only tool that counters the negative impacts on online social marketing is well engineered website credibility (Kotler, Roberto & Lee, 2002). Conclusion In conclusion, internet has been able to support social marketing initiatives and behavior change. Individual behavior has a great impact on the society and positive change is vital. The rise of internet has revolutionized social marketing in a great way. At the moment, most of the countries have access to internet. The social marketers have been able to reach a wider audience through the use of internet and encouraged more participation. Use of online interventions in social marketing campaign has been able to influence offline behaviors. The consumers are able to get the information about the consequences of their behaviors and the enabled them in coming up with their goals. The method is also cost effective than traditional means and it is also easy to track progress through volume metrics. It has been proved that if the website is able to prove its credibility and trust, it can have great influence on behavior change. Internet has enabled audience participation in social marketing. Using internet social marketers are able to offer customized information. Trust credibility and competition are the main challenges that online social marketing faces. There are a lot of online activities that compete for the customer attention when using online social marketing. Lowering of the website credibility can lead to less participation hence reducing the impact. It is thus important to ensure that the website is credible and trustworthy. Being able to design a credible online intervention gives online social marketers high chances of success in behavior change. This has been proved by the successful social marketing campaigns that have utilized internet to successfully carry out their campaigns. References Abroms, L., Schiavo, R & Lefebvre, C 2008, ‘New media cases in cases in public health communication & marketing: The promise and potential’, Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing, 2(1), p. 3-10. Andreasen, A 2006, Social marketing in the 21st century, Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, Inc. Fogg, B.J 2003, Persuasive technology: Using computers to change what we think and do, San Francisco, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Hart, T., Greenfield, J &Johnston, M 2005. Nonprofit internet strategies: best practices for marketing, communications, and fundraising success, New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons. Kotler, P., Roberto, N & Lee, N 2002, Social marketing: Improving the quality of life. (2 ed.), California, Sage Publications, Inc. Mccombs, M 2004, Setting the agenda: The mass media and public opinion, Cambridge, Polity Press. 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