The Impact of Social Media on Traditional Marketing Strategy - Term Paper Example

Running head: Marketing 8th December Introduction Stiff competition among the firms operating at local and global levels has resulted to unique marketing strategies by companies as they focus at facing off their competitors. Social media including Face book and Twitter has become one of the key issues that organizations have adopted not only to create strong connection with their consumers but also as a way of enhancing brand awareness. Similarly, through social media, customers are provided with an opportunity to provide feedback on the performance of a particular brand or the whole firm. Social media marketing programs aims at creating content that encourages and attracts attention of the readers who in turn spread the message from one user to another. Social networking websites on the other hand, allows businesses and individuals to build relationships in addition to interacting with one another. Being based on virtual communities, social networking websites also allow consumers to express their wants, values and needs, online. As noted by Powell et al (2011), this is followed by connecting the consumers through social media marketing to businesses that share the same values, wants and needs. Social media marketing refers to a form of internet marketing that implements several social media networks with an aim of achieving marketing communication and branding goals. Social media can also be viewed as an umbrella term that covers multiple web based software and services. Examples of social media include Skype, Facebook, Kyte, Crowdstorm, You Tube, Twitter, Plurk and Slide share among others (Schoen et al, 2013). This paper seeks to discuss the key elements of information and its role within the social media environment, impact of social media on traditional marketing strategy and on development of brand awareness as well as the management and acquisition of customers. Key elements of information and their role on social media environment As companies embark on creating a favorable social media environment, it is essential to ensure that information is effectively passed from one party to another. Information, which refers to a data that is accurately, timely, specific and organized for a purpose should lead to a better understanding of the uncertainties. For a company to have a closer monitoring of its operations, it has to maintain a proper marketing database. Marketing database according to Courtheux (1992) refers to comprehensive collection of interrelated data serving multiple applications, allowing timely and accurate on-demand retrieval of relevant data in addition to having a date management system independent of applications. Shirky (2008) argues that prior to introduction of interactive marketing through online, business owners would analyze their consumers by assessing their needs once they visit the supermarkets and convenience stores. However, improvement in information systems has positively impacted on the way businesses interact with the consumers and other stakeholders (Birn, 2004). The eight elements that make up the heartbeat of any organization include identifying organizations best customers, targeting offers, cross selling, suggesting forms of contact, response handling and fulfillment, interactive marketing, identification of best prospects and channel support. Within an organization, these elements play key roles as discussed below; One-to-one marketing communications As firms aim at expanding their customer base and improve customers’ loyalty, information is applied in promotion and customer care. In this way, consumers are made aware of the new products in the market while at the same time an organization is able to handle the problems faced by clients (Watts, 2003). Customer recognition and service Customers are vital assets in any organization. Dann and Dann (2003) indicates that by initiating timely information that touches on benefits of brands, new prices and outlets and requesting for feedback, firms are able to create strong relationship with the customers. In this way, such consumers can use the social media tools to share about such relationships leading to increased number of customer and bigger market. Generate management information Information enables marketing communications which further enhances brand awareness among the potential consumers (Van Dijck, 2013). Based on the global usage of social media, marketing communications can now reach any part of the world unlike in the traditional marketing where such information was limited (Shaw, 2012). Likewise, the information can aid decision making process for example by redesigning the brands to meet the feedback provided by consumers. Given the stiff competition in business atmosphere, companies should provide adequate information though their social sites as a way of guiding their consumers and facing off the rivals. Information is beneficial to an organization in various ways. First, an organization can have more customer information that its competitors. This is due to the availability of opportunities whereby consumers can provide more personal details (Homburg, Sabine, Harley, 2009). Secondly, an organization can have better processed and packaged information. Thirdly, a firm can have more detailed information that it can use to create online connection among its consumers and branches. Impact of social media on traditional marketing strategy One of the major impacts of social media on traditional marketing strategy is that it has created new online market while at the same time creating sustainable connection among the consumers and businesses. Globally, consumers use social media to learn about other consumer experiences, research more about brands, products and services (Surowiecki, 2004). Based on the increasing number of social media avenues, brand visibility has been effectively achieved in addition to optimization of engine optimization. Social media has introduced a level playing field. Any organization can compete with competitors regardless of their size. Traditionally, smaller firms would struggle to match the fittings of larger competitors. However, with the introduction of social media, online crisps which are effectively designed can be a factor that makes small firms to become competitive regardless of their size. Social media has introduced the aspect of measurement on the traditional marketing methods (McHale and Garulay, 2012). For instance, through the use of tweeter and Facebook, an individual can see in real time what is or is not working in an organization online and marketers can adapt very quickly to make an improvement of the results. Companies that aim at keeping updated information about the performance of their brands, by measuring traffic to their sites, can adopt Google Analytics to determine specific goals they want to achieve from their website. The most packaged email solutions provide reliable information regarding the number of customers opening, reading and converting from the company emails. Social media has viral effects on firms marketing strategies. Through online and especially by use of social media share buttons on websites and group accounts, consumers are able to quickly share messages on prices, products and place that brands can be found. For example, if an average Facebook user has 200 friends of which an average of 15% see the liked posts, a message from the user can be seen by more than 15 potential consumers. If a number of these potential consumers like and share the message, the information will ultimately spread in a very fast rate. However, it is essential to note that risk management strategies must be adopted to handle a negative press during marketing since it would also spread with a similar tempo. Brand development is another significant impact of the social media in the contemporary marketing arena (Scoble and Israel, 2006). Well maintained websites holding quality content that target the needs as well as considering the value of the consumers, provides important value and lead generation opportunities. As firms embark on product diversification, it is essential to keep updated websites that creates awareness in terms of prices and places where the consumers can access their brands. Social media has also resulted into greater engagement. Through digital marketing, marketers can encourage their prospects, consumers and followers to visit their website, take action rate their brands, read about new products and provide feedback which is visible by other target markets. This means that through digital ways, it does not take long for good publicity to enhance the prospects on companies. Impact of social media on brand awareness The use of social media has become the most vital way of doing business and marketing across the world. This has been achieved through the creation of social networks platforms for doing business both for consumers and retailers. Social networks have become more widespread and are swiftly winning the World Wide Web (Rheingold, 2002). For example, the usage of Facebook as one of a social media networks has made a company like Coca Cola’s major brand which is Coke to be extensively known. Notable impact of the usage of social media towards this brand is that it has resulted to strong brand awareness on the brand and recognition by young consumers. This has seen the company yielding more growth and recognitions across the world and appreciation of their other brands. Social media activities and users interactions have made an enormous impact on the consumers regarding the brands perception which greatly influences the consumers purchasing decision. Unlike the past when social media activities were not embraced, present marketers have realized that social media is imperative to creation of strong brand awareness through social networking. A company like Pepsi which was among the earliest companies to embrace social media marketing on their brands, did well in the modern markets thus a high increment of their sales and consumers (Piskorski, 2014). The company decided to refurbish its whole brand, including its company Logo PepsiCo that adopted a vaguely nontraditional approach in building new brand awareness across the social media networking. The company bloggers delivered a bunch of Pepsi cans showing the way it’s design had evolved in the entire process, that was the time when influencers then blogged about the design. This had a direct impact to its brand awareness. Good social media requires monitoring and listening for social clues. This monitoring then leads to deeper engagement and development. This is a forerunner to joining the conversation on brand awareness (Laermer and Simmons, 2007). The 80/20 principle, 80% of your online content should drive interaction, listening, monitoring and engaging. Engagement is critical to the online experience essential in minimizing the attitude-behavior gap. This is the gap between beliefs and actions hence online; a lot of the engagement is outside of the Brand subject of control. The figure below indicates the usage of social media, an aspect that significantly contribute to brand awareness. Usage Size in percentage Read consumer feedback 68 Learn about products 60 Get Coupons 58 Get positive feedback 54 Get negative feedback 51 Business contact 48 How To’ Info 45 Figure 1 social media usage Most of the consumers, who do not easily believe everything a brand says, mostly rely on word of mouth recommendations (Williams and Anthony, 2006). Online activities and campaigns have a greater impact on brands awareness by promoting market messages; this has a better chance of creating awareness than those that are not. The figure below represents the various types of consumers’ engagements towards brand awareness. Emotional engagement Behavioral engagement When consumers make a connection with a brand Back to the attitude behavior gap Subtle precursor to later behavior Easier to measure How do customers feel about a brand Result of an action Difficult to measure as it is not actual behavior Is closely linked to the ladder of loyalty Impact of social media on the management and acquisition of customers Organizations employ various strategies to acquire and manage their customers. Online marketing is more focused on trends, peer pressure and brands. The key objective while dealing with a brand oriented visitor within the social media is to improve the reputation of a product and the emotional characteristics that surrounds the product. It is vital for firms to understand the issues that affect customers who are using online purchasing methods. For example, impulse buying is mostly triggered by emotional arousal (Baker, 2008). Similarly, purchasing decisions are influenced by clear and concise product pages which are designed to instigate customer’s emotional system. Organizations also utilize stimuli such as captivating and colorful images to attract the attention of new customers. For a rational visitor, there exists two-step purchasing decision process. These include rejecting the options that do not meet one of the most significant criterions which is price and undertaking a cost/benefit analysis to select from the remaining alternatives (Strauss, El-Ansary & Frost, 2003). To influence the purchasing decision while dealing with rational visitors, marketers must provide clear relevant information to make a calculated decision. Another category of consumers that organization should be ready to handle and maximize their sales is the maximiser. This category is known to have obsessions on making the best choice out of the available options. The major cause of this behavior is worrying about making bad decisions as well as anxiety (Aaker, 2008). As a way of influencing, the purchasing decisions of maximisers, organizations should limit the number of options in an intelligent manner including filtering and providing a default or suggested purchases. In this way, the consumers will feel more involved in the purchasing process. Conclusion Social media is a major tool in the current marketing activities. The replacement of traditional marketing strategies and adoption of Facebook, tweeter, Skype, you tube and instagram has made organizations to achieve more information that relates to their consumers. Within a social media environment, information plays vital duties. By maintaining an updated marketing database, marketers are assisted in making one-to-one marketing communication, customer recognition and service and generating management information (Chaffey et al, 2004). Improved technology has also diverted the attention of companies from traditional marketing strategies to modern form of marketing by use of social networking. As noted in the paper, social media has created the aspect of measurement that allows marketers to quantify the impacts of their consumers and marketing activities. Additionally, organizations can reach their customers regardless of their location due to the global usage of internet. In relation to enhancing brand awareness, social media and social networks have been applied by companies such as Coca Cola and Pepsi to create strong relationship with the consumers. While marketers adopted banners, television and magazines to create brand awareness, marketers in the modern marketing field have adopted social media to educate their potential consumers about new products, prices, promotions and outlets where brands can be accessed. As indicated by the table on social media usage, the number of potential consumers who read online about the feedback from other consumers remains to be high. This means that social media is a significant trigger of word of mouth marketing. Social media is also important in managing and acquiring new customers. By dividing the consumers into categories such as brand oriented visitors, rational visitors and maximisers, marketers can identify the way to influence their purchasing decisions. References Aaker, D. (2008). Strategic Market Management. London: Sage. Baker, M. (2008). The Strategic Marketing Plan Audit. London: Sage. Birn, R. (2004). Effective Use of Market Research: How to Drive and Focus Better Business Decisions (4th Edition). London: Kogan Page, Limited. Chaffey, et al. (2004). Internet Marketing. New York: FT Prentice Hall Dann & Dann. (2003). Strategic Internet Marketing 2.0. New York: Wiley Homburg, C., Sabine, K., Harley, K. (2009). 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