The Increasing Importance of Social Media in the UK - Essay Example

? Impact of Social Media on UK events Industry The research study is exploring the impact of social media on the UK events industry. The social media has become central to the idea of communication and increasingly consuming a lot of time of people. The events industry is required to capitalize on the trends of social media so as to remain competitive and thrive well considering the growth and promotion of events. It is necessary to understand the intricacies of the social media in the manner they are used. Knowledge of how customers of events industry use social media is necessary so that effective use of the channel of social media can be made possible. The research is based on identifying these patterns and impacts so that the social media can be used as an effective promotional tool. The paper is developed with exploratory research design based on analysis of information and facts. The combination of the survey questionnaire and literature review is used to explore the qualitative perspective of the research. The paper finds out that the social media has huge impact on how the events industry of UK conducts the marketing and promotion of the media. However, blind following of the trend to use social media does not lead to effective results. It is necessary to have a two way communication and understand the nature of the customer relevant to the particular industry. Contents Abstract 2 Research Question 5 Significance of the research 5 Aims and objectives 5 Structure of the report 6 Literature review 6 Research Methodology 10 Research Methods 10 Sampling 11 Data analysis approach 11 Findings and Data Analysis 11 Discussion in relation to literature review 17 Evaluation of the outcome 18 Conclusion and recommendations 19 References 21 Introduction Social media has become an important part of the day-to-day life of people. People especially youngsters spend a significant amount of time exploring social media and its applications. Due to the increasing importance of social media in lives of people, the corporate field also understands the potential of this media in terms of utilizing it as the form of marketing tool in advertising (Smith and Zook 2011). Today, many companies are promoting their products and services through presence on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. It is rivalling the traditional forms of media and consumes a large portion of the time of people. The reach of this form of media has even extended to the social rituals that most people cherish. In general, it has implications for the events industry as well. The industry ought to capitalize on the trends of social media so as to remain relevant. The social media trends also present new opportunities for the events industry so as to thrive well in the competitive environment and move forward (Smith and Zook 2011). The UK events industry is worth 36 billion pounds and it presents an opportunity for the country to be the business destination of choice at the global level. Due to the rise in the growth of the events industry of UK with the recent example of conducting the event of Olympic and Paralympics games event in 2012, it is evident that the industry requires much more marketing tools that have vast reach to people and attract them. The rapid growth of the industry demands equally effective marketing tool for giving the push to the growth and the success (Thorley 2010). Research Question The research question for the study is as follows: How social media impacts the UK events industry? What are the implications of the explosion in social media use on the events industry in the UK, as they pertain specifically to the way the industry markets itself and provides services to its customers? Significance of the research The growth of the events industry of UK has compelled the professionals in the industry to make use of such marketing tools for advertising that can attract a large number of audiences and has a vast reach. The rising use of social media and its strong existence in the routine life of people has opened gates for the events industry professionals to use this media. The research is significant in exploring the extent of implications of use of social media in the events industry and how it impacts the way the industry markets itself. Aims and objectives The aim of the research is to explore impact of social media on UK events industry and on the way the industry does the marketing. In order to achieve the aim, it is necessary to frame sound and relevant objectives so that authentic outcomes could come out in the end. Following are the research objectives: To identify the impact of social media on the UK events industry by exploring the way it is used by the industry. To explore how the social media pertain specifically to the way the industry markets itself and provides services to its customers. To understand the role of social media as a marketing tool for promoting the growth of the UK events industry. Structure of the report The introduction of the report is followed by the review of the pertinent literature including journal articles, textbooks and other authentic articles. Next step is the research methodology that includes the blueprint for the overall research in concern including research design and the way the research is conducted. It is followed by data analysis and discussion so that proper inferences can be drawn. The last chapter is the conclusion in which all the findings of the research are concluded. Literature review Literature review is an important section of any research study. It is helpful in collecting secondary information pertinent to the research question. It includes critical review of literature given in journal articles, textbooks and other authentic sources from internet. Smith and Zook (2011) state that social media has evolved as an important marketing and advertising tool in the last few years specifically for the events industry. It is also evident that this trend is bound to continue in the upcoming years. There is an increased use of both online and offline games at big events for the purpose of increasing the interaction of the attendee. The principles from the online gaming world including the leadership, role play, feedback, narration, etc. that can be used for encouraging people in an active form so that they can learn about the developments in the events industry (Smith and Zook 2011). Ferdinand and Kitchin (2012) argue that as an impact of the social media on UK events industry, the event community will become more and more synonymous with the community present online. The social media usually spreads anything that is social and events are usually social. This form of media is all about communities and whether this media build up on its own in a spontaneous manner or it emerges through careful engineering, it always supplements and drives the participation in the events (Ferdinand and Kitchin 2012). Eyrich et al (2008) mention that media planners who are smart in their work are taking full advantage of the benefits of social media and are making use of it through creating online communities for the purpose of distributing content and build up a large network of engaged attendees. As an outcome of the impact of social media on the events industry, companies in the industry are creating software for helping the media planners to plan the event. There is increased recognition of interaction in the social media as a boon specifically to the events industry. The face to face events cost much time and money. On the other hand, virtual events involving social media can attain the same objectives as that of physical organization of events without presence of all negatives. The example of impact of social media on the events industry is blogosphere which is used for organizing a large number of conferences with new formats (Eyrich et al 2008). The online communication with the audiences in the form of offline and online gaming can create the buzz for the event among a large number of people who are internet users. Professionals in the events industry in UK are indulged in making use of social media for engaging customers, empower employees, devise social campaigns, monitor the brand in an effective manner and opening of new audiences that is still untapped through diverse channels that the media provides (Thorley 2010). UK events industry is integrating social media for the successful digital marketing strategy. The uptake and usage of services of social media is very high in UK. People are demanding more and more from these channels. There is a lot of room for the potential of media as the marketing tool (Thorley 2010). It provides huge advertisement opportunities for brand marketers to organize events and create a large pool of attendee through social media websites. For instance, World Travel Market, the winner of the best use of social media within UK events industry in 2012 invested huge time as well as resources for developing the strategy for the social media. It utilized Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flicker, Google+, YouTube, etc. for engaging the entire audience as well as increased the level of interaction through moving reporters on the event floor that kept on capturing photos and videos which were immediately uploaded on social media channels (EO winners of Best Use of Social Media on the record 2012). Furthermore, innovative and imaginative use of social media was developed. For instance, the WTM photo competition was launched on the social media website of Facebook and was promoted through Twitter. The audience of WTM was asked to submit photos of their best destination and with different themes every week. This innovative initiative encouraged the visitor audience with encouragement of conversations and led to building up of a community between them and exhibitors. It led the exhibitors to promote their destinations enthusiastically (EO winners of Best Use of Social Media on the record 2012). Safko (2010) states that the social media activity is connected with the main organizing event through showing up of the winners of social media contests on large screens in the main event. This strategy attracts a large number of people as the attendees. The powerful and effective use of social media adds value to the event. Thorley (2010) mentions that the event organizers in UK strive to make their social media campaigns effective through keeping it simple, and framing and developing a campaign that is self promoting and relevant to the particular industry. Phillips (2009) argues that it is essential for companies organizing events in UK to capitalize on social media trends and understand how social media works. The blind embrace and promotion on social media can result into promotion of products and services in such manner that fails to connect with the people. On the flip side, as social media channels have become a trend to use for promotion and marketing of events, every company in the events industry is thriving on this tool for advertising which can lead to some negative consequences as well (Phillips 2009). Hoffman and Fodor (2010) mention that considering the negative impact of social media websites, blind following of the trend can often lead to failures of the marketing campaign. Until suitable interest is generated among the online users, the social media channel does not guarantee the success of the promotion of the event. Usually having a huge number of followers for the promotion of the event in the digital marketing channel is considered as the success of the promotion campaign. However, if there is little or no interaction between followers and marketers, the event cannot become successful with the hope of having presence of large number of attendees (Hoffman and Fodor 2010). Agichtein et al (2010) argue that the focus of the social media campaign should be on attraction and retention of large number of actively engaged members of the online community so that the event can become self promoting. Considering the facts, every two out of the five social media users in UK i.e. 41% of total online population in UK, claim that they are getting bored of the channels of social media. Owing to this changing trend, companies in the events industry of UK are required and need to be more thoughtful in terms of targeting or framing new marketing models as there is less than half of the total online population of UK which state that they do see other activities or events being promoted on the website other than just interacting with their friends (Agichtein et al 2010). Phillips (2009) argues that it appears to the events industry and marketing professionals that social media can prove to be an effective and key marketing tool for promotion of events. However, in order to maximize the attendance of people in the event through promotion on social media channels, it is required and is essential to have some innovative ideas of promotion that can well connect to the psyche of online users in relation to the type of event. The social media gives the ability to share, interact and tweet on websites. The social media services are required to have that extra interacting approach with the users besides remaining just being social. It has the potential to draw a large number of attendees to the event. It is necessary for the event planners to understand and then leverage the channels of social media in an effective manner (Phillips 2009). Eyrich et al (2008) mention that as the attendees can connect to the event before, during and after the event, they can drive the whole event into a positive direction with meaningful dialogues and active participation. The practices that can make most out of the overall efforts on channels of social media include getting engaged in two way conversation, making the event worthy of attention and welcoming the honest feedback. The promotion of the event should be engaging, transparent and authentic. It is good to compliment the post on Facebook, or re-tweeting the post of another user of Twitter which would sound interesting to the audience, writing a blog about the topic that the concerned audience cares about, etc. Valuable information and interesting content make the event more attention worthy rather than just information about the event on the website. Moreover, encouraging people to share their stories and give the feedback about the event in the social media can pave the way for improvement in the event in future (Eyrich et al 2008). Research Methodology It is an important part of the research report as it explains the methods used for data collection. The research design signifies the base of the methods of research and it acts as the blueprint for the study regarding the way to collect, analyze and present the data (Bergh and Ketchen 2009). Exploratory research design is chosen for the study as it explores the impact of social media on UK events industry identifying the level of impact and its use as a major marketing tool. Research Methods Both primary and secondary research methods are used for the study. The primary method of survey through questionnaire is chosen. The method of survey through questionnaire helps in reaching large number of people with less involvement of money and without wasting much of time (Bergh and Ketchen 2009). Respondents can fill the questionnaire as and when they want as the questionnaire is sent via internet. Presence of closed questions increases the chances of getting back the answers as the respondent just has to tick the answer according to his views. The secondary method of data collection is literature review. It helps in collection of authentic data from the internet through journal articles, textbooks and other relevant websites. It provides substantial base for theoretical information so as to accomplish the defined objectives of the research. Issues can be analyzed in a winder view through literature review. Review of diverse set of literary sources helps in collecting and organizing generalized facts and information about the defined research problem (Bryman and Bell 2007). Sampling Random sampling is chosen for unbiased approach towards collection of data. It allocates equal probability of inclusion in the sample from the target population. The questionnaire is sent to 50 event planners working in the UK events industry through internet. Data analysis approach The data collected from survey through questionnaire is analyzed through graphical presentation of data. The graphical presentation makes the findings more understandable for the reader. It helps in easy understanding of the explored facts and evidences, and is more comprehensible for readers due to use of charts and percent forms (Bryman and Bell 2007). Findings and Data Analysis On the basis of the survey through questionnaire, following responses have been obtained. Question 1 In response to the question regarding the vast use of social media websites by people in UK, 80% of the respondents agreed with the statement, while 15% said that there is not much of that use and 5% said that they do not have any idea about the increasing use of social media on people’s day to day life. It can be inferred from the above responses that there is a significant impact of the social media channels on the life of people in UK. Social media consumes their time significantly. Question 2 On asking the question about increasing use of social media channels by events industry as a key promotional and marketing tool, 45% respondents strongly agree that they use social media channels for the purpose of marketing of the event, 40% agreed to the question, 5% remained neutral, while 10% disagreed with the statement. It can be inferred from the distribution of above responses on the likert scale that event planners in UK use social media channels as an important platform to promote and market their event. It shows that there is a huge impact of social media channels on how event professionals plan the marketing and promotion of the event. Question 3 On asking the question of whether they extensively use existing online communities for the purpose of distributing content and build up a large network of engaged attendees, 70% respondents said yes, while 30% said no. On the basis of the responses, it is found out that the online communities are synchronous with the event communities and event planners purposefully design promotional programs to attract large attendees through online platform. Question 4 For the question of whether merely having a large number of followers for the event on the social media channels determine the success of the event, 25% strongly agreed, 30% agreed, 5% remained neutral, 25% disagreed while 15% strongly disagreed. The above responses show the some of the media planners blindly embrace the trend of promoting the event on social media channels. Having a strong following of the event on digital platform is considered as the success of the promotional event. While some of them do not think so. Question 5 The above figure presents the responses on importance of two way communication in making the promotion of the event on digital platform successful. 55% of the respondents agreed to the importance of two way communication for the success of the event, 35% said no, while 10% had no idea and could not say anything. The above responses draws the inference that majority of event planners consider two way communication significant. However, those who do not consider it significant are no very less. It can be inferred that there is still the need to understand the difference between the social media platform and the traditional media platform for promotion of the event. Question 6 On asking the question about role of innovative ideas of promotion tailored to the psyche of the intended audience, 35% strongly agreed, 40% agreed, 10% remained neutral, while 15% disagreed with the statement. The above distribution of responses on likert scale show the event planners increasingly understand the importance of innovative ideas of promotion so as to make the promotion on social media channels quite effective and successful resulting into a large number of attendees for the main event. Question 7 On asking the question about the need of greater transparency and trustworthiness with shifting the power in favour of the intended online community, 75% of respondents agreed that they recognize this need, while 10% did not recognize the need, and 15% did not have any opinion about it. It is found out that professionals in the events industry recognize the need to have greater transparency as well as trustworthiness through shifting the power in favour of the online audience, as they understand the ability of the social media to surface the information about services which in turn enable the customer to share information with one another on a growing scale. Question 8 On asking the question about the measures that could be taken to enhance the success of the promotion of the event on social media channels, most of the respondents said that an extra interacting approach is the key to attract a large number of attendees through the social media platform. Quoting the response of one respondent, “Social media is different from the traditional print and TV media. In social media, it is the online user who has the power of spreading any idea or promotion through interaction with friends and his network. It is necessary to capitalize on this fact and making the online user powerful. Presence of valuable content and innovative ideas that engage online users in some interesting activities is the main thing”. It can be inferred from the overall responses for the question that present of valuable and worthy content, engaging the users in interesting and innovative activities and enhancing two- way communication is the key to the success of the promotion of any event on social media platform in the UK events industry. Discussion in relation to literature review Social media has evolved as a significant platform considering the promotion of events in the UK events industry. There is an increasing trend to make use of channels of social media for promoting the event on digital platform and attract a large number of attendees through this medium (Smith and Zook 2011). Survey responses also show this trend as respondents agree to the increasing use of social media by them for the purpose of promotion. There is extensive use of presence of large online communities for the promotion of the event. The impact of social media is so wide that the online communities are synchronous to the event community that attends the event. It means that most of the attendees are gathered through the social media platform (Ferdinand and Kitchin 2012). The response from the survey also support the fact as majority of respondents agree using the social media channels in extensive way to distribute the content and information regarding the event. The general population of UK has come to embrace the social media channel in the same fervor as the traditional media channels of TV and newsprint. However, it does not mean that strategies used for promotion on TV and print media can be adopted for promotion on social media. It is quite different in terms of possession of power to the users. Social media users have the ability to find the content that suit and attract them. Not only this, they can spread that content and information quite effectively through their digital network (Eyrich et al 2008). The survey responses also conform to the difference in the traditional and social media. Having just a large number of following of the event on the digital social platform does not guarantee the success of the event. However, there is need to spreads this idea more in the UK events industry. It is essential on the part of media planners to understand the psyche of their intended online audience and come up with the innovative ideas and activities that could suit and attract the intended online user so that he can relate and engage himself in the event promotion. The event has to be self promoting so that large number of users can connect to it. Presence of transparent information and allowing two-way feedback can make the user feel important and he can actively connect to the activities of the event (Phillips 2009). Shifting the power balance in favour of the online community is the key to success of the online promotion of the event. As identified from the field survey, presence of worthy content and innovative ideas for engaging the intended online audience is a suitable measure to attract a large number of audience as users usually search and surface the information that appeals to them and is relevant. Evaluation of the outcome The outcome of the research is that social has a crucial role to play in the UK events industry. There is huge impact of this platform on how the promotional strategies are framed to cater to the needs of the online user. There is huge potential to use social media in the events promotion. The key is to understand the difference in the way people use social media and the traditional media. It can be used as a successful marketing tool if planned keeping in mind the psyche of the online community. It relates to the aim of the research to identify how the social media has affected the way the events industry market the event. Conclusion and recommendations Social media is widely used by general population of UK. It has accepted it in the same way it has embraced print and electronic media. Social media platform is widely used by the events industry to make events successful through attracting large number of attendees via online platform. Various software are developed by companies so as to launch attractive promotional strategy on social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, etc. The impact of social media is so huge that event planners have to specifically launch the promotional event tailored according to the needs and attitude of their desired audience. However, as the use of social media as become the trend, the possibility of just blindly following the trend without much research on how to capitalize on the trend is high. Blind embrace of the trend could result in failure of the event promotion. It is essential to shift the power balance in favour of the online user. As the social media users have the ability to search and promote the information they find relevant and attractive, it is necessary to tailor the promotion according to the need of the customer. One way communication is not suitable and it cannot attract a large number people to the main event. Launch of interesting and engaging activities can keep the social media user attached to the event before, during and after the occurrence of the event. Following are the recommendations for the UK events industry to drive the positive impact of use of social media for the promotion of events: Use of engaging, innovative and interesting activities that could engage the social media users and make them connected to the event. Designing of the event in a self promoted manner so that more and more users could easily start following the event and its happenings. Encouragement of two-way feedback with presence of valuable content so that the online audience could find the event and in turn, their participation to be useful and worthy. Shifting of the power of balance towards the users of social media channel as there are various levels of strengths of relationships among friendship networks. References Agichtein, E., Castillo, C., Donato, D. and et al. Finding High-Quality Content in Social Media. 2010. [Online]. Available at: http://184pc128.csie.ntnu.edu.tw/presentation/09-03-09/Finding%20High-Quality%20Content%20in%20Social%20Media.pdf [Accessed on: 02 January 2012]. Bergh, D.D. and Ketchen, D.J. 2009. Research Methodology in Strategy and Management. UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Bryman, A. and Bell, E. 2007. Business Research Methods. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. EO winners of Best Use of Social Media on the record. 2012. [Online]. Available at: http://events-guru.co.uk/event-technology-news-features/aeo-winners-best-use-social-media-record [Accessed on: 02 January 2013]. Eyrich, N., Padman, M.L. and Sweetser, K.D. 2008. PR practitioners’ use of social media tools and communication technology. Public Relations Review, 34(4), 412-414. Ferdinand, N. and Kitchin, P. 2012. Events Management: An International Approach. SAGE. Hoffman, D.L. and Fodor, M. 2010. Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing. MITSloan Management Review, 52, 1. Phillips, D. 2009. Online Public Relations: A Practical Guide to Developing an Online Strategy in the World of Social Media. Kogan Page Publishers. Safko, L. 2010. The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. John Wiley & Sons. Smith, P.R. and Zook, Z. 2011. Marketing Communications: Integrating Offline and Online with Social Media. Kogan Page Publishers. Thorley, C. 2010. [Online]. Available at: http://www.eventmagazine.co.uk/news/993691/ [Accessed on: 02 January 2013]. Appendix Questionnaire 1. Do you think that there is vast use of social media websites by people in UK? a. Yes b. No c. Cannot say 2. Do you agree that there is increasing use of social media channels by events industry as a key promotional and marketing tool? a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree 3. Do you extensively use existing online communities for the purpose of distributing content and build up a large network of engaged attendees? a. Yes b. No c. Cannot say 4. Do you believe that merely having a large number of followers for the event on the social media channels determines the success of the event? a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree 5. Do you agree that there is importance of two way communication in making the promotion of the event on digital platform successful? a. Yes b. No c. Cannot say 6. What is your opinion about the role of innovative ideas of promotion tailored to the psyche of the intended audience? a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree 7. Is there a need of greater transparency and trustworthiness with shifting the power in favour of the intended online community? a. Yes b. No c. Cannot say 8. What are the measures that could be taken to enhance the success of the promotion of the event on social media channels? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Read More