social media marketing, its impact on marketers and recommendations for effective use of social media in businesses

social media marketing, its impact on marketers and recommendations for effective use of social media in businesses

Introduction

Digital marketing emerged as one of the most effective promotional tools for businesses in the 21st century. The advancements in technology and the adoption of the Internet facilitated the growth of digital marketing across the globe. According to Kasilingam and Thanuja (2020), digital marketing refers to the use of technologies in promoting a product or service to attract consumers. Technology has led to the development of aspects like online shopping and e-commerce, which in turn increase the need for digital marketing among businesses. Traditionally, companies heavily relied on print media, television, and word of mouth to reach the consumers, hence incurring high marketing costs. However, the rise of digital marketing provides businesses with a cheap, effective, and timely method of reaching potential customers. The report describes social media marketing, its impact on marketers and provides recommendations for effective use of social media in businesses

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to a type of digital marketing that involves the use of social networking platforms to create awareness of a product or service. Social media includes Web-based applications, microblogs, social networking sites, and content community sites like YouTube. The commonly used social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social media allows for interactivity hence provide a reliable marketing platform for establishing customer relationships, involvement, and communication. The media also allows users to post and view visual, verbal, text, or a mix of the three types of content hence providing an effective marketing platform (Alalwan, Rana & Dwivedi, 2017).

The Internet, digital technologies, and social media have become an essential part of peoples’ lives across the globe. In America, for example, 87% of adults and over 95% of young people use the Internet. In the United Kingdom, adults spend approximately 20 hours a week online. Facebook alone consists of over 2 billion users daily (Stephen (2017). People use social media platforms for various purposes like communication, entertainment, education, and job hunting. Social media users also search for product information, contact the seller, purchase the product, and recommend the product to friends. The increased use of social media forces marketers to leverage digital marketing strategies to reach a broader market for products and services. The marketers mainly use social media for conducting market research, branding, networking, and customer service.

Implications of Social Media to Marketers

The use of social media transformed the research and competitor analysis aspects of marketing. Social media channels contain a large amount of data about consumers and competitors, making it a rich source of information for market insights. Marketers can use the data and conduct surveys to establish a target audience or monitor competitors’ activities to formulate strategies for gaining a competitive advantage.

Social media provides an active communication channel for creating and building a brand. The platforms allow businesses to customer and customer to customer communication to create brand awareness and loyalty. Companies make a social media presence in one or more of the social media platforms to create awareness of existence. For example, Red Bull used Instagram in 2015 to create awareness of its new “Summer Edition” drink in the Australian market. The company created summer-themed images and videos and posted on Instagram to attract the audience to the product.

Social media platforms allow the marketers to interact directly with potential customers hence building and maintaining customer relationships. The sites enable customers to provide feedback and opinions about the product or service offered by a business. The messages include negative comments that require a company to review its products and influence other buyers’ intention to purchase from the seller. Also, social media enables the customers to seek and receive help and support regarding products and services from a company on time. Therefore, social media significantly transformed the role of marketers from basically promoting a product or service to responding to customer inquiries and providing after-sale services.

Social media provides a reliable platform for increasing sales for businesses. Social media comprises a large number of users from different parts of the world. The high rate of use of social media in the global population, especially millennials, influences the sale of products and services online. Moreover, the emerging consumer behavior of online buying facilitates the increased purchase of products and services from businesses on social media. The platforms allow communication between customers and sellers; hence customers can quickly contact the sellers, order and pay for the products and let the seller deliver or give pick-up information.

Evaluation and Recommendations

Social media marketing provides many opportunities for a business to grow and attain a competitive advantage. Most multinational companies in every industry, for example, Coca Cola, Zara, Starbucks, and Walmart, have effectively leveraged the benefits of social media to reach more consumers. However, many businesses are reluctant to incorporate social media into their marketing activities despite the growing evidence of the positive impact of social media on companies. The challenges of using social media for marketing include dynamism of technology, privacy issues, and reputational risk. The dynamic nature of information and communication technologies means marketers must consistently ensure the adoption of the most recent and commonly used platforms. The improper use of social media may also tarnish an organization’s reputation without proper management. Privacy and security concerns rising from malware and cyber-crimes also threaten the success of social media marketing as consumers and business information may be leaked and used for illegal purposes (Rugova & Prenaj, 2016).

Companies seeking to adopt social media marketing need to conduct sufficient research about the available sites, their benefits, risks, and decide the most applicable to their business model. Also, a business can use different social media channels to create a powerful marketing campaign. A combination ensures the marketer reaches a broader audience hence attracting more consumers for their products and services. Moreover, an active social media marketing strategy requires a business to employ highly skilled and committed employees to manage social media platforms. Proper management reduces the risk of potential misinformation, violation of intellectual rights, and negative reputation emanating from consumer feedback. A marketer also needs to ensure consistency in the creation and posting of content on social media to keep the customers informed.

Conclusion

Digital marketing is an essential tool for business success in the present technological era. The use of digital technologies has transformed the marketing function for many businesses by providing a timely and cost-effective method of promoting products and services in a highly competitive business environment. Social media offers an affordable and effective way of marketing for businesses. Social media marketing also allows a company to reach a wider audience due to the high number of users of the Internet in the present age. Marketers mainly use social media for creating brand awareness and loyalty, conducting market research, providing customer service, and increasing the sale of products and services. Therefore, companies must adopt effective strategies to minimize the challenges and leverage the opportunities social media presents to remain competitive.