Implication of Social Media Marketing

Question: Discuss about the Implication of Social Media Marketing. Answer: Introduction In the recent days, with the advancement of the technology, the use of social media has become very popular for people from all section of the people of the society. Tuten and Solomon (2014), believes that in the context of the present days, the use and the application of social media marketing has been adopted by all types of business organizations in order to promote the value of their products and service. Ashley and Tuten (2015), have defined that social media marketing as an effective way for the business organization that helps them to connect and communicate with all potential customers of the society. In the recent days the tools that are used by the private business companies has undergone huge change. They have adopted various innovative ways of marketing and promoting the products and service that has helped them to gain competitive advantage in the tough and challenging business environment. Within the last decade with the advancement of the communication technology, the virtual form of communication among the people have increased have become popular. This review examines the current literature that discusses the advantages and drawbacks of the use of Social media marketing in modern day business. It also compares the various themes that are associated with social media marketing. Finally it attempts to identify the gap that exits the current literature about social media marketing research and also points out the area of the topic that needs to be improved for future research work. Definition of Social Media According to Cader and Al Tenaiji (2013), it is important for all business stakeholders to understand the importance of and the terms related to social media and networking, which will help them in applying the protocol in all types of promotional activities. The terms related to Web 2.0, which is a user way to define the application bid World Wide Web is crucial in the context of the defining the social media marketing. Chang et al. (2013), believe that the application of the social network depends on the ability of the user to accept the use of the modern technology in daily life rather than overall improvement of the technology. For example in the rural areas, the local inhabitants are not comfortable with the use of modern technology and hence, it is not possible for the business organization to communicate with the rural people with the help of Social media marketing. Vinerean et al. (2013), have defined that the social media as a broader software tool, which contains user gener ated content materials that can be shared via online sources. There are few of the basic requirements of the social media network that can need to be a part of the social media website. These include all detail information of the use that they are willing to share among the public and also provide the permission about to the people, who will able to access the information. The users also need to have the ability to provide opinions and comment to certain post and discussions that is trending in the online forums. Thus, the social media makes it possible for all types of people all across the globe to share their thoughts and opinion to the public. According to Constantinides (2014), the phrase, social media is quite different from the terms related to social network. In the social media the users get the opportunity to participate and thus be a part of the online forum. The social media also provides the platform for the social network, which can be used by the business organizations to communicate with all potential customers. The social media thus provides the information to the buyers about the product or service that they are willing to purchase. Hays et al. (2013), have mentioned about the importance of the terms Consumers Sentiment towards Marketing, which is one of the important factors for measuring the level of customer satisfaction and also get their opinions. The feelings and belief that are associated with the customers about certain products can also be measured with the help of this parameter. Keegan and Rowley (2017), have argued about that the use of social media marketing is limited up to the point to which, t he customers can make uses the social media for collecting information. In the present days, social media is not only regarded as the site for communicating with friends and families, it also became a site, where it is possible get all necessary information about different brands and the products they are offering in the market. The Innovation Adaptation Process is one of the main instruments that can be used by various business organizations that help to improve the popularity of the social media among the customers. With the help of the principles of the Innovation Adaptation Process it is possible for the marketers to prepare the marketing campaign plans. With the highly developed search engine optimization tool, it is possible to improve upon the techniques that are used by the marketing experts to improve upon the social media marketing techniques. Social Media Marketing as a Tool for Raising Brand Awareness With the advancement of the social media, there has been increased use of the online communities and forums that allows the customers to provide reviews and feedbacks about the experience they have related to the use of products and services. With the help of this idea all the major brands have introduced the idea about the virtual brand community. According to Hudson and Thal (2013), in the present days, all the major brands of the globe have dedicated sites that help them to directly connect with the customers. This has also allowed the customers to provide important feedbacks about the positive and negative feedbacks about the quality of particular products and service. The use of brand community ensures that customers using the same brand products from all parts of the world stays connected. Stelzner (2013), has mentioned that it is important for the brand to increase their popularity that will help to raise the level of brand awareness among the people. In the virtual brand community, the customers can also get information about the latest products that are being launched in the market. The customers can also discuss about the issues that they are facing while using certain products. It is essential for the companies to ensure that they are have high level of reputation and trust in the market, which help in creation of the brand awareness among the public. According to Dahnil et al. (2014), the virtual brand community can be of different types depending on the types of customers they have. For example, there is Electronic Consumer to Consumer Interaction Forum, where the customers discuss and get information about the latest electronic gadgets that are to be launched in the market. This forum provides the opportunity to all the passionate electronic lovers to interact and discuss about the latest products in the market. The analysis done by Tiago and Verssimo (2014), suggests that these online forums of electronic products have a huge influence over the decisions that are made by customers over the choice of products and brands. Moretti and Tuan (2014), have listed 7 factors that mainly influence the customers from the online virtual community. The content and security along with the quality of the products are few of the influential elements that have direct effect over the decision made by the customers. The atmosphere and the conven ience of getting it purchasing a product will help to enable the customers and encourage them to choose a certain brand over the other. The social media giants such as Face book, MySpace or YouTube have seen huge increase about the total number of users. According to Leung et al. (2015), the use of the Social media platforms for marketing has proved to be highly economical and financially beneficial for all large and small scale companies in the marketing activities that aim to improve the level of brand consciousness among the customers. Another main advantage of the Social media Marketing technique is that there is no investment that is needed (Armstrong et al. 2016). This can be especially beneficial for the small scale companies and also the Start ups. With almost no major investment they get the chance to communicate with wide range of customers. It is also regarded as one the most reliable source that can use to provide information about the business policies. The social capital is one of the vital important elements of the customer care management, which help the company to deal with the public relationship. This relationship is one of the main components of psychology that is created among the customers. With the help of social media marketing, it is possible to establish positive impact on the people. Drawbacks of Social Media Marketing In spite of fact that there are many advantages that are associated with the use of social media marketing, the drawback that are associated with the use of the social media prevents the business organization to make necessary improvements. According to Tsimonis and Dimitriadis (2014), the time that is needed to invest in the social media marketing can be one of the major causes of downfall of the company. As the online social media provides opportunity for all types of people to express their thoughts and feedbacks about the products, it can be misused by the users to give negative and false information about the information of a product. As the opinions and feedbacks that are provided by the people on the social media platforms have the huge effects on the mindset of the people. Hence, all the companies has to invest huge time in order to monitor all the feedbacks that are provided by the people and also remove the false information that are being provided by the people. The trademark and copyright related issues is also one of the major drawbacks of the use of the social media as a source of marketing. The brand logo and trademark is one of the essential parts of all reputed brands of the globe, which is regarded as the intellectual property of the company. The social media also provides the opportunity to fake the brand logo and trademark of reputed multinational companies and provide false information about the company to the people of the online virtual forums. There are many third party groups within the social media, that participate in the social media forums and these party can create false impression upon the people about the brand image of the company. Hence, Malthouse et al. (2013) have suggested that it is the duty of the marketing agents to ensure that they regularly monitor the online social media forums. With the increase in the number of cyber crimes in the modern days, it is the duty of the marketing managers to ensure that they use proper cyber security system in order to prevent the misuse of social media platforms. According to Zeng and Gerritsen (2014), the viral advertising is also considered one of the disadvantage of the social media marketing that generally spreads false and fake marketing. Gaps in the Current Literature With the increased use of the social media sites, wide range of information is available in the public domain to deal with the research work. The current research work will help to improve upon the awareness level of social media marketing upon the marketing managers of the company. However, the current literature does not provide enough information about the drawbacks that are associated with the use of social media marketing. It also does not provide enough evidence about the ways to deal with the negative impact of the social media marketing. As in the current age the social media is undergoing huge transformation, it is the duty of the research workers to develop better and improved ways of implication of social media marketing. Conclusion In conclusion it can be said that the use of social media marketing has wildly become popular in the current age. Every business organization can use this form of marketing in order to seek attention of wide rates of customers. In spite of the fact there are many drawbacks the implication of social media in marketing in the future can be of great use. Reference Armstrong, C.G., Delia, E.B. and Giardina, M.D., 2016. 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