How Has Social Media Changed Marketing Strategies We Use?

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This paper seeks to address the changes that social media has brought to the conventional marketing strategies, especially with the availability of the internet on a large scale worldwide.
* Companies have recognized the need for social media as a marketing strategy, to be competitive in the market.
* The use of the online marketing is what has taken center-stage in reaching out to target markets.
* Most of the marketing plans have an internet marketing solution as a consideration.
* Social media has enabled companies to save on their financial resource
* Most companies spend less or nothing at all when reaching out to their customers via social media.
* Internet use is cheaper compared to other media of transmission for example radio and television.
* There is a great deal of convenience for the company can address its customers directly once there is feedback from the customer regarding their needs and wants.
* Social media has enabled proper market segmentation, Targeting and positioning of the company offering to the market.
* The company can allocate resources accurately
* Social media marketing is not a form of mass marketing rather it is target marketing
* Through customer feedback, the company can understand the kind of product offering it can get the target market by positioning well.
* There is an expanded market share because of a wider coverage.
* Through the creation of virtual communities, the company can reach out to many customers
* Many people have an access to social media, which makes it a viable marketing tool.
* Conclusion
* Social media is the way to go into marketing.
* It should be included in the marketing plans of the company
* Social media is an enhanced form of word of mouth advertising
How Has Social Media Changed Marketing Strategies That We Use?
Introduction
There has been a great transformation in the marketing arena since the late 1990s with the advent of the introduction of the internet. Initially, the internet was just considered a social tool for communication between people, across the globe. The definition of social media is a group of applications that are internet-based that could relate technologically upon the foundations of web 2.0 (Moretti 250). It was the existing link between the interested parties by then. Interestingly, the last ten years have seen the transformation of the internet from just connecting people, into connecting businesses and products with people and vice versa (Cowden 8). This paper therefore seeks to outline the changes that social media has brought to the marketing strategies. It is in relation to the evolving nature of marketing since the beginning of the last century. In the contemporary marketing arena, companies have recognized the need to entrench internet marketing into their marketing plans. There has been a great deal of investment into this platform, as a marketing tool (Moretti & Tuan 250). Most companies admit to have saved a great deal of money and energy expended when reaching out to target customer. This notwithstanding, created a lot of excitement in the clientele since they had more variety to choose from and also had a chance to interact with the business owners directly (Cowden 11). Social media among other things has enabled a host of companies to increase their market share, since they are able to share pertinent information about their product and services. This is attributed to the opportunity that they have, to reach out to countless customers who would like their market offering. The use of traditional radio and TV for advertising is becoming obsolete and much focus is on social media which is effective and cost-effective (Singh & RatnaSinha 38). In essence, the two main benefits that will feature in this paper are: increased chances to raise the revenue base of the company and secondly, cost reduction.
Cowden (9) further states that, companies that are on social media have the avenue to target and position their market offering accurately enabling them to capture a vast segment of customers. This, in essence, has seen many marketing organizations establish communications and media strategy departments to oversee this and gain a competitive advantage. It is therefore true to say that, social marketing, has made it possible for companies to brand and rebrand their product easily and at the same time create market awareness to boost their sales, which in turn, translate into profits (Neti 1) Social media has ‘brought the market into the living room’ because all that is needed is the internet connection and proper communication skills. Having created a new way to marketing, social media platforms have boosted customer relations at a personal level to anyone around the world (Cowden 17). Small start-up companies have greatly benefited from social media. They have been able to grow at an alarming rate as never envisaged before (Cowden 19).
A closer observation of the social media sites, there are five major categories: Egocentric sites such as Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Bebo.com and MySpace.com, which focus on letting the users to formulate their own profiles on a virtual platform making it easy to identify them and enhance the connectivity element. Secondly, community sites such as BigWaveDave.com, Black Planet.com and Dogster.com (Cowden 15). They mainly make an imitation of the real-world communities and in the process, letting individuals to form around similar beliefs. The third category is the opportunistic sites such as Academia.edu, LinkedIn.com and Alibaba.com. They are mainly interested in letting different social organizations of users and enabling business networks. Fourth on the list is the Passion-centric Sites such as The Samba.com, germancarforum.com and chatterbirds.com. Their main target is the people who have hobbies and interests and are often defined horizontally. The final lot is, the Media Sharing Sites such as YouTube.com, Flickr.com, Instagram.com and slideshare.com. Their specialty is to make it able for the users to share media content that is rich in content (Cowden 15).
Social media advertising is responsible for the increased “clutter” and “noise”. Facebook has come of age in the advertising field and is no longer considered mediocre in the eyes of the target market. Recent research has indicated that the networked companies have an upper hand over those companies that do not embrace the use of technology in terms of profitability, market share and the leadership of the market (Cowden 15). They have strengthened the impact of word-of-mouth advertising at a reduced or no cost at all.
Marketers can use social media as a viable strategy because it is proven to yield positive results. Being the age of customer satisfaction, social marketing has outplayed the traditional approaches to marketing. The major emphasis is not “just selling” rather sales come out of an interaction. Businesses have a lot to learn from their customers with regard to their needs and wants. Social media provides a platform on which one can receive feedback, identify the customers’ needs and in the end, tailor-make products that are best suited to those needs and wants (Neti 13).
Social media cannot be considered to be a mass marketing strategy. If put to proper use, it could be used in the identification of influencers, who in essence would enable the company to reach the ultimate purchasers of the company products or services. It is one way that companies employ when searching for peer groups who could prove to be excellent customers for their products (Neti 12).
The multi-tasking phenomenon of social media, makes it an opportune method to relay information. This is so because unlike conventional marketing methods, one person can use a blog, YouTube or any other available avenue at the same time (Net 2011).
It has a way of engaging the customer in a manner likely to provoke action. The action could probably lead to a favorable purchase decision. When using this medium to advertise company products, proper links should be used so that the customer is able to purchase a product with minimum effort (Neti 12).
Through customer support services, social media platforms are known to increase customer loyalty which in the long run boosts customer retention. In the same breath, social media platforms, unlike conventional marketing, have been known to correct any negative publicity on the brands. Care should be taken, though not to overdo the campaign ...