Defining Social MediaSocial media websites and applications allow users to create and exchange user-generated content on the web. Show
Learning Objectives Describe the common characteristics of social media technologies, and user behaviors that occur on social media websites Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
What is Social Media?Social media are interactive platforms where content is created, distributed and shared by individuals on the web. Professors Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein of the ESCP European Business School define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. " Social media websites and applications allow users to create and exchange user-generated content where people talk, share information, participate and network through technologies such as blogs and social networking sites. Within the last decade, social media has become one of the most powerful sources for news updates, online collaboration, networking, viral marketing and entertainment. Conversations in Social Media: Consumers intentionally and unintentionally use social media to purchase, evaluate and ultimately influence a brand's marketing mix. Characteristics of Social Media Before
the term Web 2.0 was coined in 1999, Internet pages featured mostly static content such as text and graphics. Websites operated on Web 1.0 technologies, where website hosts and owners were the primary content contributors. Online information targeted a mostly passive audience that received rather than contributed content. However, with the introduction of Web 2.0 Internet technologies around the turn of the 21st century, social media venues such as blogs began to allow users to
interact and collaborate with each other in virtual communities. This more open, communal method of social media dialogue contrasted significantly with the top-down approach that characterized the early years of the web. Types of Social Media Some
of the most popular current forms of social media are social networking websites such as Facebook, which surpassed over one billion active monthly users in October 2012. There are several types of online platforms classified under the vast umbrella of social media. These categories include:
Social media can also be classified by their ability to facilitate certain social functions. These social functions often involve
identity, conversation, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme using six different types of social media-- collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (e.g. Twitter), content communities (e.g. YouTube), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), virtual game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life). Social Media Marketing CommunicationsSocial media serves as a cost-effective communication channel for promoting brands to target audiences. Learning Objectives Discuss how social media increases brand awareness and customer engagement in integrated marketing communications Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
Social Media and Integrated Marketing CommunicationsSome of the post popular tweets are tweeted by companies and businesses. Powerful brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald's boast Facebook pages with millions of fans. Social media, including social networks, makes it ever more important for companies to ensure their online exposure ties directly to their brand image and messaging. Along with television, radio, and print, social media is part of the communications ecosystem that works as a whole to create an enjoyable and seamless consumer experience across multiple channels. Likewise, integrated marketing communications is increasingly incorporating social media into the promotional mix to reach consumers on the web and on mobile devices. Facebook Business Page: Social networking sites such as Facebook can serve as lead generators for marketing communications campaigns. Brand Authenticity The explosion of social media websites has led to the increasingly important practice of social media marketing. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A brand's corporate message spreads from user to
user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source as opposed to from the brand or company itself. Social networking sites and blogs allow individuals to retweet or repost comments written by the creator of the product. Consumer Intelligence Social media allows marketers to refine their segmentation strategy by reaching a narrow target audience. For example, Pinterest, a
social bookmarking site with an overwhelmingly female user base, attracts companies that primarily target women. Engagement Advertising and PR Social media in business allows anyone and everyone to express an opinion or idea somewhere along the company's path to market. Through social networking sites, brands can have conversations and interactions with individual followers. This personal interaction can instill and strengthen brand loyalty amongst followers and potential customers. Thus, each participating customer informally becomes part of the marketing department, as other
customers read their comments or reviews. Digital Marketing CharacteristicsDigital marketing uses internet-connected devices to engage consumers with online advertising, primarily through pull or push methods. Learning Objectives Discuss pull versus push digital marketing tactics Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
Digital Marketing CharacteristicsDigital marketing is defined as the use of internet-connected devices such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and game consoles to engage consumers with online advertising. One of the key principles of digital marketing is creating an easy, seamless, and convenient user experience for target audiences. Moreover, eliminating the amount of consumer effort needed to act on digital content helps establish an ongoing, automated relationship between brands and their audience. Blog website: Digital marketers often incorporate blogs and other social media elements in their corporate websites to encourage web traffic. Pull Digital Marketing Pull digital marketing is characterized by consumers actively seeking marketing content. Consumers might use tactics including search engines, email newsletters, text messaging, or web feeds to search for brand information. Push technologies deliver content as it becomes available and are
better targeted to consumer demographics. However, microtargeting tends to produce smaller audiences, and results in higher creation and distribution costs. Push Digital Marketing Push digital marketing occurs when marketers send messages with or without the consent of the recipients. These digital marketing tactics include display advertising on websites and blogs. Email, text messaging, and web feeds are also considered push digital marketing when the recipient has not agreed to receiving the marketing
message. This practice is also known as spamming. The opposite of spamming is permission marketing, which uses technologies with the prior permission of the recipient. Marketers obtain consumer permission to send communications via subscriptions or written consent. Other Types of Digital Marketing A company may not exclusively use pull or push digital marketing strategies, or they might not use these strategies at all. There are other marketing strategies that may involve a variation of push or
pull marketing. For instance, multi-channel communications use push and pull message technologies simultaneously. Types of Internet AdvertisingTypes of Internet advertising include banner, semantic, affiliate, social networking, and mobile. Learning Objectives Give examples of how brands use affiliate marketing, social network advertising, search engine marketing (SEM), and mobile advertising. Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
Types of Internet AdvertisingOne major benefit of online advertising is the immediate publishing of information that is not limited by geographic or time constraints. Online advertisers can customize advertisements, making consumer targeting more efficient and precise. For example, AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google AdSense enable ads to be shown on relevant web pages or alongside related search results. On the other hand, consumers have greater control over the content they see, affecting the timing, placement, and visibility of online advertisements. Within the scope of Internet marketing, online advertising includes display advertising, affiliate marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), and mobile advertising. Banner Ad: Banner ads are examples of Internet advertising. Display Advertising Display advertising is the use of web banners or banner ads placed on a third-party website or blog to drive traffic to a corporate website and increase product awareness. These
banners consist of static or animated images, as well as interactive media including audio and video. Display advertising uses demographic and geographic targeting – capturing users' cookie and browser history to determine demographics, location, and interests – to target appropriate ads to those browsers. Affiliate marketingAffiliate marketing is a form of online advertising where advertisers place campaigns with a potentially large number of publishers, who are only paid media fees when the advertiser receives web traffic. Web traffic is usually based on a call-to-action or measurable campaign result such as a submitted web form or sale. Today, this is usually accomplished through contracting with an affiliate network. Social Network AdvertisingSocial network advertising is a form of online advertising found on social networking sites such as Facebook. Advertising on social media networks can take the form of direct display ads purchased on social networks, self-serve advertising through internal ad networks, and ad serving on social network applications through special social network application advertising networks. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)Search engine marketing is a form of marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). SEM tactics include paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion, or free search engine optimization techniques to drive placement of their ads. Advertisers pay each time users click on their listing and are redirected to their website, rather than for the ad itself. This system allows brands to refine searches and gain information about their market. Mobile Advertising
Cell phone advertising is the ability for organizations and individuals to advertise their product or service over mobile devices. Mobile advertising is generally carried out via text messages or applications. The obvious benefit of mobile advertising for brands is that mobile devices such as smartphones are usually close to the owner throughout the day. This presents a cost-effective way for brands to deliver targeted advertisements across mobile platforms on a daily basis. Technologies such as
location-based advertising also give marketers the ability to deliver ads in close proximity to the physical location of a consumer. Although advertisements appear on a small mobile interface, mobile advertisers have the ability to deliver personalized, and thus effective, messaging.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of employing various strategies to allow websites to rank
highly in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Paid search engine advertising increases a website's visibility and reach by displaying links to the website's landing pages at the top or bottom of a SERP. In contrast, SEO increases a website's visibility and reach by allowing the website to rank well organically in search results when search engine users search for certain key phrases and terms. Mobile MarketingMobile marketing is the practice of promoting brands over mobile devices such as smartphones, portable media players and tablets. Learning Objectives Discuss the pros and cons of marketing via smartphones, computer tablets and other mobile devices Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
Mobile Marketing This type of marketing allows marketers and advertisers to promote products and
services over mobile devices including cellular phones, smartphones, portable media players and tablets. QR Code Promotion: These are increasingly being used in mobile advertising campaigns to increase user engagement. Types of Mobile Marketing One of the most popular forms of mobile advertising is text messaging. During the early 2000s, marketing through cell phones' Short Message Service (SMS) became increasingly common in Europe and parts of Asia. Consequently, SMS marketing has become a legitimate advertising channel in both developed and developing economies around
the world. On average, it is estimated that SMS messages are read within four minutes after delivery to a mobile device. This makes mobile marketing highly attractive to brands looking for marketing communication channels with high lead-to-conversion rates. Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile Marketing Some of the key advantages of mobile marketing are the close proximity of owners' mobile devices, as well as the habitual nature of using cell phones, smartphones and computer tablets. Distributing promotional and advertising messages customized according to the recipient's location, geography and personal interests through wireless networks makes mobile marketing
highly cost-effective given the potential reach and scope of the audience. Social Behavior of ConsumersUnderstanding consumers' social behavior online and offline is essential to developing viable marketing communications strategies. Learning Objectives Describe how social media aids the study and measurement of consumer behavior Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
Social Behavior of ConsumersDigital and social media has spurred brands to develop research tactics that hone in on the social behavior of consumers online. Observing and understanding how consumers behave and interact with each other has led to the introduction of new semantic analysis technologies allowing companies to monitor consumer buying patterns based on shared and posted content. The data helps sales and marketing professionals improve segmentation to target prospects and customers. Web User: Younger generations use web and mobile devices to increase their number of social interactions. Consumer Behavior Traditionally, consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or
organizations and the processes they use to select, purchase and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas. Their purchases are meant to satisfy needs. Research has shown that consumer behavior is difficult to predict, even for experts in marketing communications. Relationship marketing, customer retention, customer relationship management (CRM) and personalization are all tactics used to assess consumer behavior. Types of Buyer Behaviors Extensive research is often used to understand what appeals to buyers: colors, thought triggers, images and sounds; all of these factors address
psychological buying behaviors. Societal buying behavior incorporates identification and suggestion to prompt a specific buyer behavior. When a company hires a spokesperson or personality to promote a product, they are utilizing societal buying behavior to connect buyer actions to that of the spokesperson or the personality involved. Similarly, psychographics are often used that offer insight into the lifestyle and personality traits of buyers. Online Behavioral Trends The advent of social networks and social media provides an easy way for people to connect on the web. People use social networking to meet new friends, find old friends, or locate people with similar problems and
interests. The information people post and share, as well as the relationships they build online, often transfer into an offline setting. While some critics have attributed the decline of quality interpersonal communication and human relationships to the growth of social media, others point to web and mobile technologies as a way for younger generations to experience more social interactions. Collecting and Analyzing Online Consumer Data Brands commonly use behavioral targeting techniques to market to consumers based on their online behavior.
Brands increase the effectiveness of their campaigns by capturing data on web visitors who visit their website landing pages. Websites identify visitors by assigning a unique ID cookie to each and every visitor to the site. This allows the platform to track users throughout their web journey and make rules-based decisions about what content to serve. However, when behavioral targeting is done without the knowledge of users, it may be considered a breach of browser security and even illegal
depending on country privacy, data protection and consumer protection laws. To monitor and measure behavior on social media sites, companies use analytical tools provided by the social media platform or external vendors. Types of Consumer-Generated Digital ContentConsumer-generated content can be text, images, video or other digital information posted and shared by end-users. Learning Objectives Discuss the technological factors that have led to the rise of consumer-generated digital content Key TakeawaysKey Points
Key Terms
Types of Consumer Generated Digital ContentTwitter for the iPad: Companies employ consumer-generated content across mobile applications such as tablet computers. The type of digital content created, published and shared by web users varies based on the media and communication technology available. The term "user-generated content" entered mainstream usage during 2005, after its rise in web publishing and new media content production circles. Consumer content is applied in areas including problem processing, news, gossip and research. The proliferation of consumer-generated content, which has coincided with the rise of social media, reflects the
expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public.
In addition to these digital media, user-generated content may also employ a combination of open source, free software, and flexible licensing or related agreements to further reduce
the barriers to collaboration, skill-building and discovery. Social media sites such as Facebook and Google+ include micropost features such as status updates, as well as "Like" and share buttons to encourage interaction between users. Third-party websites and online publications help facilitate the publication and spread of user-generated content by including sidebar widgets on their web pages. These digital icons allow users to link directly to different social media accounts, where they can
automatically post and share news stories, images, video and other content from the third-party website. Licenses and AttributionsCC licensed content, Shared previously
CC licensed content, Specific attribution
What is one main reason why social media is attractive to advertisers?What is one main reason why social media is attractive to advertisers? It requires relatively little effort to continually provide updated content. It makes it possible for advertisers to target specific customers.
What allows individuals to connect or network with friends peers and business associates?Social networking involves the use of online social media platforms to connect with new and existing friends, family, colleagues, and businesses. Individuals can use social networking to announce and discuss their interests and concerns with others who may support and otherwise interact with them.
Are social games an area of growth in social media?Social games are an area of growth in social media. How is LinkedIn different than most social networking sites? It is for professionals.
How is advertising using social media different from using traditional advertising quizlet?Contribute: Traditional marketing attempts to control the message, while social media marketing is about engaging users and getting them to contribute to the conversation.
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