Social media has set in a new wave in the business world. As per the recent study carried out by Internet Advertising Bureau UK, a business having social media presence is likely to attract 80 percent more customers in future (The Guardian, 2013). Especially, for small businesses having limited time and budgetary constraints, it is important to chart out an effective social media marketing policy to give the required boost to the business expansion. There are different purposes for different small scale business organizations to use social media. Major ones are discussed holistically in the essay. Maintaining the Organization's Presence and Identity A survey carried out by a professional Social Media Company, involving 998 small and mid size businesses in North America, revealed that around 94 percent used it for marketing purposes. They found it the best way to maintain the organization's identity and existence online (Yeung, 2014). Corporate identity is among the top priorities, no matter whether the business is a small scale or lists in the elite echelon. Having profile pages on different platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter helps the businesses to stay connected with the existing customers. The best aspect of social media is that it gives an opportunity of direct engagement with the clients. With Facebook having around 1.2 billion members and Twitter having 250 million active users monthly, it is obviously the best channel for startups to raise awareness about their products, create connection and engaging with customers to drive revenues (Benwell, 2014). A recent research report from Ad-ology states that in 2014, small businesses are expected to spend more on building online presence via active engage... ... middle of paper ... ...alVox (2014) LocalVox, Jan, [Online], Available: http://localvox.com/resources/small-business-marketing-statistics/#socialmedia [10 March 2014]. Mershon, P. (2011) socialmediaexaminer, 8 November, [Online], Available: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-promising-social-media-stats-for-small-businesses/ [12 March 2014]. Swipely Team (2013) swipely, 08 April, [Online], Available: https://www.swipely.com/blog/how-social-media-has-changed-marketing-for-small-business/ [13 March 2014]. The Guardian (2013) theguardian, 29 August, [Online], Available: http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2013/aug/29/social-media-boost-business-tips [13 March 2014]. Yeung, K. (2014) thenextweb, 13 Feb, [Online], Available: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/02/13/linkedin-report-says-small-businesses-becoming-astute-users-social-media-marketing/#!zwNn0 [15 March 2014].
Social media proves time and time again that it can be a very successful tool for helping to grow and expand a business, when used correctly. However, there are many limitations to using social media that need to be taken into consideration. One of the limitations is that companies struggle to determine how their social media platforms are generating sales and profits based on their likes and followers. The ability for a company to identify a concrete methodology to evaluate the success of their social media programs is difficult for most companies and even though who had invested time and resources into assessing this key performance indicator still understand that the methodology used is not necessarily providing them with concrete impact (Sandilands, n.d.). Due to the fact that it takes time for the likes and followers to grow and form a substantial
Many organizations have had to change the way they operate because social media has become such a powerhouse that has to be implemented in their marketing and communication strategies.
Technological advances of the twenty-first century have seen a dramatic shift in how businesses operate and interact with customers (Bashar, Ahmad & Wasiq, 2012). The use of social media has accelerated globally, with businesses now jumping on the bandwagon to take advantage of the benefits it can offer and generate themselves a USP against competitors (Jobber, 2010). Social media allows “… users to come together online and exchange, discuss, communicate and participate in any form of social interaction” (Ryan & Jones, 2009: Pg. 152), essentially allowing almost everything to be co-created, distributed and shared via word-of-mouth communication (Fill, 2013). Arguably an extension of the promotional element of the marketing-mix, social media influences consumer behaviour such as brand awareness, information acquisition, communication and evaluation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Many small business run into a lot of problems when it comes to social media. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, managing social media is no small task. To those who don’t work in a field that relies on it, social media can seem like a no-brainer. In actuality, it requires meticulous planning and dedication to manage social media daily and execute quality campaigns. Additionally, small businesses don’t have access to the same resources that larger businesses do, so it can be a challenge to cultivate a thriving social media presence.
Through the popularity and variety of social media platforms there is a transparency among individuals and businesses that did not exist before. The transparency within businesses allows brands to engage with their consumers, which makes it easier to establish a connection and makes it difficult for businesses to cover up unethical dilemmas. As a result of increased transparency among business practices, consumers want to shop from companies who build ethics into their brand. This trend can be explained by social influence and social media’s ability to communicate norms, how emotions dominate decisions and the motivation to see oneself as good.
Introduction In this globalized digital networked society, our generation is constantly mobile and connected. The sheer size of the user base in social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and myriad mobile applications like Instagram and Snapchat, is staggering (about 2.058 Billion active social media accounts and 1.685 Billion mobile social accounts) (Limited 2011). With the massive revolution in the social networking industry, it has become imperative that today’s business leverage upon the true potential of social media communications. Something that started as peer to peer individual profiles, is now filled with brands, starting from the multinationals, to the small scale vendors in remote cities.
Social media in marketing is used as an apparatus that builds an identity for a brand and gives awareness that they thought they could have. It does not only respect buyers, but also customer allegiance. Social media is widely-ranged so it can be used in whatever way that best conforms to the strategy and wants of the business. In accordance to the social media marketing report of 2014, a considerable (64%) of marketers use social media for at least 6 hours or more and 41% for 11 hours or more weekly, more importantly nearly (19%) of marketers use up to 20 hours each week on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and many more. The report also showed 7 social media platforms that led in 2014 which are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram.
The writer finds social media is important in her current organization, Modern Business Concepts, Incorporated (MBC). With small business organizations such as hers, social media is important in spreading information on who the company is and what they do. Also as a business-to-business sales and marketing company, spreading the word is important in gaining customers and potential employees. Ucok (2014) uses research and experiments to prove how social media is essential to marketing. These platforms were essential in Ucok’s research, resulting in higher response with marketing campaigns proving “the importance of social media in marketing strategy and communication” (Ucock, 2014, p. 95).
Social media has become so popular these days that the business establishments are also trying to explore the opportuniti...
The first advantage of using social media in business is increasing brand awareness. Social media can help business to build their brand awareness by increasing interactions with a business brand. Brand awareness means the total percent of a target people who know the company exists and what the company offers of products or services. When the brand awareness is increased, the possibility of buying is increased. Thus, efforts should be made to make the brand a part of the consciousness of customers. For example, Coca- Cola is one of the best companies that enjoy unusual...
Since social media users grow larger and larger, many companies take the opportunities of using social media marketing to reach more customers. Companies use social media marketing in order to achieve marketing communication and branding goals. Social media allows companies to see what prospects are saying about their brands and competitors. It also allows companies to build deeper relationships with existing customers that drives them to purchase again and again. Not only it can help them generate new leads, but it allows them to build deeper relationships with existing clients that drives them to purchase again and again. It has become common for businesses to branch out and experiment with multiple networks with the aim of reaching the maximum amount of costumers.
Among the billions of social media users, there is a percentage dedicated to businesses who use social media as part of their marketing strategy. The sheer number of people who use services like Facebook and Instagram on a daily
We can now connect with each other instantly over the internet. It is quicker and easier to communicate and share with each other now than it has ever been. Massive amounts of people access the internet every day, and a good number of them are using social media. This means that the ability to use social media and use it well is crucial for modern businesses. Whether for public relations or advertising social media is now one of the best ways to access consumers. Especially when it comes to younger generations, if you aren’t online you don’t exist. Social media is an excellent way to establish a presence in the minds of consumers. They can interact and establish a connection with an organization instantly. Social media is cheap and its everywhere. If a business hopes to compete in the modern world having a social media presence is absolutely
A January, 2018, Forbes article describes what some of biggest social media trends for business will be this year. In summary, the article states that Facebook has eclipsed the 2 billion user mark, there is a growing video appetite, companies are spending more on social and digital ads than on television ads, and that 51% of companies struggle with having the budget for social media advertising. Analytics tools will be critical in determining the acquisition and retention of customers (Holmes, 2018). Large companies have more resources to be competitive in the social media arena. Determining the success of social media promotion is more difficult for small businesses that have smaller budgets. Their measurement tools may be ones of their own making and creativity. For everyone, the future of social media’s ability to maintain its friendly communication roots, may depend on earthly cyber angels working in a competitive online
Social media can be used to target specific demographics through posts but it can also be used to communicate with customers as many businesses have began using Twitter and Facebook to interact with customer’s queries, complaints and feedback creating a close relationship with customers. Social Networking use has rapidly increase in recent years and has becoming a successful marketing tool for many businesses due to social media being incorporated into the daily life of millions. Social media can be used to target specific demographics through posts but it can also be used to communicate with customers as many businesses have began using Twitter and Facebook to interact with customer’s queries, complaints and feedback creating a close relationship with