Digital Marketing In Practice

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing.

There are over 2 Billion worldwide internet users and on average 3.2 hours spent each day on social media by social media users. (TheCulturist, 2013) Everyday more and more people share their lives with the world and affiliate themselves with brands and companies that they respect and enjoy. Consumers are constantly bombarded with data and advertisements via the internet, according to Marketing Week advertisement spend in social networks grew by 53% in the six months to June 2013( 2013) meaning there is a vast platform for marketers to use this tool to promote products and services to their consumers.

Consumers and Social Media Content.

More and more consumers are using social media to create their own content, whether it is via a blog, a social network, or a forum it is clear that the use of CGC is becoming more and more prominent. Consumers have the opportunity to go from what was once a passive audience to an active one offering them a sense of power (Stewart and Pavlou, 2002). Uses and Gratifications also play a great part in social media as audiences actively seek out mass audiences to satisfy their own needs. As stated by Buffardi & Campbell those with narcissism engage in frequent use of Facebook as it is something that allows users to participate in self-promoting, in order to receive some sort of appreciation. Creating their own content allows users to personalise what they do, this means they can chose what they want to see and allow others to see it too. Affiliate marketing is something used by makeup brands where they pay someone in their target bracket to sell the product for them on sites such as YouTube, these people love what they do they are passionate and do it because they want people to see it so they are actively targeting their audience through someone who they can relate to and see how the product is used an example of this is a girl on YouTube who reviews products from Sallydress.com. (YouTube, 2012) Other forms of co creational marketing such as Viral, Sponsored user generated, Vigilante, and Prosumer marketing are further opportunities allowing social media marketers to engage actively with consumers by using them as tools to sell the products for them using social media meaning that uses and gratifications work in their favour.

Marketing Opportunities

New opportunities such as the introduction of augmented reality means that social media now has the opportunity to come alive giving an even more active experience for its consumers. Apps such as Layar and Biplar allows consumers to use their smartphones to create something digital

out of print media by scanning their smartphones over a poster and watching it come alive(Layar,2013). Dominoes featured an augmented poster which was realised in over 6,000 locations in Britain. (PSFK, 2012) From scanning the poster consumers automatically became a fan of the Dominoes Facebook and subscribed to their emailing list which would send them promotional emails as well as letting them order and create their own pizza. From knowing that a large proportion of their sales came from mobile orders this allowed their audience to actively engage with dominoes in a non-conventional way.

Marketing Risks

Companies often face the risk of bombarding their consumers with information meaning that they don’t listen in the way that was intended. Social media sites such as Facebook can be a great tool to marketers as they are able to actively see customer engagement with the amount of likes on a company page similarly with Twitter and the amount of followers a page has. However a risk of social media is that consumer’s timelines are bombarded with information so more often or not consumers may skip past and advert. Another risk is that any content can be posted, both good and bad. For companies this means that they are open targets for negative comments and backlash which is something that McDonalds Twitter Campaign experienced in a 2012. According to The Huffington Post, the aim was to get customers actively talking about the brand and sharing stories of their good experiences, however the hashtag #McDStories massively backfired for the fast food chain with a constant flow of tweets flooding in about bad experiences in the restaurant.(2012) This reflects one of the main flaws in social media posts as CGC can damage the reputation of brands and there is no moderation on what is posted. According to Mintel (2013) 39% of Social networking users 16+ claim they have liked a business on Facebook however 37% claim they haven’t and avoid interacting with companies whilst using social media. From Primary research consumers in their 20’s claim that they do interact with brands but only brands they enjoy following and that give them something in return backed up by a recent Mintel report. (2013) It is something that divides consumers and is up to personal choice on whether or not they want to be a part of a brand marketing scheme.

Whether social media users want it or not it seems as though they cannot escape social media marketing, be it via Linear, Viral, Augmented, affiliate or whatever method. The constant use of CGC means consumers can share posts to people who may not be interested acting as an indirect form of marketing it appears there is no escape for consumers to get

away from the saturation of social media marketing with more and more techniques emerging for brands to get their product or service out there.

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