Social Media in Marketing Strategy
Social Media in Marketing Strategy
Introduction
The internet technologies have made dramatic impacts on the traditional marketing activities over the past decade. Especially, the boom of social media technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and so on in recent years, which are fundamentally revolutionizing the ways in which people socialise and exchange information on a daily basis. The YouTube video clip “Gangnam Style” by South Korean singer, Park Jae-sang (2012) generated millions of views and made him a worldwide superstar overnight, which essentially proves that the power of social media cannot be underestimated in today’s world. The topic of how to take advantages of the social media channels when creating marketing strategies have been extensive studied by marketers and the academic communities.
This essay will examine the pros and cons of social media in the context of marketing strategy in the current rapidly changing business environment. In addition, the effects it has on the traditional marketing activities will be analysed.
Role of Social Media
It is widely recognised that social media plays a significant role in the construction of marketing strategy for modern businesses. It offers a fast and innovative channel for the distribution of marketing messages on a global basis, and mostly importantly, with minimum cost.
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p. 62) defined social media as “social media is 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”. As the definition suggests that the content, in other words, the actual meaningful marketing messages are no longer well designed promotion campaigns created by the firms but that generated by the users, the consumers based on their understanding and experience with the brand. One of the most influential factors relating to brand building is to understand the
Introduction
The internet technologies have made dramatic impacts on the traditional marketing activities over the past decade. Especially, the boom of social media technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and so on in recent years, which are fundamentally revolutionizing the ways in which people socialise and exchange information on a daily basis. The YouTube video clip “Gangnam Style” by South Korean singer, Park Jae-sang (2012) generated millions of views and made him a worldwide superstar overnight, which essentially proves that the power of social media cannot be underestimated in today’s world. The topic of how to take advantages of the social media channels when creating marketing strategies have been extensive studied by marketers and the academic communities.
This essay will examine the pros and cons of social media in the context of marketing strategy in the current rapidly changing business environment. In addition, the effects it has on the traditional marketing activities will be analysed.
Role of Social Media
It is widely recognised that social media plays a significant role in the construction of marketing strategy for modern businesses. It offers a fast and innovative channel for the distribution of marketing messages on a global basis, and mostly importantly, with minimum cost.
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p. 62) defined social media as “social media is 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”. As the definition suggests that the content, in other words, the actual meaningful marketing messages are no longer well designed promotion campaigns created by the firms but that generated by the users, the consumers based on their understanding and experience with the brand. One of the most influential factors relating to brand building is to understand the