Social media refers to online platforms that allow users to connect, communicate, and share content. It includes social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as blogs, content communities like Flickr, and business networking sites like LinkedIn. While social media can benefit marketing by allowing low-cost engagement with large audiences, it also requires ongoing attention to respond quickly to customers and avoid potential reputational damage from negative social media interactions. Successful social media marketing principles include listening to customers, engaging them in ongoing conversations to build trust and loyalty over time.
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1. What is Social Media?<br />Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. are always brought up when discussing about social media. To get a crystal clear thought of what social media is, this term has to be split into two parts: social and media. Being social means requires interaction and networking and media is considered as a communication tool. Thus, social media can be considered as web 2.0 platforms that help users interact and build up relationships. With the rapid development of technology, people can keep in touch with the rest of the world via using these platforms. CITATION Bry08 1035 (Eisenberg, 2008)<br />Social Media has touched many aspects of life. It also changed the way we do business, especially in marketing industry. In comparison with old media such as print and broadcast, new media allows marketers to promote products and spread messages to their customers in a very short period of time. CITATION Dea11 1035 (Hambleton)<br />What kind of elements it includes?<br />Social media can be divided into four categories:<br />Blogs: blogs are online diary to personal uses but sometimes are online articles to some specific business.<br />Blog communities (LiveJournal) let people connect others via their blogs.<br />Content communities (Flickr and Delicious) are where people can share their contents in groups that have common kind of content.<br />Social networks (Facebook, Twitter) helps people stay in touch with others all the time and strengthen their relationships.<br /> CITATION Rya11 1035 (Nelson)<br />Advantages and disadvantages in using social media in marketing<br />AdvantagesTake a look at many well-known companies and organisations; it is easy to notice that they are all members of some social network websites. In estimate, over 300 million people use at least one hour in a day for Facebook. There are more opportunities from social media to communicate and create relationship with customers. Not even marketers but also leaders aim at building up and tightening the engagement of customer by spreading their messages through social networks for instance Steve Jobs of Apple and Sam Palmisano of IBM. Social media marketing does not require much effort but be able to touch the crowd. Therefore, business can save a large amount of money which spends on marketing. CITATION Bil10 1035 (George, 2010)<br />Interaction is other dimension that social media manage sophisticatedly. Spending time to listen to customer’s ideas and collect feedbacks, companies can perfect their products or services by adjusting to match the demands of majority. Moreover, loyalty is created when customers see themselves as a part of product’s development. According to US Marketing Executives on October 2008, customer engagement is the biggest benefit of using social media marketing. CITATION Ada08 1035 (Ostrov, 2008)<br />DisadvantagesTime consuming is a disadvantage of social media. Sometimes it takes business more time than expected to build a brand or examine result of an online marketing strategy. In addition, when making an interactive channel to customers, it requires immediate response to their questions or interests. If companies fail in dealing with this issue, customer will lose their faith in these businesses. CITATION Soc11 1035 (Social Media Boomer)<br />Social media can make a negative influence on image of companies or organisations. It will damage reputation of your company after launching a wrong marketing campaign on social network. Customers trust word of mouth more than advertising. Once they receive complaints about your products or services from friends, they will be easily affected and change attitude toward your business. CITATION Soc11 1035 (Social Media Boomer)<br />Main principles in social media use in marketing<br />There are many principles in social media worlds that lead company to success. The essence of social media marketing is to attract more customer involvement to your business. To get that goal, marketer needs to listen to their customer first. While doing research, positive and negative opinions should be taken seriously. Other important feature is to increase customer engagement. The purpose of make a website or social network for our business is to connect with our target groups and get them involve with our business. If we win the attention from them, there will be chances for us to build up good relationship and gain trust. Besides, we also need to participate in the conversations with customers in order to get their opinions. This is a wise approach to integrate customers to our marketing strategy. CITATION Jas09 1035 (Peck, 2009)<br />Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY Eisenberg, B. (2008, 11 7). Futurenow. Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/11/07/understanding-and-aligning-the-value-of-social-media/George, B. (2010, 12 23). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2010/12/how-social-networking-has-chan.htmlHambleton, D. (n.d.). Enzine Articles. Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Have-Social-Media-Platforms-Changed-The-Market-Paradigms-Of-Traditional-Industries?&id=6389273Nelson, R. (n.d.). Ryannelson.com. Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://ryannelson.com/creating-a-social-media-presence/Ostrov, A. (2008, 12 29). Mashable. Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://mashable.com/2008/12/29/benefits-of-social-media-marketing/Peck, J. (2009, 4 2). Take a peck. Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://www.jasonfpeck.com/2009/04/02/6-principles-of-social-media-marketing/Social Media Boomer. (n.d.). Retrieved 9 18, 2011, from http://thesocialmediaboomer.com/social-media-marketing/the-ugly-side-of-social-media<br /> <br />