Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing refers to the use of social media platforms and website to promote a product and a service (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013). Most social media websites that are working these days have their built-in data analytics tools, which allow companies to track the progress of the social media users and thus, allow them to come up with engaging advertisement campaigns (Tuten & Solomon, 2014). Social media marketing does not only take care of matters at the strategic level, but is also involved in the management of the marketing campaign including the governance, the setting and the provision of the scope of the services as well as the establishment of the social media culture and the implementation of the overall marketing campaign (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013; Tuten & Solomon, 2014).

While using social media marketing, companies have to use a large number of stakeholders, such as current and potential customers whom they would be targeting in their future. The stakeholders also include journalists, bloggers and even the general public. In order to make sure that the social media is being used in the right manner, the firms should allow customers as well as the internet users to post content that is generated by the user (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013).  This is also called earned media, as compared to the marketer prepared advertising copy.  Another fact that has to be noted is that social media marketing is also associated with the multitude of the organisations, like many non-profit organisations and government organisations have made use of the social media to engage their stakeholders in a better manner (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).

There are many considerations that one must keep in mind when opting for social media marketing for the propagation of their business (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013). These include coming up with the social media strategy with a purpose rather than using it without any concrete process. It might sound fun and easy to execute but desired benefits will not be achieved by the business if the social media marketing is not purposeful (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013).  In other words, a business must have a clear idea about what they are hoping to achieve with the help of the social media (Tuten & Solomon, 2014). The target audience, the places where they are likely to hang out and how they use social media are the other factors to consider whilst applying social media marketing (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).  Thus, the type of business and the way it operates goes a long way as far as the social media marketing is concerned (Tuten & Solomon, 2014).  The example of an E-Commerce platform or travel business comes to mind, as they can be highly visual (Tuten & Solomon, 2014). Therefore, it is imperative for them they create strong social media presence through Instagram and Pinterest to prompt the users to purchase their product. Business-to-business firm or marketing consultancy, on the other hand, will find their prospective clients more likely to be searching for them on Twitter or LinkedIn. These examples illustrate the importance of selecting the right social media while applying social media marketing (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).

Now that the right medium is selected, there are many ways to which social media can help an organisation to meet their marketing goals (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).  One of the biggest advantages that it tends to provide is the potential of increasing the website traffic for the business. Raising the level of brand awareness and equity is another advantage that can be gained when social media marketing is executed in a correct manner (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013). It also allows the business to make sure that they improve communication with their stakeholders and other audience.  The bigger and the more engaged social media efforts that a company is willing to invest, the easier it is going to be for the marketer to achieve their social media goals (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).

          There are certain ways through which business can ensure a better coordination along with the social media marketing tips.  Social media content planning is one of the most common strategies that are used in social media marketing as the quality of the social content is an essential factor in determining the success of social media marketing. It includes keyword researching as well as carrying out the competitive research to make sure that the brainstorming of the content and the ideas could be carried out so that the interest of the target audience can be increased in a right manner (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013). In this case, one thing for the business to focus on the customer engagement (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). In doing so, maintaining an active and vibrant platform of social media as well as to release regular posts, which should be informative and add value to the experience of the customer  can be done. Additionally, using social media images, infographics and even utilising how-to guides will help. These, along with the portrayal of the consistent brand image, are some of the vital cogs in a successful marketing strategy (Cader & Tenaiji, 2013).

          Another aspect that has to be kept in mind is how the information should be managed in those social media accounts. At times, the organisations do not pay much attention on how they connect the users on the social media. Making sure that the posted information is taken care of and how it is being used are equally important (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).  The margin of error, however, might arise from the fact that anything posted on social media can easily create a controversy and a negative image about the brand. An example of a social media mishap includes designer Kenneth Cole's Twitter mishap in 2011, when he tweeted, "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumour has they heard our new spring collection is now available online “(Cader & Tenaiji, 2013). This referred to the 2011 Egyptian revolution, which drew an objection from the public; it was widely objected to on the internet. Kenneth Cole realised his mistake shortly after and responded with a statement apologising for the tweet (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). Learning for these past experiences, organisations have to be really careful with how they use social media for marketing purpose. 

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.20761/full

Cader, Y., & Al Tenaiji, A. A. (2013). Social media marketing. International Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2(6), 546-560. Retrieved from http://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJSEI.2013.059955

Hollensen, S., & Raman, A. (2014). Social Media Marketing. Marketing Canada-Journal of the Canadian Institute of Marketing. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/34653862/Social_Media_Marketimng.pdf