YOUR DIGITAL WORLD OF LEARNING
7.1 Overview of Role of Social Media
Some of the popular social media sites are, Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter. These sites not only help in marketing but also help in bringing new customers. Ad campaigns can be run on these sites.
Simple posts can be posted on new products or service to update audience. If there are tips to use product or service, they can be shared as well. Social media allows room for creative marketing strategies. On the whole, social media is a great tool to engage the audience. All that needs to be done is sending out information in different forms, such as videos or graphics to hold the attention and engage audience.
Besides a great marketing tool, social media also plays an inevitable role in our daily lives. Cities that have major traffic issues, social media provide real-time updates.
Social media is informative. Events, stories, current happenings across the world are shared across social media within seconds. People no more have to travel to these parts to get information. Be it lecl111uluyy, euuc1:1liu11, ur e-lail, i11lere:sli11y facl:s u1 new uevelup111e11l re1:1d1e:s iri 1:1 1111:1ller uf :secu11u:s among millions of users.
Following provides more information on the role of social media:
► It helps in building relationships between a business entity and customers. Platforms such as Facebook and biogs facilitate interactions with customers. Customer testimonial can be shared on the business page. A business related topic of discussion can be started off in a blog. Hese strategies help in bringing more participation from users who can be converted to customers.
In addition, there are high chances of getting repeat business.
► Social media provides customer insights such as their likes, dislikes, changes they might want in a product, or service. Based on this information, businesses can create appropriate marketing strategies or work on to improve their product or service.
Quick Test 7 .1
1. A business related topic of discussion can be started off in a blog.
a. True b. False
2. Social media provides customer insights such as their likes, dislikes, changes they might want in a product or service.
a. True b. False
► Social media marketing campaigns can be used without overwhelming the customers.
► Small businesses benefit by social media marketing campaigns. These campaigns are budget friendly and strengthen their online visibility. Social media campaigns also allow these businesses to compete with well-known brands.
► As more consumers make their purchases online, it has become necessary for retailers to include social media in their advertising anc marketing strategies.
► Social networks help interact and deal with customers on a personal level. Note that better customer engagement leads to better sales. In addition, customers find the brand accessible and responsive. This creates a positive impact and as a result, customers are receptive.
When a brand gets involved in conversations, customers consider it as responsive and accessible. This type of exposure positively influences the brand perception. Customers are more receptive to the information that is shared with them.
► Social media also influences online purchases, which makes it important for brands and individuals to implement different social media marketing strategies.
Figure 7 .1 highlights certain important aspects on the role of social media .
.... Allows small
.... businesses to
Influences compete with
.... online well-known
Provides purchases brands
customer
Builds insights
relationships between business entity and customers
Figure 7.1: Role of Social Media
7. 1. 1 Latest Trends in Social Media
Social media is getting evolved with new technological innovations giving the brands various advertising options and great opportunities for sharing content absolutely free.
Here are some of t~e latest trends that can be found in social media:
► Buy buttons: Facebook and Pinterest have introduced the Buy buttons. These buttons can be used on the sponsored posts. Users. especially mobile users can click such post to buy without leaving the app. So, users can purchase an item with one click. Figure 7.2 highlights the Shop Now button.
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Figure 7.2: Shop Now Button
► Live video broadcast: Here is a faster way of accessing real-time events. Periscope and Market are the two popular live video streaming app that brands can use to connect with their users. These videos are authentic and unedited. Brands can use these apps for product demonstrat ons, share customer feedback, enhance transparency, and promotion marketing.
Figure 7.3 highlights the benefits of live video broadcast.
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Figure 7.3: Benefits of Live Video Broadcast
► Social media ads: The enhanced analytics can now target the ad to the right customer. This is making the social media ads more relevant. More businesses and small time entrepreneurs are using social media ads to scale up their business.
► New publication option: Facebook has launched Instant Articles where articles from the publishers can be loaded immediately in the app without forcing the user to click out and wait for the Website to load. This indeed is an innovative and a dynamic way to show content to the users.
► Social Influence: Compelling and action-oriented ads are in. It is seen that better engagement of customers lead to better sales. This means that social influences the buying decisions of consumers.
► Search Engine Optimization (SEO): It is seen that social content is getting more visibility in the search results. Hashtagging in social media is making an impact on SEO. This means that content for social media such as Facebook and YouTube can be search optimized.
Hashtagging refers to the tagging of words or phrases without space with the hash symbol, #.
The word follows the hash tag, such as #Stoles. Hashtagging helps users to find the specific information easily_
Quick Test 7.2
1. _ _ _ _ refers to the tagging of words or phrases without space with the hash symbol, #.
a. Hashtagging b. Numeric tagging c. Meta tagging d. SEO tagging
2. F acebook's Instant Articles is an innovative and a dynamic way to show content to the users.
a. True b. False
Figure 7.4 highlights the hashtagged words in a Facebook post.
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Figure 7.4: Example of Hashtagging
► Mobile Friendliness: Mobiles, Smartphone, and Tablets are focus now as more than 80% of Internet users use them. Therefore, individuals and brands are creating social media campaigns which work on all the platforms.
► Social Media Analytics: Data-driven marketing plans are now extensively used to send out personalized messages to the customers. Brands and individuals are using social media analytics to understand customers at an emotional level, to understand real-time customer choices, and to enhance the customer experience. Social media analytics is the process of collecting data from biogs and social media Websites. The data is then evaluated to make business decisions.
Figure 7 .5 highlights the latest trends in social media.
Live video broadcast
Social media ads New publication option
Social Influence Search Engine Optimization
Mobile Friendliness Social Media Analytks
Figure 7.5: Latest Trends in Social Media
7 .2 Different Social Media and their Importance
Social media can be categorized based on their prime capabilities although there is a blurring line among each social media platforms. This is because of the overlapping services most of the platforms provide.
Following describes each social media type and their primary function:
► Social Networks: These allow users to connect with people of similar interests. Facebook, Linkedln, and Google+ are the popular social networking sites.
► Bookmarking Sites: These allow users to save links to Web pages that they want to share.
Delicious, Stumble Upon, and Pinterest are the popular bookmarking sites.
► Social News: These allows users to vote on the news items posted. Voting is the key feature here. Items that get most votes are displayed prominently. Digg and Reddit are two most popular social news sites.
► Media Sharing: This refers to the service of uploading and sharing pictures and video.
lnstagram and Flickr are the two most popular image sharing sites. Vimeo and YouTube are two most popular video sharing sites.
► Microblogging: This refers to the service of publishing short text updates unlike traditional blog.
Twitter is the most popular microblogging Website.
► Discussion Forums: These provide space for holding discussions and share knowledge. Quora is one of the best discussion forums. Figure 7.6 displays a screenshot of Quora.
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Figure 7.6: Quora
► Traditional Blogging: WordPress and Blogger are the popular traditional blogging platforms.
Unlike Twitter, which is a microblogging site, lengthy articles can be posted here.
Figure 7.7 shows different social media.
Figure 7. 7: Different Social Media
To know more about different social media, refer to the Additional Reference document.
7 .3 Guidelines to create Effective Social Media Campaigns
A good team and a good plan are the two key elements to create an effective social media campaign.
To create a good plan, following are the guidelines:
► Analyze the market on which the social media campaign will be running. This process is called situational analysis, which includes identifying internal and external factors affecting a business. The process also helps in assessing a business and potential customers.
Each business objective is analyzed and factors are identified that can harm or support the
business.
Note
Digital marketing refers to the promotion of products, brands, or services using electronic media. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing analyzes marketing campaigns in real time.
When internal factors of the business are assessed, it refers to the strengths and weaknesses. Internal factors involve brand awareness, financial resources, operational efficiency, and organizational structure. When external factors of the business are assessed, it refers to the opportunities and threats, which can occur when business changes are required due to happenings in the external environment such as economic conditions in the market. While threats place the business goals at risk, strengths are positive attributes.
► Study the target audience in relation to the social marketing campaign. Choosing the right target audience is important for a successful social media campaign. The target audience can be analyzed in terms of lifestyles and motivation. VALS segmentation system can be followed to analyze the lifestyle and motivation of the target audience.
Note
VALS stands for values and lifestyles. It is a methodology used for market segmentation to guide companies in selling their products and services to the customers in the form that will appeal those most. These are the customers who are most likely to purchase appealing products or services.
► Evaluate the target audience and their social media usage. It is important to know what
proportion of target audience are active participators in social media. There is a tool available for this analysis, called Social Technographics Ladder. This tool will help ensure that the target users are active users and will be engaged in the social media campaign.
Note
The Social Technographics Ladder tool is developed by Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company.
► Select appropriate social medium such as blogging for the social media campaign and explore it. Try out various ways of this social medium to reach out to the customers.
Figure 7.8 shows the guidelines to create effective media campaigns.
[ Perform situational analysis
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Study the target audience in relation
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Evaluate the target audience and
[ Select the appropriate social medium
Figure 7.8: Guidelines to Create Effective Media Campaigns
Social media campaigns could include a variety of interactive options, such as newsletter signups and quizzes. A creative mind is essential to execute a social media campaign as the person needs to continuously explore using different options. This is because different campaigns give different results. Based on the goal, it is to be decided which campaign works best for the audience.
There is campaign building software available in the market. Wishpond is one of the popular campaign building software.
Besides working on the creative side of the campaign. campaigns should be mobile-friendly as well.
Campaigns should function smoothly on desktop, tablets, and smartphones.
It is good to run social media campaign on different platforms such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. This helps the campaign to reach a larger group of people. Adding sharing feature in the campaign is also a good way to reach more number of people.
Figure 7.9 highlights the sharing feature on one of the campaigns created in Facebook.
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Figure 7.9: Sharing Feature
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If there are forms to be filled in a campaign, remember to ask for only valuable information such as email or phone number. Users might hold back from filling forms if they find too much of information to be filled in.