Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of The Promotion Mix: W. Glynn Mangold, David J. Faulds

Business Horizons (2009) 52, 357—365
www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor
Social media: The new hybrid element of the

promotion mix
W. Glynn Mangold a,*, David J. Faulds b
a
College of Business & Public Affairs, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, U.S.A.
b
College of Business Administration, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, U.S.A.
KEYWORDS Abstract The emergence of Internet-based social media has made it possible for
Integrated marketing one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about
communications; products and the companies that provide them. Thus, the impact of consumer-to-
Social media; consumer communications has been greatly magnified in the marketplace. This article
Consumer-generated argues that social media is a hybrid element of the promotion mix because in a
media; traditional sense it enables companies to talk to their customers, while in a nontra-
Promotion mix ditional sense it enables customers to talk directly to one another. The content,
timing, and frequency of the social media-based conversations occurring between
consumers are outside managers’ direct control. This stands in contrast to the
traditional integrated marketing communications paradigm whereby a high degree
of control is present. Therefore, managers must learn to shape consumer discussions
in a manner that is consistent with the organization’s mission and performance goals.
Methods by which this can be accomplished are delineated herein. They include
providing consumers with networking platforms, and using blogs, social media tools,
and promotional tools to engage customers.
# 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.
1. Social media, the promotion mix, mix–—advertising, personal selling, public relations,
and integrated marketing publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion–—to
produce a unified customer-focused message and,
communications therefore, achieve various organizational objec-
tives (Boone & Kurtz, 2007, p. 488).
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is the
However, the tools and strategies for communi-
guiding principle organizations follow to communi-
cating with customers have changed significantly
cate with their target markets. Integrated market-
with the emergence of the phenomenon known as
ing communications attempts to coordinate and
social media, also referred to as consumer-generat-
control the various elements of the promotional
ed media. This form of media ‘‘describes a variety of
new sources of online information that are created,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: glynn.mangold@murraystate.edu initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent
(W.G. Mangold), djfaul01@louisville.edu (D.J. Faulds). on educating each other about products, brands,
0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002
358 W.G. Mangold, D.J. Faulds
services, personalities, and issues’’ (Blackshaw & Therefore, many managers lack a full appreciation
Nazzaro, 2004, p. 2). for social media’s role in the company’s promotional
Social media encompasses a wide range of online, efforts. Even though social media is magnifying the
word-of-mouth forums including blogs, company- impact consumer-to-consumer conversations have
sponsored discussion boards and chat rooms, in the marketplace, methods for shaping those con-
consumer-to-consumer e-mail, consumer product versations have not yet been articulated.
or service ratings websites and forums, Internet The purpose of this article is threefold. First, we
discussion boards and forums, moblogs (sites con- propose that social media be considered a hybrid
taining digital audio, images, movies, or photo- component of the promotional mix and therefore be
graphs), and social networking websites, to name incorporated as an integral part of the organiza-
a few. As illustrated by Table 1, social media outlets tion’s IMC strategy. The second purpose of the arti-
are numerous and varied. cle is to compare and contrast the traditional
The 21st century is witnessing an explosion of communications paradigm that relied on the estab-
Internet-based messages transmitted through these lished promotional mix, elements which were de-
media. They have become a major factor in influ- veloped and refined over the past 100 years, with
encing various aspects of consumer behavior includ- the new communications paradigm which incorpo-
ing awareness, information acquisition, opinions, rates social media. Finally, we discuss methods by
attitudes, purchase behavior, and post-purchase which marketing managers can shape the consumer-
communication and evaluation. Unfortunately, the to-consumer conversations which are now driving
popular business press and academic literature of- the marketplace to a greater extent than ever
fers marketing managers very little guidance for before.
incorporating social media into their IMC strategies.
2. Social media’s hybrid role in the

Table 1. Examples of social media promotion mix
Social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook,
It has long been acknowledged in marketing manage-
Faceparty)
Creativity works sharing sites: ment circles that successful IMC strategies clearly
Video sharing sites (YouTube) reflect the values articulated in an organization’s
Photo sharing sites (Flickr) mission statement and contribute to the fulfillment
Music sharing sites (Jamendo.com) of the organization’s performance goals. To accom-
Content sharing combined with assistance plish these objectives, the elements of the promotion
(Piczo.com) mix are carefully coordinated so the information
General intellectual property sharing sites transmitted to the marketplace through these ele-
(Creative Commons) ments consistently communicates a unified message
User-sponsored blogs (The Unofficial Apple Weblog, that broadly reflects the organization’s fundamental
Cnet.com) values.
Company-sponsored websites/blogs (Apple.com,
For example, the promotional efforts conducted
P&G’s Vocalpoint)
Company-sponsored cause/help sites (Dove’s by Procter and Gamble (P&G) or General Electric
Campaign for Real Beauty, click2quit.com) (GE) illustrate the underlying values of these organ-
Invitation-only social networks (ASmallWorld.net) izations as articulated in their respective mission
Business networking sites (LinkedIn) statements and statements of strategic principles
Collaborative websites (Wikipedia) (General Electric, 2008; Procter and Gamble, 2008).
Virtual worlds (Second Life) When these two organizations entered the social
Commerce communities (eBay, Amazon.com, media arena, they carefully crafted their commu-
Craig’s List, iStockphoto, Threadless.com) nications with the marketplace to consistently re-
Podcasts (‘‘For Immediate Release: The Hobson flect their organizational values. By doing so, both
and Holtz Report’’) organizations acknowledged the importance of in-
News delivery sites (Current TV)
corporating social media into their IMC strategies
Educational materials sharing (MIT
OpenCourseWare, MERLOT)
and promotional efforts.
Open Source Software communities (Mozilla’s GE and P&G’s use of social media demonstrates
spreadfirefox.com, Linux.org) that this media has two interrelated promotional
Social bookmarking sites allowing users to roles in the marketplace. First, social media enables
recommend online news stories, music, videos, companies to talk to their customers, and second, it
etc. (Digg, del.icio.us, Newsvine, Mixx it, Reddit) enables customers to talk to one another. Social
media also enables customers to talk to companies;
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Business Horizons (2009) 52, 357—365

Social media: The new hybrid element of the

2. Social media’s hybrid role in the

‫‪ ‬اهکاى داًلَد ًسخِ توام هتي هقاالت اًگلیسی‬

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