A REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

AND MARKETING

Introduction:

Today, the Social Media can be considered as the key medium to do marketing in the modern day
era. People worldwide are largely engaged and attached with the web 2.0 technology and social
media platforms. By the same token, businesses start looking at such technologies as effective
mechanisms to interact more with their customers. Equally, the related issues of social media
marketing have been also the focus of attention for academics and researchers to expand the
current understanding about such phenomena over the marketing area.  Defining what social media
is through the explanation of new terminology and concepts that makeup its foundations and its
impacts in advertising is the main focus. The review covers the main themes of Virtual Brand
Communities, Consumer Attitudes and Motives, User Generated Content and Viral Advertising.

Social Media:

To consider social media as a marketing tool, retailers need to understand every aspect of it. Kaplan
and Haenlein(2010,61) define social media as “a group of Internet based applications that build on
the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allow the creation ad exchange of user
generated content”. Sinclaire and Vogus (2011, 294) cite O’Reilly’s (2005) definition: “social media is
a broad term that describes software tools that create user generated content that can be shared.”
However, there are some basic features necessary for a website to meet the requirements as a
social network website: the site must contain user profiles, content, a method that permits users to
connect with each other and post comments on each other’s pages, and join virtual groups based on
common interests such as fashion or politics.

Growth of social media marketing :

A latest research, “The State of Little Business Review,” sponsored by System Solutions, LLC and the
University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, points to economic struggles as the
catalyst for social media’s rapid reputation. The research outcomes show that social media
utilization by small organization proprietors improved from 12% to 24% in just latest times, and
almost 1 out of 5, definitely uses social media as an element of his or her online marketing
technique. During 2009, only 23% of marketers were using social media for a long period. Now that
variety has grown to 31%. Here’s a breakdown of what the little companies revealed as the main
uses of social media marketing: 75% have a organization web page on a social media website. 69%
publish position up-dates or articles of interest on social media websites. 57% develop a network
through a website such as LinkedIn. 54% monitor reviews about the organization. 39% maintain a
weblog [3]. 26% tweet about areas of skills. 16% use Tweets as something route.

Tools hidden inside Social Media Marketing:

 Consumers’ Sentiment toward Marketing (CSM) is a factor consider by researchers to measure how
well consumers will perceive social media marketing which was how the above data was collected.
CSM is defined as a concept which refers to the general feelings that consumers have for marketing
and the marketplace (Lawson et al. 2001as cited by Mady 2011). An individual’s perception of the
overall marketplace plays a major role in whether or not they are motivated to partake in
consumption activities (Mady 2011). In order to create a successful marketing campaign via social
media, a consumer must be open to the technology. Consumer technology readiness is defined as
“people’s propensity to embrace and use new technologies for accomplishing goals in home and
work” (Parasuraman, 2000 as cited by Mady 2011, 195). Consumer technology readiness is
important for retailers to remember when marketing on social networks because if their intended
target market does not use social media, is not familiar with it, or perceives it negatively, then their
social media marketing will be unrewarding. The Another instrument that provides information on a
consumer’s acceptance of new technology is Innovation Adoption Process (IAP). The IAP is the
progression through which an individual goes through the innovation-decision process (Rogers as
cited in Mady 2011). Five steps make up the process: knowledge of the innovation, forming an
attitude toward the innovation, deciding to adopt or reject the innovation, implementation of the
innovation, and confirmation of the decision (Mady 2011). Knowledge of IAP can help marketers
obtain a social media marketing campaign that is fulfilling.

Virtual Brand Community:

A main topic being studied involving social media as a marketing tool is Virtual Brand Communities
(VBC). VBC can be described as aggregations of consumers that occur on the internet because of
their interest in some brand or product. Specifically, a brand community is a group of people who
share the same interest in a particular brand or product (Casaló, Favián and Guinalíu 2008). Casaló,
Favián and Guinalíu (2008) found when a member is trusting of the VBC that they are part of, it
increases their amount of participation, and consumers who have a positive participation experience
are more loyal to the brand. Trust is a central aspect to guarantee the VBC’s survival. Some VBC
research focused on the concept of social identity and group norms as an aspect that strongly
influences online groups’ buying behavior. The nature and culture of social media groups affect the
ways members of such groups interpret and attach meaning to brands and products (Muñiz and
Jensen Schau, 2007). Group norms represent the set of shared goals, beliefs, and values that the
group members follow. Social identity refers to the values and beliefs that influence group related
behavior (Zeng, Huang, and Dou 2009). Community members within a strong social group were
more likely to have group intentions to accept advertising in online communities (Zeng, Huang, and
Dou 2009). For instance, if a Facebook group is centered on luxury brands, then ads pertaining to
high-end products are more relevant to members of the VBC.

Consumer Attitudes and Motives:

It is vital for retailers and marketers to be aware of the factors that affect consumer attitudes and
motives because consumers are increasingly creating content about brands, something previously
controlled solely by companies (Heinonen 2011). As a result, current research has examined what
aspects of social media sites affect consumer attitudes and motives. Cox (2010) investigated the
correlation between age and attitude and found that social network user attitude toward online
advertising formats (i.e. blogs, video, and brand channel or page) differed to some extent across age
groups. She explains that users who fall in the 18-28 age brackets had strong positive attitudes
towards blogs, video, and brand channel ad formats. This was because users’ found these ad formats
to be eye catching, informative, and amusing. The 35-54 age groups preferred ad formats on video
and brand channels because they found them to be more eye catching, informative, and had better
placement within the online page layout. Harris and Dennis (2011), however, used a tool called
Technology Acceptance Model as a loose framework that combined trust and the factors associated
with TAM (i.e. perceived enjoyment, ease of use, and usefulness). The TAM determined that
consumers, specifically students, hold a hierarchy of trust when using social media such as Facebook.
Student’s trust ‘real’ friends, then Facebook friends, followed by expert blogs and independent
review sites and lastly celebrities and e-retailer sites (Harris and Dennis 2011). Di Pietro and Pantano
(2012) conducted further research using the TAM to discern that enjoyment is the major factor that
influences consumers to use social networks as a platform for assisting in their buying decisions.
They found that the fun provided by Facebook as well as the opportunity it provides users to ask for
suggestions in an easy and entertaining way, motivates individuals to pay more attention to the
products promoted on Facebook.

User Generated Content:

“While social media provides never ending avenues for communicating, it is the individuals who
serve as the influencers not the technology” (Gonzalez 2010, 23). User generated content produces
social currency for marketers because it helps define a brand. User generated content describes “the
sum of all ways in which people make use of social media, usually applied to describe the various
forms of media content that are publicly available and created by end users” (Kaplan and Haenlein
2010, 61). Consumer Generated Advertising (CGA) is a form of user-generated content, which refers
to specific instances where consumers create the brand, focused messages with the purpose of
informing, persuading, or reminding others . Retailers need to be aware of this because CGA can
positively support traditional marketing or it can negatively impact and undermine it.

Viral Advertising:

Viral advertising has become a way in which retailers are marketing and providing more information
on their brands or products. A viral approach to online advertising has a major advantage because
communication is more targeted to a brand’s intended consumer .This can be attributed to the fact
that viral communication affords the marketer a greater degree of creative license through a
message delivery medium that is more intimate and personalized, thereby increasing the likelihood
of reaching hard to get audience members .Viral advertising is “unpaid peer to peer communication
of provocative content originating from an identified sponsor using the Internet to persuade or
influence an audience to pass along the content to others” (Porter and Golan as cited by Chu 2011,
31). Viral advertising differs from UGC because an identified sponsor is associated with the ad, thus
signifying the origin of the ad and who created it.

Benefits of social media marketing:

Significantly different from conventional promotion methods, Community Press Marketing (SMM)
offers three distinct advantages. One, it provides a window to marketers to not only present items /
solutions to clients but also to pay attention to customers’ grievances and suggestions. Two, it allows
marketers to recognize various professional categories or influencers among various categories, who
in turn can become item evangelist and help in organic development of an item. And, three, all this is
done at nearly zero price (as compared to Citation: Sajid SI (2016) Social Media and Its Role in
Marketing. Bus Eco J 7: 203. doi:10.4172/2151-6219.1000203 Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 1000203 Bus Eco
J ISSN: 2151-6219 BEJ, an open access journal Page 3 of 5 conventional client outreach programmes)
as most of the social media websites are free. Social media promotion allows in: • Generating
exposure to companies. • Increasing traffic/subscribers. • Building new organization partnerships. •
Development of internet search engine results positioning positions. • Generating qualified brings
due to better prospecting projects. • Selling more solutions and items. • Reduction in overall
promotion expenses. Companies in the west are investing progressively in SMM to get in touch with
their clients. They are indulging in constant connections with their leads in to comprehend their
needs and hence create items better. It’s the best way to learn from your clients about their needs
and your own shortcomings. However, Social Media Marketing is a very customized way of
marketing and promotions can be targeted only to particular categories which have an interest in a
particular domain, quite unlike conventional marketing

Conclusions:

In conclusion, research has determined that retailers can increase awareness of their brand by being
creative when engaging customers on social media sites. “As more shoppers are using social media
(e.g., Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn) and rely on them for marketing shopping decisions,
promotion through these media has become important” (Shankar et al. 2011, 32). According to
Curran et al. (2011), social media sites such as Facebook are better than other advertising avenues
because it stores information on all its users thus ensuring marketing reaches a retailer’s specific
target market. Social media sites are a great stage for retailers to create an experience and retailers
can use information stored on social media sites to improve user experience with their brand.
Furthermore many other research establishes that a firm can benefit from social networks to predict
the likelihood of purchase intention. This can be done by taking into account a firm’s choice of
network (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc.) and by examining that network’s data. Assessing a
network’s data substantially improves a company’s marketing efforts because it provides the
company with vital information on the network’s users, which helps determine the best social media
tactics for that particular site . Based on this study, it can further be argued that knowing which
social media sites a company’s target market utilizes is another key factor in guaranteeing that
online marketing will be successful.

Sources and References :

Cox, Shirley A. 2010. “Online Social Network Member Attitude Toward Online Advertising Formats.”
MA thesis, The Rochester Institute of Technology.
Kaplan, Andreas M. and Michael Haenlein. 2010. “Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and
Opportunities of Social Media.” Business Horizons 53: 59-68.

Mady, Tarek T. 2011. “Sentiment toward marketing: Should we care about consumer alienation and
readiness to use technology?.” Journal of Consumer Behavior 10: 192-204.

Shankar,Venkatesh, Jeffery Inman, Murali Mantrala, Eileen Kelley, and Ross Rizley. 2011.
“Innovations in Shopper Marketing: Current Insights and Future Research Issues.” Journal of
Retailing 1:s29-s42, doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2011.04.007.

Sinclaire, Jollean K. and Clinton E. Vogus. 2011. “Adoption of social networking sites: an exploratory
adaptive structuration perspective for global organizations.” Information Technology Management
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Muñiz, Albert M. and Hope Jensen Schau. 2007. “Vigilante Marketing and Consumer Created
Communications.” Journal of Advertising 36: 35-50.

Casaló, Luis V., Flavián Carlos, and Miguel Guinalíu. 2008. “Promoting Consumer’s Participation in
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Zeng, Fue, Li Huang, and Wenyu Dou. 2009. “Social Factors in User Perceptions and Responses to
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Heinonen, Kristina. 2011. “Consumer activity in social media: Managerial approaches to consumers’
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Golan, Guy J. and Lior Zaidner. 2008. “Creative Strategies in Viral Advertising: An Application of
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Chu, Shu-Chuan. 2011. “Viral advertising in social media: Participation in Facebook groups and
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Harris, Lisa and Charles Dennis. 2011. “Engaging customers on Facebook: Challenges for e-retailers,”
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Di Pietro, Loredana and Elenora Pantano. 2012. “An Empirical Investigation of Social Network
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