Marketing and Social Media
Currently, it isn't easy to talk about marketing, with the exception of social media. The dynamics in the field of marketing are changing and adapting to the changes in technology, especially in the field of communication technology. In business, marketing is primarily meant to inform potential customers that the products offered by a particular firm that is right for them to use, they are availed at the just within their reach and at the best prices. In addition to this, marketing as well informs customers that promotion means used for the product are as well right. In the course of marketing, consumers need to be informed of how their needs are met when they purchase the company's products. As a result, the products customers are retained and other new customers attracted. Eventually, the effectiveness of a marketing strategy is measured by the increase in the number of sales and consumers of a specific product. The platform initially used for marketing a few decades ago was print media, including newspapers and magazines, among others.
Additionally, other platforms such as television and radio were as well utilized by organizations to market their products. However, the marketing platforms that existed those decades were expensive; therefore, only the big firms could afford them. With the invention of social media, things changed. Many businesses, including the small ones, are nowadays using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, among others, to market their products and also sell. Over the globe, a population of over two billion people is active social media users. Social media happens to be the best place for creative people to build their brands. All one requires is to create exciting content relevant to their audience and be consistent in sharing new information to keep the audience updated. The material shared can take the form of a video, and people end up sharing in their pages, attracting a vast population.
Unlike the other types of marketing, social media platforms marketing provide an opportunity for the seller to have two-way communication with the client. As a result, the firm that is marketing their products is always in a position to get essential feedback from their clients. Throughout the paper, an in-depth discussion of what social media is and some of the popular social media sites that marketers can use to target a particular segment of society is provided.
Social media is defined as the online stage accessible to the entire population of the globe. It provides its users a chance to have them share information and also carry out discussions and engagements on specific issues affecting them. In addition to this, social media users as well give their ideas concerning matters at hand based on their knowledge and which is at times gained through an experience such as their experience for using a particular product. The designers of social media sites did it in a manner that is customizable in various ways to play different tasks, and marketing is one of them. A marketer can attach their ad to any content placed on social media accessible by a massive population of their target market. The marketing content is shared via blogs, micro-blogs, wikis, photo-sharing sites, instantaneous messaging, video-sharing platforms, social networking sites, podcasts, widgets, or virtual world’s ways.
Interaction in social media is either in groups or among persons. The virtual groups are, however, composed of individuals with a common interest or goal. Brands also create their pages on social media, where they post their content and interact with their audience. As the people on social media interact, they end up sharing content for their interesting post or something that attracts their attention and can either is an image or even a video. The current generation is raised in an environment whereby they have access to a smartphone, computers, or laptops and which are connected with the internet. As a result, they begin accessing social media sites such as Snapchat, Facebook, and Youtube, among many others, from a young age. With such exposure from a young age, social media happens to play a tremendously influential role in their lives. Although social media faces lots of criticism as a result of negative behavior influence, it has some positive impact on society. One of the most outstanding benefits of social media in the field of business is that it provides firms with a platform to advertise their companies and also learn how to carry out marketing.
Commonly used social media sites for advertisement
Selecting a social media marketing site depends on several factors that marketers need to understand. The marketer needs to know the platform that most of the target customers have access to, and they are its active users. The marketer also needs to know the groups or pages followed by most of the target audience so that information can be placed in the right place accessible by a large population. A marketer can, however, make a combination of two or more sites to advertise their product. Today, we have more than 40 social media sites and that are used for various purposes. However, the leading ones in marketing are discussed in this paper, and they include; Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
To date, Facebook is still the social media platform with the highest number of users, therefore, considered the leading. Facebook began its first operation on 4th February 2004 the same date it was launched. In a month, Facebook has a population of active users that is more than 2.45 billion and with 25 percent of the total world's population hosted on Facebook. As a result, Facebook is considered one of the most appropriate tools for connecting individuals from all over the globe to a firm as it accommodates a vast population. Advertisements can, therefore, get to reach almost everyone across the world. The sectors that majorly advertise their products via Facebook are major institutions offering financial services such as banks, gaming, media, and the entertainment industry. Additionally, small and micro-businesses use Facebook to advertise their business enterprises. Currently, the number of small and microbusinesses utilizing Facebook stands at one million.
The cost of marketing products on Facebook is meager. As a result, it is affordable for almost every business. The cost of a Facebook ad is approximately 0.28 cents per click (CPC), while the price for 1000 impressions (CPM) is averagely 7.19 dollars. One of the tactics that contribute to Facebook ads' success is the use of various advertisements for the different target audiences based on individual beliefs and priorities as well as demographic characteristics.
The number of people making use of Instagram is increasing rapidly since its launch in the year 2010. Many utilize it to carry out advertisements for their products, and its effectiveness makes many individuals perceive it as the best social media advertising tool. The number of active Instagram users per month now stands at 500,000 million, lower than that of Facebook. Instagram however, has the leading audience engagement rate among all the social media platforms. The engagement rate of Instagram is higher than that of Facebook by 58 percent and more significant than the Twitter engagement rate by 2000 percent. As a result of its visual nature, Instagram provides a platform that is considered a thriving joint for sellers of certain products, coaches especially on art and body fitness, among other skills and influencers as well. The videos and images posted on the site, however, have to be appealing and of the best quality to attract a vast audience. The products and services that are sold at higher rates on Instagram target individuals within an age range of 18 to 34 years since their population forms 63 percent of the average active users on Instagram. Facebook owns Instagram; therefore, their pricing is almost similar. When making use of Instagram, it is essential to have hashtags well evaluated since they contribute to a significant margin to the success of the ads.
The number of active users per month on Twitter now stands at 328 million since its launch in 2006. Twitter has a character limit of 140 and which many perceived as impossible to advertise products with such a limitation. However, some businesses are doing well and making Twitter a thriving point. In some instances, Twitter is furious. Even under such conditions, advertisement content is created and shared with the targeted audience. The advertiser of the product also responds to the questions raised by the audience team. Online marketers are thriving well on Twitter. CPM on Twitter stands at a range of between 9 to 11 dollars while CPC is between 0.25 to 0.30 cents.
It is essential to have a business that thinks of marketing consider the aspect of social media advertisement. Social media provides advertisers the potential to reach numerous individuals and at a meager cost hence saving enormous resources that could be used for publicity. The leading sites so far in social media advertising are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In the future, researchers should evaluate more sites such as Snapchat, Youtube, among others in depth.
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