Social
media, broadly defined as online media that is produced and driven by the
consumer (Dickey and Lewis 2010, 191) has become one of the most significant
developments in the last decade. Its purpose is to bring people together to
communicate with friends, family, colleagues and people with similar interests.
The core benefit being that it satisfies some consumers’ need to belong to a
community (Dickey et al 2008, 92) With the introduction of new technology such
as the smartphone and the tablet, people are able to constantly be updated with
their social media activity wherever they may be.
The
main appeal of social media websites is the fact that you are able to be a part
of an online world where you can create a profile and have full control of what
people can see and what they cannot see. As Dickey suggests it is also a way to
share thoughts and opinions and see whether others agree or disagree and engage
in topical conversations (2008, 92).
When we first join a social
media website we have the option of uploading a photograph of ourselves,
provide a description of who we are and what interests us and create a username
or in most cases provide our full names so that others can track us easily on
the World Wide Web. Once joined, the possibilities are endless. We can post
blogs, share status updates or "tweets", browse other people's
profiles, add friends/delete friends, upload photographs and videos, share
website links and much much more.
The current
social media trend has caused people to spend more time on simultaneous
communication with friends, establish friendships and use the internet at a
higher rate. Therefore the rapid use of social media tools affects consumer
behaviour due to the nature of the consumption related interactions within
these platforms (Durukan et al 2012, 149)
Social
media has allowed individuals to become not only consumers of information but
also producers. The creation of these social networking sites enhances the
interactive power of the Internet which traditionally only allowed audiences to
absorb information, but has now shifted the control of media from publishers to
consumers (Moriarty, Mitchell and Wells 2009, 297). The ability to engage,
interact and share information posted on social media websites through the
numerous communication methods, has changed the traditional way of interaction
and developing relationships (Lin and Lu 2011, 565).
To
meet the demands of our face paced ever engaging society, more features are
becoming available to provide people with greater communication methods. Most
segments have adopted this popularity in online communication favorably,
however it is the millennials or “Generation Y” that use social media at a
higher frequency than most other generations. The classification for the
“millennial” group is based on the period that they were born. According to
Wartgow this constitutes anyone born between the late 1970s to the late 1990s
(2012, 18)
This
ever expanding means of communication has allowed for social media to quickly become
a new foreground for activism, especially within the millennial segment. As
Dickey and Lewis suggest; social media has become the new vehicle for word-of-mouth
advertising; and more (2010, 191). The ability for consumers to gain access to
a wider range of knowledge sources has meant awareness about issues that were
unknown previously, is slowly coming to the surface.
It
is true that Generation Y does have a deep concern for social issues which will
be discussed in future posts but the problem is that they join online causes without
attempting an actual movement that would exhibit some form of change. Their
idea of activism is simply through a click of a mouse. This is an issue for
marketers, especially in the cause and not-for-profit industry because the aim
of these organisations is to evoke social changes and this becomes difficult
when the relationship between organisations and consumers is lost through this
concept of “slacktivism”.
References:
Dickey,
Irene and William Lewis. 2010. “Social Media Perceptions and Usage by
Generation Y and Relevant Marketing Implications.” Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences: 191-195.
http://web.ebscohost.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au
Dickey,
Irene, William Lewis, and Jennifer Siemens. 2008. “The Evolution of Internet
Weblogs: History, Current Trends and Usage in Marketing Strategy.” Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences 19
(1): 91-102. http://www.asbbs.org
Durukan,
Tulin, Ibrahim Bozaci and A. Bugra Hamsioglu. 2012. “An Investigation of
Customer Behaviours in Social Media.” European
Journal of Economics, Finance & Administrative Services (44): 148-158. http://web.ebscohost.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au
Lin,
Kuah-Yu and Hsi-Peng Lu. 2011. “Intention to Continue Using Facebook Fan Pages
from the Perspective of Social Capital Theory.” Cyberpsychology 14 (10): 565-570. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0472
Moriarty,
Sandra, Nancy Mitchell and William Wells. 2009. Advertising Principles and Practices. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Pearson
Vassangi,
M.G. 2012. “The Trouble with ‘Kony 2012’.” Maclean’s
125 (11). http://web.ebscohost.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au
Wartgow,
Gregg. 2012. “Marketing to Millennials.” Green
Industry PRO: 18-19. http://web.ebscohost.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au
It is really an interesting and useful blog.There are lots of basic knowledge about social media in this post. The blog is worthy to read which because it is well referenced.
ReplyDeleteActually social media has already changed people's life in the past few years. Social media allow people have a two-way communication, once people post latest information into the network, some other people may discuss it, leave their comments. Two different people have the chance to share each other's idea and have the chance to make friends.
In other hands, social media may cause some problem. For example, videos and photos could spread quickly through the internet,it may confuse the people's minds and in a worse place, it can cause a crime happening. So, social media has both advantages and disadvantages, how to use it well is an important iusse in the future.
Thank you for your comment :)
DeleteLike most marketing mediums social media does have its advantages and disadvantages. I agree that it has allowed for a two way communication to occur which allows marketers to engage with audiences on a new platform. It also generates new knowledge in society through collective thinking.
I am not sure whether you remember our first class when I mentioned the issue of the saturation of marketing messages on social media. Most social media networking sites do get their revenue from advertising because the internet is an effective medium to gain frequency and exposure. It also gives marketers an opportunity to target their segments better because they can design their ads to be shown on specific pages that the segments are most likely to visit or in the case of Facebook, the ads are only shown to a specific target audience determined by the company. This technique has become more and more popular over the years and we as generation Y are being constantly bombarded with marketing messages on almost every social media site we visit.
This certainly can be related to my blog post because the Kony 2012 campaign was the primary medium used to target generation Y. It was almost overwhelming to see so many videos and posts about the campaign. I witnessed first hand the amount of people my age get involved in campaign as soon as it got viral. People wanted to show that they cared about the issue and wanted to play a part in doing good in society. The fact that the issue was so far away was another reason why it appealed to audiences, because it was dealing with crimes that most young Australian are oblivious to. However, a few months since the campaign first launched I had asked the very same people whether they have done anything apart from posting a link to the video on Facebook and the majority have said they did not.
Yes, social media is a great tool for exposure for marketers but getting generation Y to get off their chairs and do something is definitely an issue. As you mentioned "how to use it well is an issue in the future" and that is something I hope to address in my honours dissertation.
Great introduction to social media! It was interesting to actually read a definition of it for the first time - it tends to be the type of thing everyone can describe without really knowing what it is.
ReplyDeleteThe unprecedented customer power it has brought to society is certainly a massive challenge for marketers. Because it is still so new, there aren't yet any established models or theories for marketers to work off. Accordingly there are plenty of instances where even the most reputed brands get it wrong, including BMW, Nestle and Pizza Hut.
Thank you for your comment Matt :)
DeleteYes social media being a new platform for marketing has meant that there isn't much guidance available as to how to design specific messages or use the websites to the most effective manner.
I have just had a look at the examples you have provided to me in your post and it is definitely true that although the initial level of engagement is successful, eventually this wears off with audiences as they lose interest quickly, which is one of the characteristics that generation Y displays.When Pizza Hut first released its campaign "Feed a Friend" there was a lot of hype and excitement but now more than a year later it seems that they weren't able to sustain this interest.
As for Nestle, this was a prime example of how Facebook pages can be used by the public to turn against companies and corporations. Audiences used the Nestle Facebook page to voice their opposition to which Nestle remained defensive. This is an issue because there isn't much research into how to deal with situations such as this and hence why when it comes to social media, some marketers do get it wrong regardless of how well established they are in the market.
I couldn't find any information on BMW's social media campaign being unsuccessful. Perhaps I am reading the wrong literature.