Social Network Marketing & Its Effectiveness
Introduction
The objective of this review is to explore what the research says about social network marketing and its effectiveness.
The first wave of internet revolution (web 1.0) brought consumers e-commerce. The second wave, Web 2.0 evolved into a much robust and interactive experience, allowing consumers to participate and share information effectively, Social network media such as Facebook, Tweeters, etc. have grown rapidly. Users are not only teens but also adults. The popularity of smartphones, hand-held tablet computers, computer notebooks also help the increase in popularity of using these sites. For instance, social net work media have replaced e-mails to become the most popular communication tools.
To marketing practitioners, this wave of digital revolution cannot be ignored. More than that Web 2.0 enable consumers to generate content and share. This change is totally different from conventional marketing, in which firms generate content or messages to bombard users and potential users (such as advertising). It is now not a question of whether a company should use digital media, but how they can maximize the benefit from the rise of these new media network. It may not mean that conventional marketing tools such as advertising will be replaced overnight, but social network media should be able to synergize conventional promotional tools. Thus, naturally the question of tracking and measuring social network media and its ROI will be asked, which will be addressed in this paper.
The use of social network media in consumer marketing is well established. Its application in education, healthcare, and also in pharmaceutical promotion are also explored.
Word of Mouth Marketing
To begin with, the concept of word of mouth marketing is explored. Marketers recognized that the conversations among customers are powerful influence of product adoptions (Ryan and Gross 1943; Rogers 1962).
Traditionally, marketers develop message to influence
The objective of this review is to explore what the research says about social network marketing and its effectiveness.
The first wave of internet revolution (web 1.0) brought consumers e-commerce. The second wave, Web 2.0 evolved into a much robust and interactive experience, allowing consumers to participate and share information effectively, Social network media such as Facebook, Tweeters, etc. have grown rapidly. Users are not only teens but also adults. The popularity of smartphones, hand-held tablet computers, computer notebooks also help the increase in popularity of using these sites. For instance, social net work media have replaced e-mails to become the most popular communication tools.
To marketing practitioners, this wave of digital revolution cannot be ignored. More than that Web 2.0 enable consumers to generate content and share. This change is totally different from conventional marketing, in which firms generate content or messages to bombard users and potential users (such as advertising). It is now not a question of whether a company should use digital media, but how they can maximize the benefit from the rise of these new media network. It may not mean that conventional marketing tools such as advertising will be replaced overnight, but social network media should be able to synergize conventional promotional tools. Thus, naturally the question of tracking and measuring social network media and its ROI will be asked, which will be addressed in this paper.
The use of social network media in consumer marketing is well established. Its application in education, healthcare, and also in pharmaceutical promotion are also explored.
Word of Mouth Marketing
To begin with, the concept of word of mouth marketing is explored. Marketers recognized that the conversations among customers are powerful influence of product adoptions (Ryan and Gross 1943; Rogers 1962).
Traditionally, marketers develop message to influence
References: Donna L. Hoffman, Marek Fodor 2010. Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing? MIT Sloan Management Review 52,1(Fall): 41-49. Fue Zeng, Li Huang, Wenyu Dou 2009. Journal of Interactive Advertising 10,1: 1-13. Hirishi Onishi, Puneet Manchanda 2012. Marketing activity, blogging and sales. Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 29: 221-234. Shu-Chuan Chu, Yoojung Kim 2011, Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites, International Journal of Advertising 30,1: 47-75. Robert V Kozinets, Kristine de Valck, Andrea C Wojnick and Sarah JS Wilner 2010, Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities, Journal of Marketing, 74 (March): 71-89. Louise Kelly, Garyle and Judy Drennan 2010, Avoidance of Advertising in Social Networking sites: the Teenage Perspective, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10, 25(Spring): pp. 16-27.