社交媒體營銷Social media marketing

過去，廣播僅限于那些資金充裕的企業以使用社交媒體。然而，對低成本易獲取的交流工具的迫切需要改變了這一切。如今，所有能上網的人都可以和全世界的人分享資訊。

 

什么是社交媒體？
 

社交媒體指的是用戶能夠輕易地參與或貢獻的媒體。社交媒體的形式包括博客，論壇，虛擬世界，維基以及社交網站。社交媒體市場程序通常致力于發布吸引注意、刺激讀者分享至其社交網站的內容。由于這些資訊來自于可靠的第三方而不是品牌或企業本身，因此這些企業資訊能夠在用戶間傳播并產生共鳴。

 

如今很多人想充分利用社交媒體但僅有很少人能做好。社交網站是一個全球現象。像Twitter、Facebook這樣的網站如今擁有數以百萬計的用戶，而在線社交互動已成為我們生活中不可缺少的一部分。社交媒體網站不僅僅是一種交流方式。大多數為這些新渠道而形成的品牌交流具有以下兩個特性。其一，消費者可以選擇不參與。如果消費者不參與，你的資訊交流便斷了。其二，如果他們喜歡這些資訊，他們會和朋友分享；如果他們不喜歡，他們仍然會。我們都知道同行推薦和口碑的影響力，但是像Facebook、Twitter這些社交平臺如今也能收到頻繁的、定期的反饋。

 

In the past, broadcasting was limited to those with the financial resources to access mass media. The emergence of low-cost and highly accessible communication tools, however, has changed all of this. Now, anyone with an internet connection has the ability to share their message with a worldwide audience.

 

What is Social Media?

 

The term “social media” represents media that users can easily participate in and contribute to. Forms of social media include blogs, forums, virtual worlds, wikis and social networks. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it is coming from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself.

 

Social Media is something that everyone these days wants to utilize but only few can do it well. Social networking sites are a global phenomenon. Sites like Twitter and Facebook now boast hundreds of millions of members and online social interaction has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Social media networking is not merely a method of communication. Nor is it simply a by-product of a changing society. It's actually an instrument of change. Most of the brand communication created for these new channels is characterized by two attributes. First, a consumer can chose not to see it. If it is not engaging, your message is not going anywhere. Second, if they like it they will share it with their friends, if they don’t they still would. We have always known the effect of peer recommendations and word of mouth on consumers, but with social platforms like Facebook and Twitter that effect now receives a frequent and regular dose of steroids.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Social media marketing is known as SMO or Social Media Optimization and benefits organizations and individuals by providing an additional channel for customer support, a means to gain customer and competitive insight, recruitment and retention of new customers/business partners, and a method of managing reputation online. Key factors that ensure its success are its relevance to the customer, the value it provides them with and the strength of the foundation on which it is built. A strong foundation serves as a platform in which the organization can centralize its information and direct customers on its recent developments via other social media channels, such as article and press release publications. Oftentimes, corporate social media platforms are used to offer unique incentives to customers who are willing to engage (i.e. "like" a Facebook Page).

 

What characterizes Social Media?

 

Although definitions vary, a few key characteristics are common amongst social media platforms. Most of these properties thrive on the notion of participation and making connections. Part of this is informed by the notion of a flat community, in which all parties engage in open dialogue. The idea of social media "marketing" only addresses the key point of "Speaking" to your audience. Advertising is the original "talking at" people. Social media is about engaging with them.

 

How it’s different?

 

Perhaps the biggest difference between traditional media (newspapers, television, radio, books, etc.) and social media is the dynamic and flexible nature of the latter. Social media can change with time and be edited by the author and, in some cases, the community. Likewise, the audience can interact with and republish social media. It lends itself to being archived, indexed by search engines, and shared by users in many ways.

 

Why it’s important?

 

Although there are many reasons why social media is notable, there is one reason that stands above the rest: the people. Social media brings with it the power of every user on the planet. Its growth and future potential is enormous.

 

What it means for companies?

 

Traditional marketers are accustomed to carefully make perfect messages. This allows for control, but the results are difficult and costly to measure. Social media turns this whole scenario around. With it, control is shared with the crowd, and real feedback becomes immediate. Organizations now have the opportunity to collect detailed information on users and their habits, elicit real feedback and suggestions, and refine their offering and messaging to better suit user demands.

 

Common forms of Social Media

 

Blogs (short for web logs) are websites that typically feature posts, by an individual or group, which readers can comment upon. Blogs vary widely in nature, but tend to be popular as they often provide an unvarnished, insider perspective on a particular topic. Social networks are virtual communities that allow users to connect with others. Some of these venues appeal to broad groups (i.e. Facebook) whereas others are built around particular niches and demographics (i.e. LinkedIn). Although many other forms of social media exist (including news aggregators, microblogging, podcasts, and mash-ups) the examples presented focus mainly on the forms listed above.#p#分頁標題#e#

How it works?

 

Through social networking sites, products/companies can have conversations and interactions with individual followers. This personal interaction can instill a feeling of loyalty into followers and potential customers. Also, by choosing whom to follow on these sites, products can reach a very narrow target audience. Twitter allows companies to promote products on an individual level. The use of a product can be explained in short messages that followers are more likely to read. These messages appear on followers’ home pages. Messages can link to the product’s website, Facebook profile, photos, videos, etc. This link provides followers the opportunity to spend more time interacting with the product online. This interaction can create a loyal connection between product and individual and can also lead to larger advertising opportunities. Twitter promotes a product in real-time and brings customers in. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, Social networking websites allow individuals to interact with one another and build relationships. When products or companies join those sites, people can interact with the product or company. That interaction feels personal to users because of their previous experiences with social networking site interactions. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs allow individual followers to “retweet” or “repost” comments made by the product being promoted. By repeating the message, all of the user’s connections are able to see the message, therefore reaching more people. Social networking sites act as word of mouth. Because the information about the product is being put out there and is getting repeated, more traffic is brought to the product/company.

 

Social Media Mainstream Marketing Channel

 

Marketing via online social networks is one of the best ways to boost your bottom line, create awareness and engage a community around your brand. Generally social networking is free, however, to effectively build and manage your businesses reputation, the activity does require some major investment of your time. And like for any other form of investment, a sound strategy is the essential foundation for success. Marketers the world over are using social media not only to connect with customers and prospects, but also to see how well their competition is doing. Both consumers and the media are obsessed with social media. Popular social networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, are experiencing unprecedented growth and inspiring marketers in new and exciting ways. Smart companies large and small realize that the opportunities presented by social media are too good to pass up.

 

The business owner or proprietor can equally create incentives to encourage those consumers to 'check in' to their establishments more frequently. This can be through offers, vouchers, discounts, specials etc. No matter how far we go technologically or how clever the strategies become it is all to one end, better understanding of what human beings want and how we interact.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Old Media towards New Media

 

Social media statistics over the last few years have been skyscraping. Social media, where evolving as a professional and personal networking tool, has been recognized by many individuals and businesses as a cost effective and unparalleled mainstream marketing channel. The shift from old media towards new media like as effective platforms of global diplomacy, communication and opinion shaping or a shift form the “CNN Effect” to the “Facebook Effect”. Everyone seems to be on Facebook or Twittering one another. This new phase of the Internet, known as Web 2.0 or social networking, is changing the way we manage our lives.

 

Social media marketing is a recent addition to organizations integrated marketing communications plans. Integrated marketing communications is a practice organizations follow to connect with their target markets. Increasingly, viral marketing campaigns are also grouped into integrated marketing communications. In the traditional marketing communications model, the content, frequency, timing, and medium of communications by the organization is in collaboration with an external agent, i.e. advertising agencies, marketing research firms and public relations firms. However, the growth of social media has impacted the way organizations communicate. With the emergence of Web 2.0, the internet provides a set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online.

 

The world is more diverse than ever before. Diversity is not a fad. It’s here to stay and tapping into new market segments means big business. Social media has caused a paradigm shift in how we function and do business on the planet, yet so many companies are still stuck in the old media world and are getting left behind.

 

Present Status

 

Social media has gone mainstream and for businesses it represents an unprecedented marketing opportunity that transcends traditional middlemen and connects companies directly with customers. This is why nearly every business on the planet is exploring social media marketing initiatives.

 

Two years ago, businesses were uncertain about social media. Now it's here to stay and companies are rapidly responding to new social media opportunities. Consider that there are: 112.8 million blogs tracked on Technorati1, 500 million users on Facebook and 72.6 million Videos posted on YouTube. One of the major players, facebook commanding 41% of the social media traffic has now over 500 million active users worldwide. In Pakistan, with its rapid growth of 1.4 million users in the last 6 months, it now holds over 3.5 million active users growing at a high rate with new users per week.

 

Social media is still an infant field of study communicating with a specific or niche market requires a focused marketing plan. The rise of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin is changing the way we see ourselves, how we interact with each other, how we work and how we do business on a daily basis. How we create and execute brand communication for such channels requires not only new ways of thinking, but also a completely new skill set. If you are in a brand communication job today, you are living through what perhaps is the most exciting time in the history of this discipline. Today, if we do not re-invent ourselves with the time, we will become obsolete as marketers.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

 

Everywhere you look these days, you find social media. Personal interactions starting with newsgroups and message boards have influenced decisions to buy, use, praise, or complain. At any given time there are millions of people who are an active user at any social media sites and each of them is a potential customer for a company exhibiting their product and services profiles on these social media sites. Due to the rapid development of the technologies surrounding the online communities, a company that is interested in selling and promoting their products and services from its social media page will constantly have to search for an edge in the fierce competition. Since there are so many potential consumers, it is the out most importance to be able to understand what the consumer wants and needs. The appropriate and feasible problem is likely to design in the following lines under the light of above discussion.

 

What are the most commonly used social media tools?

 

How to build powerful customer relationships using social media?

 

Has the emergence of social media changed how organizations communicate?

 

Do social media influence consumer buying behavior?

 

How marketers are embracing social media and why social media doesn’t have to be all fun and games, it can be an extremely profitable marketing tool.

 

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

 

The purpose of this thesis is to expose the facts of social media marketing emerging as the mainstream marketing channel in terms of integrated marketing communication. The aim of this research is primarily to identify and get insight into what main factors the consumers take into consideration when reciprocate to the social media marketing strategy use by marketers to promote and sell their product and services, also there will be focus on the factors consumer find important for a company to consider when using social media marketing. The findings of this research will be outlined as implications for marketers in order to enhance their consumer knowledge and increase their online marketing strategy effectiveness. Furthermore, the research aims at finding and analyzing factors that might help marketers when persuading the target group to increase their usage of social media as a persuading channel for their business growth.

 

Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Increased communication for organizations fosters brand awareness and often, improved customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns. With emergence of channels like Twitter, the barrier to entry in social media is greatly reduced. Local or small businesses also use social networking sites as a promotional technique. Businesses can follow individuals social networking site uses in the local area and advertise specials and deals. These can be exclusive and in the form of “get a free drink by liking this page”. This type of message encourages other locals to follow the business on the sites in order to obtain the promotional deal. In the process, the business is getting seen and promoting itself. The importance of analyzing and identifying factors that influence the consumer to be part of social media communication is vital. Since the social media is a new medium for marketing, there have been new demands set by the consumer. That is why it is crucial for the marketers to know what influences the online consumers.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

We, indeed, are living at a time of great change, The Internet has empowered us as individuals, consumers, and citizens to take more control of our lives and organize ourselves spontaneously. Social media has opened the door to anyone who wants to promote themselves.

 

SCOPE

 

This research would be limited to urban areas where the Internet and digital world would be limited to the “literate” population. It is directed towards multinational and local companies who have been using these social media sites and how these products oriented companies do its efforts to present themselves in this environment. This work can also be directed to the upcoming companies which have the plan to come to this market.

 

DELIMITATIONS

 

These social sites have different audiences and you can only target the ones which is the most relevant to what your business is. Also social media has always been to focus on one niche targeted network first and forget everybody else.

Also the technology is not crucially significant for some countries so we do not see penetration of such channels overtaking traditional media for quite some years. The fact that countries like Pakistan would have relatively lower penetration of some of these new channels and so does not make our life easier. In fact, quite the contrary, it makes our life even more difficult.

 

DEFINITION OF THE TERMS

 

Social Media Marketing: It is digital marketing. It uses social networks (e.g.LinkedIn, Facebook), blogs, user groups and forums, wikis, podcasts (e.g. iTunes), content communities (e.g.Flickr, YouTube), and micro-blogs (e.g.Twitter) to build brands and products, by engaging with online communities.

 

Integrated marketing communications or IMC coordinates promotional elements like advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing and sales promotion.

 

Twitter is a website, which offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched in July. Since then Twitter has gained popularity worldwide and is estimated to have 200 million users, generating 65 million tweets a day and handling over 800,000 search queries per day. It is sometimes described as the "SMS of the Internet".

 

Facebook is a social networking service in which profiles are more detailed than Twitter. It has more than 600 million active users till to date. They allow a product to provide videos, photos, and longer descriptions. Videos can show when a product can be used as well as how to use it. It can include testimonials as other followers can comment on the product pages for others to see. Facebook can link back to the product’s Twitter page as well as send out event reminders. Facebook promotes a product in real-time and brings customers in.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Blogs allow a product or company to provide longer descriptions of products or services. The longer description can include reasoning and uses. It can include testimonials and can link to and from Facebook and Twitter pages. Blogs can be updated frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping customers.

 

MySpace allows you to create a profile like Facebook, but gives you more freedom over the design.

 

YouTube is a free video streaming service where you can post videos about your business.

 

Flickr is site that will let you upload photos of your business. Posting pictures of fun events will encourage others to join you next time.

 

Google Buzz is a bit like Twitter and Facebook, but much newer. You can share promotions and coupons with contacts, who can then re-share them with their own friends.

 

Active Users An “active user” is someone who log on to any of the social platforms daily (generally 50% of the networks active users log on daily) weekly or monthly to views or interacts on the pages by publishing comments, posting photos or uploading videos.

 

CHAPTER TWO:Research Method & Procedure

 

RESEARCH DESIGN:

 

A qualitative study will be conducted to answer the purpose of thesis, in which some facts and figures are used for the support of the central issue of research. As with traditional qualitative research, give heed to topics, brand presence, share of voice and sentiment, and observe social media behavior. Social media delivers insight and knowledge what are people saying about a brand or product? And who, how, and why? The stuff of qualitative marketing research like behaviors, attitudes, perceptions, opinions, beliefs, emotions and trends.

 

RESPONDANT OF THE STUDY:

 

The purpose of this thesis will be achieved by using customers who use social media sites as a critical case to take part in a survey. Active users on social media sites would be the participants of the research survey.

 

INSTRUMENTS:

 

For research the most appropriate approach would be a questionnaire. Survey questionnaire is used as research instruments for this study that would be filled by the users of social media sites. To encourage the users not to reject the questionnaire outright and to increase the response rate, the questionnaire is limited to maximum one page. Also the observation of what people are saying about brands or products while engaging in social media activity will be noted. Online communities, private and public blogs and social networks would be keenly watched over.

 

TREATMENT OF DATA/ INFORMATION/ ANALYSIS:#p#分頁標題#e#

 

The research is done basically on the qualitative format. The data is collected by approaching different sources including primary and secondary styles. The models concerning consumer’s intention and attraction toward social media tactics in an online environment is used to analyze the outcome of the survey.

 

THE ‘SMART AIRLINE’ LAUNCHES 14 WEEKLY FLIGHTS TO PAKISTAN

 

17 May, 2011

 

nasair, the low fare airline based in Saudi Arabia, today announced it will launch new flights to Karachi, Pakistan on June 18. The airline will operate daily scheduled flights from both Riyadh and Jeddah airports. These flights will go on sale for an introductory price of SAR 499 inclusive of taxes. The addition of Karachi to the nasair route network will bring the number of nasair’s international destinations to 19 cities.

 

The flights will accommodate the growth in demand from Pakistani expats living and working in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, with the Hajj season rapidly approaching for the year 2011 this critical route expansion will help serve the nearly 200,000 pilgrims who fly to Saudi Arabia from Pakistan every year. The routes will be flown by nasair’s modern, comfortable Airbus A320 aircraft.

 

Simon Stewart, CEO says, “We are proud of our commitment to being the smart choice for passengers throughout the MENA region and beyond. By adding this new destination, we intend to efficiently serve the Pakistani businessmen, executives, families and workers living in Saudi Arabia. We also hope to offer Saudi business people more travel options for reaching expanding markets in Pakistan.”

 

To better service travelers between the two countries, nasair has introduced seven direct flights between Jeddah and Karachi each week and seven direct flights between Riyadh and Karachi per week. Turki Abdullah Al Jawini, Director of Sales comments, “The nasair team is proud to represent the ‘Smart Airline’, catering to the needs of the domestic, international, business and religious tourist alike. We recognize that our passengers want to plan their trips in advance to take advantage of our ‘book early and pay less’ model.” Mr. Al Jawini also underscores that alongside its advancing route map, nasair will be offering its customers a redesigned website with more advanced features and capabilities and remains committed to its strong promotions and revamped social media.

 

Thais flock to social media

 

20 May, 2011

 

Thai consumers are embracing social media despite the nation's lack of 3G services, a local agency chief has said.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Speaking to the Bangkok Post, Lowe Thailand's incoming ceo Jeremy Hine suggested that marketers would benefit from improvements to network infrastructure.

 

Hine also predicted that Lowe would grow its business by up to 8% this year.

 

Social media is becoming increasingly popular in Thailand, which is the world's 19th largest "Facebook nation" at 9.4m users, according to data from socialbakers.

 

Thailand's web penetration as a whole stands at just 33%, suggesting that around half of the nation's web users have a Facebook account.

 

The web penetration rate is forecast to rise to 52% by 2015 as new fixed line infrastructure is built and the mobile web expands.

 

"I'm very surprised to see Thai consumers are actively uploading information on social media despite the absence of 3G," Hine said.

 

"When mobile 3G finally arrives, we will see a lot of positive changes and developments for both business and consumers."

 

The rapid take-up of social media among Thais also has implications for brands.

 

"Brands ... need to engage in a two-way communication and take consumer responses seriously," Hine added.

 

According to latest forecasts from ZenithOptimedia, Thai adspend will grow 8.9% in 2011, following last year's 10.2% increase.

 

This will be boosted by an 11.7% rise in internet adspend and a 13.5% increase for TV.

 

IMF forecasts suggest the Thai economy as a whole will grow by 4% this year, slightly below the Asian average of 6.7%.

 

http://www.brandsynario.com/intl-news/4290_thais-flock-to-social-media.aspx

 

PepsiCo evolves digital strategy

 

3 May, 2011

 

PepsiCo, the food and beverage giant, is embracing strategies such as "social listening" to acquire a deeper understanding of consumers.

 

Speaking to Econsultancy, Joshua Karpf, the firm's senior manager, digital media communications, argued new models are increasingly essential given changing popular behaviour.

 

"We understand that our consumers are younger and for them digital is a valuable part of their day-to-day lives," he said.

 

"As tools and platforms like mobile and tablets become more mainstream, we're asking what can we do that is simple, but drives the business?"

 

PepsiCo's evolving approach was demonstrated by a partnership with geo-location specialist Foursquare and Hess gas stations, providing exclusive offers to customers "checking in" on wireless devices.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

This extended an initial offline-only promotion, and delivered a 20% improvement in effectiveness for PepsiCo, and greater numbers of "check ins" for Hess.

 

"We validated that if we created the right deal we could drive business," said Karpf.

 

Elsewhere, the owner of Tropicana and Frito-Lay has recently ran a scheme, PepsiCo10, asking start-ups to submit promising ideas surrounding social media, mobile, gaming and place-based retail.

 

It received over 400 entries, reduced to 80 organizations which presented their suggestions to PepsiCo directly, before ten were finally chosen.

 

"For us it is getting to see technology we wouldn't necessarily see otherwise and to try it out in a low-risk way with the object of expanding on the successes," said Karpf.

 

"For the companies, they get a case they can use to help grow their businesses. It's a win-win."

 

So impressed was it with the results of this enterprise, PepsiCo now plans to introduce versions for Europe and India in the near future.

 

"At the corporate level, our point of view is on the emerging side, let's identify companies where we can run programmes, learn from those, and have room to fail and learn," said Karpf.

 

"Of these, maybe one or two will actually work at a bigger level. We consider it R&D. It is an imperative for us."

 

Regarding individual brands, Gatorade has proved an early adopter of many social media techniques, and even boasts a dedicated "Mission Control" permanently tracking internet buzz.

 

This includes issues related to the sports category, and has been employed for gaining insights and interacting with netizens one-on-one.

 

"We started it because we knew a lot of our consumers are talking about sports and nutrition online 24/7," said Karpf.

 

"We've really used it to gain an understanding of our consumers."

 

Staffed by a mixture of PepsiCo's marketers and agency representatives, Gatorade's Mission Control monitors Facebook and Twitter, leveraging both "listening" software and in-house technology.

 

"We are looking at rolling this out, but everything is not a big consumer megabrand that people are talking about 24/7," Karpf added.

 

"Our point of view is that all brands need social listening. Sometimes it's enough to use off-the-shelf software."

 

The Pepsi Refresh Project, allowing web users to vote for proposals hoping to rejuvenate local communities, has also engaged shoppers in a unique fashion.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

"Consumer response was unprecedented in terms of ideas generated and the scale at which the programme impacted communities," said Karpf.

 

"People were lobbying and using their network to better their community, schools promoted ideas to improve their world. Pepsi was the enabler."