SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING-

BIRTH OF A NEW ERA.

The emotional connect.

Sona.M.Surana

Vishakha.P.Gopinath

Abstract

The social media is a growing platform not just for connecting with friends and family but also for business to connect with costumers. In this paper the reach of social media and the need of business to personally connect to its potential costumers are highlighted. A formula that defines the social media has been derived and explained. Also a case of the Coca Cola Company has been taken, their earlier methods of marketing and the changes they have made through. One of the company’s interesting methods of advertising has been mentioned and how the social media website was used by the company is taken up. The point of the company involving the consumers in their advertising and marketing aspects has also been highlighted.

Key terms

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn- Social networking websites YouTube- A networking website, where videos are shared Posts- information that is shared on sites

Introduction

Initially people lived in small groups all over the world. The

only source of information was chit chat among family, friends

and relatives. This form of marketing is called word of mouth

publicity where the marketer had no influence on the organic and

natural conversations. This is how marketing started. These

marketers were popular and were doing well in the small groups.

But did not know how the other world was. Marketers could not

reap the benefits of economies of scale.

As the time evolved people started living in bigger groups closer

to each other. It was in 100 BC that the first news sheets were

introduced in Rome, which included political tracks. However

newspapers were not seen until 1600s.Magazines also developed

slowly and it got introduced in 1704. Radio emerged as the means

of mass communication in 1920s. Television hit the markets in

1940s. The latter half of the century witnessed the cable

televisions and satellite communications. Now the marketers

started mass communication. Television, radio, newspaper were the

means. Marketers became global and giant. The small local players

were under their foot. With the power of money they projected a

false image in front of people. Monopoly started developing,

Customers did not have much say.

The newest means of mass media is internet marketing which

revolutionized communication. With the advent of internet

marketing and later on social media marketing customers got back

their confidence. This medium connected people all over the

world. Social media is an instant communication tool to cater

millions of potential audience. People shared their experiences,

showed their likes and dislikes and the cycle came back to the

word of mouth publicity. But this time the marketers had a say in

the conversations of the people. As time evolves the marketers

are moving towards the same chit chat means with bigger groups,

transparency and interaction.

Social Media and our definition.

Social Media is the one thing that will not stop being accessed

no matter what the crisis is. And so is marketing. Marketing and

advertising is that aspect of business that is always recurring

and each time it gets better and better. We believe that social

media has a mass reach to those potential customers who help

increase the profit of business, by minimal expense.

To prove this here is a formula.

Social media = personal mass communication

Marketing= promotion to sell a business product or a service

Social media + marketing= personally communicating to individuals

about a business or a service in multitude.

Here by we theoretically prove the fact that the medium of social

media marketing is very much personal to reach the potential

costumers yet it is public enough to make a mark on the minds of

a group people to remember a particular product or a service.

Social Media and its reach.

Currently there are 2.4 billon internet users globally, by the

end of this year that number is expected to reach 2.7 billon

which is 39% of the global population. Most households today have

internet accessibility. Every school as well as college to

provides this benefit for their students. By 2014, 41% of the

world’s households will have internet connectivity and by 2017

there will be a billon more new users. These new billion users

are expected to hail from countries like China, India and

social media marketing

personal mass

communicationin

MAGNITUDE

Indonesia. Moreover in the coming years mobile internet usage is

expected to overtake desktop browsing. This makes it even more

personal. Thus if a company decides to market their products

online, it would be a pretty good idea. Provided they use a great

deal of high shareable content, a perfect strategy and timing.

How does this reach help companies market their products?

No matter how much technology advances, the consumer behavior

still remains the same. Your friend or relative recommends a

product to you; you would give it a try at least once. This

“trying” of product brings a negligible increase in sales of a

product. Now imagine in social networking sites how many friends

and relatives you would be in contact with. The difference here

is you get seduced to buy a product or learn more about a product

by a simple 144 word tweet, like or share. Here the “trying” of

the product has a totally different meaning. It means profit, and

increase in sale.

A repost from a friend on a product results in 42% chances that

the other friend responds to the post. Also an advertisement of

the product has 34% chances that the viewer either “likes” it or

“shares” it. The reasons why people like, comment or share

product advertisements is because of various reasons a few top

reasons are

To get further information on special offers and deals

Because they have shopped there or used that product or

service

Simply to keep tabs and receive updates about the brand.

The number of reasons goes on. The social media has so much

reach so much so, the consumers can get updates even on their

smart phones and tabs, by s simple swipe or touch.

A product for a consumer is utility, and value for his/her money.

This automatically results in an emotional link towards buying

any product.

Thus,

Buying product or a service= emotional connect.

Emotional connect once gained has to be maintained by costumer

relations.

Social media marketing has a reach that will help solve this

equation. If companies take advantage of this they can easily

reach the costumer, and bring good value to their business.

Photos, videos, & status updates if all engineered in the manner

that highlights the relation the costumer has with the product

can make the brand viral in no time. Once the brand is viral,

your marketing part of your business is cleared.

Social media and the COCA-COLA COMPANY.

The coca cola company is one of the best loved brands in the

market today. This company have always relied on advertising to

promote and market their brand. Initially during the 1800s coca-

cola started off with print ads in journals and newspapers. These

print ads just had text. No images or drawings. Later in the

early 1900’s they started using young women and sataclaus to

promote their product. Again through print ads. In the year 1960

coca cola went global. This is when they began doing commercials.

And today the social media. The coca cola company is been in the

industry for decades and their journey has been through all the

economical and technological changes the world has come across.

One of the main strategies of the company is to create an

emotional link with the consumers using the beverage.

This aspect they have acquired in magnitude after they have used

the social media websites to relate to their fans. The costumers

of coke are anyone but toddlers. People of all ages and walks of

life enjoy having a coke. Coca cola today is a brand that is

recognized globally, and they continue to make this mark by

virtually connecting with people. Coca cola’s business today for

them is not merely money minting. But also to bring the “social”

aspect of the population it alive.

To do this they used the concept of virtually connecting. Wiz.

Social media websites. The company takes up small yet important

issues and makes it a campaign. In which the costumers are 100%

involved.

When asked how the company is making is making its way socially,

Ashley Brown(Group director, Social media) said “we have pretty

intensive training for those who sign up to help us do geo target Facebook status

updates, or tweets, or linked in posts. There is also a real high touch training that goes

along with that to make sure they don’t mess up”.

Here by making such efforts they create a special personal bond

with their costumers, which are automatically translated to good

meaningful business.

One of Coca cola’s popular promotions of the product was to

customize the coke bottles with the names of the people in

Australia. Common names were collected and it was printed on the

labels of the bottle and then put out in the retail stores. The

concept of “share happiness” was made personal. Ex. “share your

coke with alice” coke promoted this through blogs, photos,

videos, status updates and all possible methods using social

media.

They even opened up a vote system on Facebook, so that people

could vote for a name to be printed on the labels. As a result

there were many re-blogs, likes and shares from the costumers.

They actively participated to suggest names and began voting.

Once the costumers suggested new names and voted for them, coke

introduced another 50 new named coke bottles into the Australian

market. Thanks to social media.

Social media is not just to promote ads and creating buzz about

campaigns. But to deepen costumer relationship with the brand.

For every business a huge amount has to be invested for

advertisement and promotion. Coca cola did invest huge sum money.

Their basic strategy was to create valuable costumer

relationships. Thus they cut down on expenses on other aspects

and invest on social media as the level of interaction with

costumers was too high to be ignored.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is becoming as fast as the speed of light.

If companies take up this tool to market their products to the

costumers they will surly benefit. Surly the brand will only be

able to do this if it has constant engagement through the sites

and shares valuable information to the costumers. For the obvious

reason that just like technology is advancing costumers are

becoming smarter. Social media marketing is also used as a

platform for various business startups. The key to a successful

business is healthy costumer relationships, and the personal link

the brand makes to its customers. Social media marketing thus is

the best platform to make this happen.

Bibliography:

“How to achieve Social Media Acquisition Success” The Economic

Times, 6th September 2013, (6th Sept 2013)

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shaking-it-socially> (4th Sept 2013)

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2017-infographic_b48800> (4th Sept 2013)

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Partico Robles (Poasted 20th March 2013)

<http://econsultancy.com/in/blog/62383-coca-cola-the-s-in-social-

media-doesn-t-stand-for-sales> (5th Sept 2013)

“New statistics Highlight the power of Social media marketing”

Monica Romeri,(Posted May 23, 2013)

<http://socialmediatoday.com/monica-romeri/1488316/new-

statistics-highlight-power-social-media-marketing> (5th Sept

2013)