Social Media Marketing

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines social media as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).” The same source defines networking as 28 “the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.”

Zhou, Wu and Luo (2007) defined SMM as, ―Social Media Marketing depends on mobile and web-based technology to create highly interactive platforms through which customers and media sites share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce substantial and pervasive disruptive factors to marketing communication for organizational growth between organizations, media sites, and customers‖.

 Exploring the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Brand Preference A Study on Social Media Users of Rajasthan ( Researcher: Kritika Dave)

The aim of this study was to examine and explore the Impact of Social media marketing on consumer brand preference: A study on social media users of Rajasthan. The aim is also to examine which social media platforms and brand-related activities are most effective in building consumers' preferences and buying decisions. This study focuses on the components of buying decisions, and how social networking sites can play a vital role while positively going for a brand, it can be thus said that there is a relation between the “demographic factors like gender, age, marital status etc. and the variation in the perception of social media and brand choice”. The study proved that there are certain social media marketing activities like Creativity, Humor, Honesty, Entertainment, Authenticity, Social Relevance, responsibility, Being Politically Correct, Updated and Active, and Interactive which influence consumer brand preference. Social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, etc. have been found to impact brand-related activities and they are also found as most effective in building consumers' preferences and buying decisions. The research also discloses that there is a relationship between social media and customers' buying behavior.

(Li, F., Larimo, J., & Leonidou, L. C. )(2020). Social media marketing strategy: definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1-20  said that while the use of social media as part of their strategic arsenal is growing in importance, scant analysis has systematically consolidated and improved the expertise of social media marketing strategies (SMMSs). They first describe SMMS using the social media and marketing campaign parameters, in order to resolve this research discrepancy. This is accompanied by the conceptualization, which involves four key elements, generators, inputs, outputs, and throughputs, of the SMMS production process. The following was proposed: the social trading approach, the social information strategies, the tracking strategy for social communication, and the strategy for social CRM. SMMS is categorized into these four categories in accordance with strategic sophistication. This taxonomy of SMMSs is subsequently confirmed by the use of knowledge from previous observational research as well as from extensive interviews and quantitative surveys among managers of social media marketing. Finally, for future study, we propose fruitful guidance based on feedback from field researchers.

(Tanha, Masrura.) (2018). An Introduction to Brand Building Via social media researched that the 21st century has opened doors for businesses and individuals to wide-ranging possibilities and has transformed the way corporations 9 and customers connect. One of the most influential phenomena of recent years has been the social media. The author clarified how social media improved conventional IMC tactics through the inclusion of the modern digital marketing trend. If a brand succeeds in establishing a brand relationship with its customers by consistently communicating with social media sites, buyers create supportive word of mouth and encourage branding loyalty in online communities. This article discusses how companies can use brand stories to establish a personal bond between the product and the social media network of people. Customers broaden their identity on social media by identifying with a brand via their profile on different digital channels or by loving it. The marketing pattern is shifting, because the power has changed from businesses to customers because small activities are no longer local and can attract thousands of people around the world in a matter of seconds. The author has therefore developed a brand-building strategy process for eight-step social media marketing, which would allow companies to ensure customer engagement and an effective digital advertisement.

A study of the effectiveness of social media marketing strategies in Rajasthan (Researcher: Mredu Goyal) Mredu Goyal's study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of social media marketing strategies in Rajasthan. By examining the platform selection, brand awareness, customer engagement, and impact on sales, the research establishes the significance of leveraging social media platforms for businesses in Rajasthan to achieve their marketing goals. This study serves as a valuable resource for marketers, business owners, and researchers interested in understanding and optimizing social media marketing strategies in the specific context of Rajasthan.

SOCIAL MEDIA: ANALYSIS AND IMPLICATION ON MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT (SHWETA SHARMA)  The study has examined the relationship of consumer engagement on social media with channel-based, content-based, community-based, company-based, and customer-based factors and provided recommendations that will enable consumer-centric organizations to engage with their customers on a one-to-one level, thereby, providing a personalized experience. This study has also examined the role of social media at each major step in the consumer decision-making process and highlighted the need to create a distinctive communication strategy using social media for each step. The study has provided insights in the usage patterns, online social activities, and preferences of the Indian consumer. The several insights of this study suggest the need for Indian organizations to have clear social media guidelines for better social media governance and online monitoring programs for listening and participation in consumer conversations. Finally, this study has laid down clear theoretical guidelines for social media communication for the Indian marketer

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ON RELATIONSHIP MARKETING AND CUSTOMER INTENTIONS  (Researcher: POORNIMA A S)

The present study found several important features of social marketing activities such as entertainment, customization, interaction, word-of-mouth, and trend which influence customer relationships. Customer relationships, in turn, induce purchase and loyalty intentions in customers’ minds. Consumer-generated content posted prior to, during, and following experiences with brands is one of the most important resources that affect favorable brand image and experiences. Firms may be tempted to keep only positive messages and compliments on their pages and to delete negative content in order to create favorable brand images and experiences.

“IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ON ORGANIZATION GROWTH – STUDY OF SMEs IN NCR” (SAVNEET KAUR)  The main objective of this study was to study the key SMM degree of usage of social media that stimulate SMM adoption behavior and develop a tool that measures these factors. For the accomplishment of this purpose, the study collected data from 481 entrepreneurial ventures. Results derived from the study help to define SMM degree of usage of social media factors zone of influence and provide the stage for better behavior to enhance SMEs‘ activities. The role of degree of usage of social media factors for stimulating SMM behavior has been discussed. After identifying distinctive level of use of web-based social networking factors from literature, a discussion has been followed by an empirical study directed to recognize these key SMM degrees of utilization of online networking factors. The results of the investigation and their suggestions for SMM research have been discussed in detail. This study has established that in the structure of the fast SMM venture needs of the SMEs, the adoption of SMM behavior is very important. The presence of SMM degree of usage of social media drivers/factors is critical for SMM behavior outcomes. A SMM behavior model has been evolved, which may be used by behavior of the SMEs to assess the presence of necessary and critical SMM factors for stimulating SMM behavior activities within NCR. This framework can further be enriched by subsequent studies.

Geho and Dangelo (2012), studied the traditional marketing methods that can no longer sustain a business. Entrepreneurs are aware for the past few years that social connectivity was becoming the key to marketing. However, the time, effort, usefulness and ability to measure outcomes made adoption of social media for marketing practicable. With the advent of analytics and other sophisticated measurement tools, SMEs are finding that they can now not only take advantage of social media as an integrated marketing tool but use data to optimize their SMM campaigns. This study was conducted to examine trends in Social Media Marketing and the resources available to SMEs to jump start their marketing strategy by incorporating social media. 

The survey, conducted in 2016 show in 3 years there is a rapid increase from 55% to 73% of SMEs use Social Media Marketing (Len hart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). ―Any Social Media Marketing site can be good for marketing, if taken time to understand what type of content performs well, who the audience is, and get creative about how you can provide the content or product in a way, they would appreciate it and accept it,‖ and today, the courageous SMEs takes all possible efforts to deliver the best.