Social Media Networks Give Businesses Cost Effective and Efficient Marketing Tools that Increase Revenue, Provide Feedback, and build Consumer Relations

Social Media Networks Give Businesses Cost Effective and Efficient Marketing Tools that Increase Revenue, Provide Feedback, and build Consumer Relations

In an era in which technology prevails, marketers must keep up with the fast-paced, and constantly changing digital media scene or risk being outdated. It is now nearly impossible to design a marketing strategy without the use of social networks. Social media has become a pervasive and important tool in today’s world. It is the quickest way we are able to receive, process, and share information. Because of its enormous presence in society, adopting some form of a social media network has become a key task for businesses and entrepreneurs. Adopting social media allows businesses to keep up with their consumer base and meet their growing needs. But social media can also provide numerous benefits for the companies themselves. Researchers now hail social media as an increasingly cost effective form of digital marketing.  The economic recession has affected marketing firms and their ability to successfully brand their clients with a limited budget. Researchers for Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, say that social media networks allow marketing firms to lower their costs by using digital promotional campaigns.

Companies are now turning “followers” “likes” and “retweets” into Potential Customers and Revenue

Being able to reach a large amount of consumers and understand their changing attitudes and behaviors has become pivotal to current marketing arena. Most social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, are accessed free of charge, thus reducing the need for traditional distribution methods in mass media (Kirtis and Karahan 261).  Social media is the “next great inventory” for content discovery. When customers are looking for information, a company’s social media is often the first or second place they will go to look (Kirtis and Karahan 263). In their study, Kirtis and Karahan found that 70% of consumers have used social media to get product info compared to the company site, online news, review sites, and wikis. Additionally, 60% of people stated that they are likely to use social media to pass along information and 45% of people stated that recommendations from people online are valuable, credible and honest. 

According to my research, 53% of people surveyed said they would be inclined to follow a brand on social media.

Shea Bennet, for adweek.com says that the likelihood of a consumer making a purchase increases when the consumer has a social media connection with that company or its products. According to their research, sharing and recommendation behavior online is growing. A reported 75% of Facebook users have "liked" a brand. Followers or "fans" of a given brand are 51% more likely to buy. With users spending about 22% of their online activity on social media, businesses have an enormous opportunity to use this behavior to their advantage. If a consumer has a social media connection with a company they are also likely to engage in information sharing, which further expands a companies follower base. This social sharing powers "word of mouth marketing," as a reported 75% of users have clicked product links via their online network. 

 Below is an infographic from SocialAnnex, illustrating how businesses are able to turn their social network following into an increase in revenue. 

Building a prosperous social network, allows a company to expand their following to be a "community of advocates." This way, their social network practically does their marketing for them. This new strategy is referred to as "consumer generated marketing" or "consumer generated media." This strategy works because it utilizes word-of-mouth promotion. The more users a company is able to get onto their social media site, the greater the likelihood that some of those users will take the opportunity to extend product information, reviews, recommendations, or promotions to a larger number of people. Promotional tactics are another way businesses can use their social network to increase consumer activity and ultimately drive up revenue. Many businesses choose to use a reward system to build loyalty with their consumers. According to the SocialExaminer, some of the most effective ways to generate consumer rewards is with digital discounts, content-creation competitions, and involving consumers in advertising. These strategies reward consumers for their loyalty and keep them coming back, creating a steady digital foundation.  

Active Social Media Content Leads to Increased Consumer Engagement and Enhances Buying Behavior 

If a company actively updates their social media sites with exclusive content and makes efforts to engage with their online users, consumers say they are more likely to retain interest in the company's products. With exclusive promotions, sales, and previews of new product arrivals, consumers are even more likely to buy after seeing online content. Below, is a video of my friend Mya talking about her favorite store, Victoria's Secret, and their social media activity. 

With access to a company's online content, consumers feel more connected with a brand. Consumers get an exclusive look into all aspects of the branding process from music, to the design process. Watch as I interview, Carmen, about how she interacts with her favorite clothing line on sites like Twitter and Soundcloud. 

Social media has become one of the most widely used platforms for information sharing. "Word of mouth" marketing, social sharing, and correspondence have become primary activities in the daily lives of consumers of virtually every market. Below, is an interview of my friend, Elizabeth, talking about her social media sharing activities.

In the past decade, social media has had an enormous impact on our daily lives and behaviors. Digital communication on these websites has completely changed the way we send and receive information. On social media, communication is faster, more efficient, and open to the public. With its relatively easy and widespread accessibility, these sites can be an successful tool for product advancement and promotion. Corporations have been jumping on the social media bandwagon to elevate their digital presence. In a survey that I conducted, 40% of people ranked their social media engagement as "very often." Additionally, 70% of people surveyed said they would be inclined to take advantage of exclusive promotions on a brand's social media account. Social media provides easy accessibility, cost effectiveness and efficiency, so it is no wonder social media marketing has seen growing popularity in the marketplace. With its ability to increase profit and product visibility and promote relationships and engagement, social media is a tremendous platform for corporations and consumers alike. 

User Interface Victories and Barriers on Soundcloud, Buzzfeed and Facebook

Interactivity, is defined in Converging Media as, "the condition of communication in which simultaneous and continuous messages occur." Interactive media allows a viewer to navigate through content in personalized and exciting ways. In order for a digital media outlet to be considered interactive it must contain three elements. The first element is a dialog that occurs between a person and a computer program. The dialog must affect the nature of feedback received and changes as the dialog continues. In order for a channel to be interactive, the user must also have some level of control over the content that is being seen. Dialog in interactive media has made it so users are able to have a personalized relationship with web content and make it more useful to specific goals and interests.  The feature that allows for interactivity is called user interface.

Historical Development of User Interfaces

Television controls were our first introduction to interfaces. Though they were not designed to be interactive, using a remote controls or buttons on the TV were easy ways to obtain content. Converging Media, relates this first experience to the evolution of electronic interfaces, which have been influenced by technological and social dimensions. Remote controls, as stated in the book, have prepared us for the types of user interfaces we know encounter on the web. Ideal interfaces will come naturally and a user will only have to rely on intuition to navigate through a website. Intuitive interfaces are more useful to people because they make it easier to send and receive information. Because of the development of user interfaces and the various technological advances focused on them, traditional mass media has been challenged.

Interactive media outlets can be categorized into the ways in which they distribute information to users. Peer-to-peer applications give users equal ability to store, send, and accept information from others. This decentralization of content gives users the power and control over what they access on the web. Client-server applications have  more centralized information system, in which a distributer gives information to the user and has total control.

The User Interface Experience on Soundcloud, Buzzfeed, and ModiFace (#7)

Soundcloud is a peer-to-peer digital music file sharing service that allows users to upload, download, and stream music from each other. I have been a Soundcloud user for three years now and have come across elements of the website that I enjoy and ones that I consider to be barriers. Listening to music on Soundcloud is relatively simple. If you have a particular track or artist you want to listen to, all you have to do is type the name into the search bar and most times, the original song will appear. In addition to the original song, you can find samples and remixes made by other artists. I like the fact that users have the ability to save a track to their "favorites" list, make playlists, and follow artists they like to get updates on when they upload new music. Anyone and everyone can upload music onto Soundcloud. While this is highly beneficial for up and coming artists that do not have a record label, it presents a huge problem with the music industry in terms of copyright infringement. According to an article by CNN.com, total revenue from music sales in the country plunged from 14.6 billion to 6.3 billion in 10 years.

Much of this loss can be attributed to the decentralization in the way audiences consume music. The record labels are no longer the only distributors of music. Copies of music files are shared among millions of users without any compensation to copyright holders. This creates a barrier for users looking to listen to music as well. When a file is copied so many times, sound quality deteriorates, so on Soundcloud you are not getting the high quality sound that was originally recorded by the artist.

Buzzfeed, is a unique news outlet known for its sarcastic and witty articles on politics, entertainment, sports, and other topics. Because their audience is mostly comprised of college students and young adults, Buzzfeed uses a fun, bold, interface to maintain the user's attention. In addition to news articles, Buzzfeed also provides fun quizzes, videos, and tips for various life events a 20-something might encounter. When reading an article on Buzzfeed, I like how the author will provide hyperlinks embedded within to story to direct you to a different article to familiarize you on the topic. This is a very useful tool for online journalism because it saves the user from having to research the topic further on their own. However, the downside to websites like Buzzfeed is that on all of the article pages there is a comment section that can ruin the reading experience. There are certain online readers that like to engage in what is known as trolling. According to Converging Media, trolling is, "posting deliberately obnoxious or disruptive messages simply to get a reaction from the participants." When reading an article, trolling can be distracting and somewhat upsetting enough to make you want to log out of the website.

The last website I decided to visit was a virtual makeover website called Modiface. Modiface, is an example of Augmented Reality. Augmented Reality, "overlays digitized information onto what we see in the real world adding information that would not otherwise be visible to us." Users are able to upload a picture of themselves that appears on a virtual mirror, they can then access the e-store and "try on" makeup by putting it onto the picture they uploaded. I like this feature because it makes shopping for makeup online so much easier. Instead of guessing what shade may match your skin tone, or using models as a reference, you can actually try putting it on yourself. There are slight bugs in the makeup application system, but the website is still fairly new. Once they have more users, I'm sure it will begin to work perfectly and revolutionize the world of online cosmetics shopping.

Visualization: Phonographs and Record Players

The phonograph, later known as a record player, was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. It was a device constructed for both the recording and replaying of sound. Sound is produced from it when sound waves are are recorded as corresponding physical deviations from of a groove engraved or impressed from a rotating cylinder. Record players grew to popularity in the 50's and 60s as vinyl records were a staple in most American households. The above picture, is of a Crosley vintage inspired record player. The brand became popular in 1920 with their first low price radio, which sold for 7$ a piece. In 1989, Crosley introduced a line of vintage record players and other electronics, banking on their previous success. In the late 1980's, record player sales declined sharply due to the rise of the compact disc but many still collect and cherish vinyl records as a beloved music medium. 

source: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring09/plevik_t/history.html