Analyzing Social Media's Significance as an Emerging Marketing Tool

This essay delves into the significance of social media as a contemporary marketing tool. It highlights how businesses, like Innocent Drinks, are leveraging platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn to enhance brand image, foster customer loyalty, and reduce marketing costs. The essay explores the benefits of social media, including increased brand authority and global reach, particularly in the context of a globalized world. It discusses the impact of social media on marketing strategies, customer engagement, and the evolution of marketing techniques. The essay also references studies and reports to support its claims, concluding that social media is an indispensable marketing tool for businesses aiming to thrive in the digital age. The essay emphasizes the importance of transparency and the ability to reach global customers through social media, solidifying its role as the evolution of marketing.

SOCIAL MEDIA: EMERGING MARKETING TOOL

Introduction:-
Innocent Drinks produce smoothies, juices and veg pots which are sold across the UK. They sell over 2
million smoothies per week and are 90% owned by The Coca-Cola Company, so they’re a pretty big deal.
In today's scenario, the internet plays a wide role. The Internet is a combination of several
interlinked networks which relating to the academic, government, business and even most of the
small networks. So, the internet is known as the network of all other networks. All these
networks force the internet to be used for various other important functions. In this essay, we will
study how the social media considered as an important marketing tool by the various business
houses.
Social media: A marketing tool:-
Social media is the important tool of the internet which is used widely by most of the peoples.
Social media is considered as the future of the communication system in the whole world. Social
media enhance and increase the sharing of information in among peoples. The new form of the
media makes the transfer of audio, video, text, photos, and various other important information.
Social media is not only beneficial for regular internet users but as well as for business also.
Social networks are a combination of various types of social media like Facebook, YouTube, and
LinkedIn, etc. Today, social media is widely used by the business houses for marketing of their
products. There are more than 700 million Facebook user, 50 million numbers of Twitter users,
200 million of tweets are sending per day, and more than 2 billion unique users worldwide visit
YouTube every month (Simmons,2007). Various people at various time interact through social
media because it doesn't have involved any distance barrier, and it is considered as the best
communication tool. Social media makes the marketing function of the business houses very
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easy. Advanced technology made the whole world as one village so most of the people in the
world on social media. It is very important to study how social media helps the business houses
in the promotion of their product.
As per a study conducted on social media, it is concluded that different politicians and the
politics activities brought social media into the limelight. They have expected that social media
play a huge role in the coming general elections in a large manner. This fact was supported by a
study which was propounded by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and by the Internet and Mobile
Association of India (Bashar,2012). Social media will be considered as a real game changer with
political leaders. Due to the social media if someone is connected with the one person then that
person can connect with various other persons through their friend list. Today social media and
the business houses are inseparable. For the most of the entrepreneurs, social media is used as a
marketing medium, which is proving very beneficial for the business. Social media considered as
a marketing tool because it provides the following benefits to the organization.
First, and the most important role of the social media as a marketing tool is that it helps the
business organizations in increasing their brand image in the market. An organization should
focus on every opportunity available in the market through which it can expand its business.
Social media helps the brand image of the organizations by showing the various features of the
organizations to different persons at a single time. This is considered important in enhancing the
brand image because it simultaneously makes the business organization easier and more
accessible to new customers. Social media also helps the consumers in becoming more familiar
with the various business organizations. For example, a new user can access to organization
information for the first time only after stumbling upon it in a newsfeed. Marketing of their
products by various business houses becomes difficult when they use the various physical
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methods of marketing their product in the market like magazines, newspapers, etc. these are the
methods which involve large time, and they cannot be able to attract large peoples in a limited
time period. Second, the role of the social media as a marketing tool is that it improved the brand
loyalty of the various business houses. As per a report which is published by the Texas Tech
University, all the brands which done promotion of their brands through social media enjoying
huge loyalty from their customers. As per the suggestion of this report, it is important for the
business houses that they should take advantage of the social media in promotion of their
product, through which it can connect with a large number of peoples and can show their product
ability to wide customers in a limited time period. A strategic and open social media plan could
prove influential for the business houses in encouraging customers into being brand loyal. As per
a research, it is concluded that in America only more than 53% of Americans follow brands in
social and more loyal to those brands (Castronovo,2012). Attain loyalty of customers a very
complex task for the organizations but this can be done easily with the use of social media.
Social media is an effective tool for establishing loyalty of a brand in the mind of the consumers.
Third, the important role of the social media as a marketing tool is a higher brand authority. If
the organization is interacting with its potential customers regularly, it shows a good faith for
customers towards the organization. When people go to brag or compliment about a service or a
product, they turn towards social media. As the more and more people talking about the product
of an organization on social media, the more valuable and authoritative brand of an organization
will seem to new users. If any organization can interact the major influencers on any social
networking site, organization authority reach will skyrocket. Fourth, the main important and
critical role of the social media towards marketing is it decreases the cost of the marketing.
While any businessman launches their product in the market, then they spent a huge amount on
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marketing their product in the market so that they can enhance its sale. In the marketing of their
products, they spent a huge amount. But now, all business organizations can easily market their
product at low cost. All this is possible just because of availability of social media. Social media
sharing the important information regarding any product or service with a large number of
peoples in a limited time. Advertising through social media is quite cheap and easy than another
method of the marketing. Proper attention to the marketing of the products by the businessman’s,
leads higher the sale of the products and services which ultimately raises the level of profit of the
organization.
Social media also enables the organization to gain valuable information about the needs and
demands of the consumers. This helps the organization in developing the products as per the
needs of the consumers which provide the high sale of the product by satisfying their target
peoples. For example, the organization can measure the comments of the users to know what
people are thinking about their organization. Social media marketing, if performed in a right
manner, can lead to huge customers, more conversations, and more traffic.
As per a case of innocent drink, it is described that the organization was suffering from outdated
proofing system. Before adopted social media as a marketing tool it had faced struggle to
manage multiple labels for dozens of products. Due to this, whole management gave answers to
different reviewers. After following the social media as a marketing tool, the organization didn't
face any more problem. Organizational approaches were become sustainable and they able to
provide better customer experience.
Importance of social media:-
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If the Innocent organization wants to establish its business effectively in Sri Lanka than social
media helps the organization in fulfilling this objective. The reasons behind it are various. First,
and the main reason behind choosing the social media is its size. Today social media is using by
every person Facebook has been used by the more than 250 million peoples globally
(Mitic,2012). This popularity of the social media proves profitable for the various business
houses because it makes the marketing function very easy and also helps the organization in
attracting more potential customers in Sri Lanka. Second, the main reason behind choosing the
social media by the various organization is its transparency. No cheat code is involved in the
social media. Everything that happens in the landscape of the social networking is fool proof
which build an image in the mind of the customers. Last and the final important reason behind
choosing social media as a marketing tool is globally reach. Due to the social media, it is an
essay for the business houses to reach to global customers in a single time without investing any
extra time in it.
Conclusion:-
After studying all this, it can conclude that social media play an important role as a marketing
tool. Today, it is impossible to separate social media from the online world. Social media today
is taking place in small businesses, homes, health sectors and the corporate boardrooms.
Blogging can have a very positive effect on the branding and growth of the organization. It is
imperative to understand that today, social media have enough potential. Because of technology,
the whole the world is considered one village (Simmons,2007). Various smartphones and mobile
internet have kept people in the touch of the social media. Peoples can use logon to social media
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only by sitting at a single place. Many marketing types of research can get huge information
about their potential customers around the world. Through social media, marketing researchers
easily can do market targeting, segmentation, and positioning by focusing on the whole world
market. It is also beneficial for the marketers because it is aware the marketers about different
brands. Thus, it can be said that Social media is the evolution of marketing tool.
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References:-
Simmons, J. & Simmons, M. (2007). Great Brand Stories: Arsenal Winning together: the story of
the Arsenal brand. International Journal Of Sports Marketing And Sponsorship, 8(2), 84-85.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ijsms-08-02-2007-b008
Simmons, J. (2011). Innocent. London: Marshall Cavendish Business.
Geho, P. R., & Dangelo, J. (2012). The evolution of social media as a marketing tool for
entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneurial Executive, 17, 61.
Bashar, A., Ahmad, I., & Wasiq, M. (2012). Effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool:
an empirical study. International Journal of Marketing, Financial Services & Management
Research, 1(11), 88-99.
Castronovo, C., & Huang, L. (2012). Social media in an alternative marketing communication
model. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1), 117.
Mitic, M., & Kapoulas, A. (2012). Understanding the role of social media in bank
marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7), 668-686.
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