E-Marketing Report: Social Media Impact and eBay's Digital Technology

This report delves into the realm of e-marketing, examining the influence of social media and the digital strategies employed by eBay. It begins with an introduction to e-marketing, defining its scope and application. Task 1 provides a critical analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of social media, exploring its impact on communication and information dissemination, as well as the potential drawbacks. Task 2 focuses on eBay, detailing how the e-commerce giant leverages digital technology in its operations, including its marketplace, payment systems, and communication strategies. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of understanding the evolving landscape of digital marketing.

E-Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
E-Marketing (Electronic Marketing) is the process of marketing the products or services of
an entity using the services of Internet. It not only includes marketing over the Internet but also
marketing done via email and wireless media (Rahimnia and Hassanzadeh, 2013). This
phenomenon uses a wide range of technologies to increase the interaction of business with
customers. This report includes the positive and negative aspects of social media. Also, it
highlights how eBay, the leading online Marketplace is employing digital technology in its
operations.
TASK 1
Critical analysis and evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of social media
Over years, the importance of social media has increased. Today, it has revolutionalised
the way people communicate with each other. Social media sites and mobile applications like
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter have grown much faster and captured millions of
users in a span of few years (Eid and El-Gohary, 2013). The way technology is growing day-by-
day, it is apparent that people will be willing to make use of its benefits. Social media has
brought a lot of transformation in terms of increasing the networking among people situated in
different parts of the world. From progressed to under-developed countries, every national
economy now emphasizes upon the use of social media as it bridges the gap between individuals,
government and business entities of different countries across the globe.
However, on the other hand, it also has a negative aspect associated with it. Everything has
a positive and negative side. Similarly, social media can also have ill effects on society of a
country. The major concern today is about the usage by social media users and ensuring that
things are being done in a positive way aimed at benefit of society. It is at the discretion of user
to use it to its advantage. In relation to this, advantages and disadvantages of social media for
society are:-
The advantages of Social Media are explained below:-
 Availability of information: Social media has become the biggest source for
providing information to a large number of people. While Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Instagram are probably the most well-known social networking
communities, new websites and mobile applications are also increasingly coming up
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to increase the reach of individuals and business organisations (Strauss and Frost,
2016). It gives people a chance to connect and interact over web. With the help of
these sites, individuals or groups can make new friends, build business connections or
simply extend their networking by connecting with more people. Business
organisations can use this as a marketing tool to reach a wide base of audience. It
even helps organisations in expanding its business over internet and providing
information regarding expansion publicly.
 Cost-effective: Yet another important merit of social media is it being the most cost
effective method for business organisations. Today, any individual or enterprise can
reach a wide market just with a click over the internet by uploading the important
data on web. With the help of social media, entities can now gain a competitive
advantage in industry.
The disadvantages of Social Media are explained below:-
 Lack of knowledge: Using social media without appropriate knowledge about the
technology can pose a threat to individuals. With a number of complications in
relation to technology being linked to some websites or social media platforms, it is
imperative that the users possess appropriate knowledge about its usage. Also, there
are chances of security issues at times so cyber security should be ensured at all
times.
 Low connection speed: Connectivity or network speed issues can cause hindrance in
the usage of social media. As social media is largely dependent on availability of
internet service, it is important to ensure that users have access to high connection
speed so that they can use social media without any interruption.
Chaffe’s Theory of Social Media states that social media is an essential element of online
marketing world which reflects how to do consumer conversation on a website or mobile
application. Thus, it can be said that social media is a permanent feature of modern social life
and cannot be eliminated from the day-to-day activities of people.
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TASK 2
Use of digital media technology in eBay
eBay Inc. is an American multinational e-commerce company that facilitates consumer-to-
consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. The operations of eBay are
gaining importance as the company provides products of every nature online with presence in
every corner of the globe without any physical store. Company has limited staffs but aims at and
is successful in satisfying its numerous customers spread in different parts of the world.
Company recognises the need of adoption of Digital Technology in its operations and
management. eBay, together with its sub-visions, bring online marketplace for sale of goods and
services, online payment, and online communication for individuals spread across the globe. The
enterprise conducts its operations with the aid of digital technology in 3 ways:-
eBay Marketplaces: This provides a platform to enable online purchase and sales in a variety of
formats including traditional auction platform and other online platforms such as Rent.com,
Shopping.com, Kijiji, mobile.de, and Marktplaats.nl (Bennett and Segerberg, 2012). Services
provided at marketplace include reply forum, safe channel program, trust and safety programs,
eBay standard purchase protection program, customer support etc.
Payments segment: Enterprise allows feeding of a product for small business, online sellers and
individuals that allows the transaction in relation to sending and receiving payments online. The
services that are a part of this segment are joining the network, crosschecking of company’s
PayPal account holders and withdrawal of funds.
The Communications segment: Company provide voice over Internet protocol calls by way of
a powerful tool, Skype which the company acquired as a part of its strategy. Enterprise also
provides connectivity to traditional fixed-line and hand telephones. They also provide rental
services in an apartment over interne.
eBay also uses social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, email and website feedback as
a tool to build public relations (Kimble and Bourdon, 2013). Also, the company acquired
Craiglist, Corrigon, StubHub as a measure to adopt digital technology as well as gaining an edge
over its competitor to provide a wide variety of services.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is concluded that social media is an inseparable element of
social lives of people nowadays. It is also analysed that control over its usage is imperative to
ensure that this does not a threat to community in any manner. Also, this report includes the way
a business adopts digital technology in its operations to gain a competitive edge in market and
become a leader in industry.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bennett, W. L. and Segerberg, A., 2012. The logic of connective action: Digital media
and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society. 15(5).
pp.739-768.
Eid, R. and El-Gohary, H., 2013. The impact of E-marketing use on small business
enterprises' marketing success. The Service Industries Journal. 33(1). pp.31-50.
Hsu, Y.L., 2012. Facebook as international eMarketing strategy of Taiwan hotels. International
Journal of Hospitality Management. 31(3). pp.972-980.
Kimble, C. and Bourdon, I., 2013. The link among information technology, business
models, and strategic breakthroughs: Examples from Amazon, Dell, and eBay. Global Business
and Organizational Excellence. 33(1). pp.58-68.
Rahimnia, F. and Hassanzadeh, J.F., 2013. The impact of website content dimension and
e-trust on e-marketing effectiveness: The case of Iranian commercial saffron
corporations. Information & Management. 50(5). pp.240-247.
Strauss, J. and Frost, R. D., 2016. E-marketing: Instructor's Review Copy. Routledge.
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