EDU10010 - A Critical Evaluation of Social Media Marketing Pros & Cons

This essay critically evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing (SMM). It begins by defining SMM and highlighting its increasing importance in modern business. The essay then delves into specific pros, such as reaching a large audience, real-time feedback, and increased brand awareness. Conversely, it addresses cons like the time-consuming nature of SMM, dependency on internet connectivity, and unpredictability due to rapidly changing social media trends. Examples, like Facebook's vast user base and potential negative feedback scenarios, are used to illustrate these points. The essay concludes that while SMM offers significant benefits, especially for reaching younger demographics, businesses must carefully consider the associated challenges and invest adequately to leverage its full potential. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments.

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Pros And Cons Of Social Media Marketing 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The article is about Social media marketing and the advantages and disadvantages that are
associated with it. There is an introduction on social media marketing which is followed by the
body of the article which highlights and gives examples where applicable on the pros and cons of
social media marketing. After this, there is the conclusion which highlights the main points of
the body. The article concludes with references on where the information was sourced.

Pros And Cons Of Social Media Marketing 3
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................4
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING........................................................5
1. Large population using social media which updates in real time.....................................................5
2. Feedback..........................................................................................................................................6
3. Time consuming...............................................................................................................................6
4. Internet connectivity.......................................................................................................................7
5. Unpredictability...............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Pros And Cons Of Social Media Marketing 4
INTRODUCTION
The article entails the merits and demerits that come about with social media marketing whereby
products will be advertised and promoted using social media. Social media has changed the way
in which business interact with its existing and potential customers and its use is really trending
globally meaning a it has a wide range of users indicating an opportunity to exploit the large
population for advertising purposes. The main social media users are young people mostly of
who are women thus commodities targeting the youth and women should take to this platform as
a marketing tool. However the use of social media for advertising has its share of advantages and
disadvantages as I will elaborate later. Social media are applications and websites such as
Facebook, MySpace, Instagram, Google+ and Twitter which provide a platform for
communication and sharing of content both personal and public to a larger community. Clark,
Black, and Judson (2017). The key point to note is the information is shared in real time. As for
me and based on the evidence provided, social media marketing is has more benefits and thus is
an ideal platform for marketing and promoting products especially if the targeted customers is
the youth. I will highlight using examples and their references to bring out the benefits and flaws
of using social media marketing. I will also highlight how companies can capitalize on the
benefits and navigate through the flaws and which will outweigh the other thus leading to an
informed conclusion on the matter.

Pros And Cons Of Social Media Marketing 5
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING
1. Large population using social media which updates in real time
In response to this, I will use Facebook as an example since it the most popular social media
platform. Facebook has about 1.86 billion active users globally. Wiederhold, B.K., 2017.
Thinking of quitting Facebook? For any company to have a successful marketing strategy, it
must reach out to as many people as it possibly can. With regards to Facebook trending it can be
said to be viral. Translating this against the world population, it means that around 1 out of every
5 people globally are active Facebook users with women accounting for 58% of the users and the
majority being 18 to 29 years old. Fardouly,et al (2015).
The more targeted customers a company reaches out to, the more potential sales it will make thus
highlighting the importance of using Facebook and other social media platforms in marketing
since they incorporate millions of users. Armstrong, et al (2015).
The main advantage is the social media marketing is that it is able to reach a wide population 24
hours a day since social media is always active. The main flaw is that despite the wide
population, it is not a guarantee that the targeted group will be reached as social media
incorporates a wide range of users of different age brackets and gender. For example, in USA,
some states have a legal drinking age of 21 and above, and since social media is accessible by
young people under the age of 21 years, the social media marketing may reach the wrong
audience since it would be accessible by users who are under 21 years of age in those states.
Implementing a successful social media strategy will go a great deal in increasing awareness of
the product brand which is being promoted since you will be engaging with a broad and large
audience of consumers.
2. Feedback
Feedback in social media marketing implies real time between the targeted audience and the
administrator of the account. Given that the social media accounts, websites and applications

Pros And Cons Of Social Media Marketing 6
update in real time and there is a platform for comments, the company is able to monitor the
progress and responses of its adverts in real time and take action effective immediately where
required. Weltevrede, Helmond and Gerlitz, (2014). Real time updating means that the
administrator of a company account can also answer to queries or provide clarification to
potential customers. 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media channel for
customer service. Leeflang, et al (2014).
This enhances users experience and since the answers are not automated and it also helps in
creating customer brand loyalty since the company is in constant communication with its
customers. This will lead to development of personal relationships achieving a more loyal fan
base for a company or product than with an impersonal marketing campaign, as and this will aid
the company understand its customers and better products for customers to buy. The company
using social media is also able to gather information via the comments on how to improve their
products. For example, Facebook has a comment section where users leave their comments,
suggestion and queries and the administrator is able to send a feedback via the same platform.
Additionally, comments that are positive for example those that commend the company and its
products, go a long in creating a positive image for the company thus attracting more customers.
For example, if you visit the Coca cola Facebook page, you will see dialog between users and the
company. Shin, Pang and Kim (2015).
The only flaw about feedback is negative comments. Some of the unsatisfied customers may use
this as a platform to leave negative feedback about a company and its products or a negative
experience with the company which may give the company negative publicity since the comment
is viewed by all member. Also, companies should be careful not to post information that may
jeopardize customers’ security. Also, companies should scrutinize the discussions happening on
their wall or in their “comments” areas: discussions that detract from the brand’s image should
be disallowed to turn away potential customers from the company or product.
3. Time consuming
Social media is available to users 24 hours a day which means that it time intensive and requires
a lot of attention around the clock. Meeker, (2015). It tends to be time consuming due to the high
news feed in social media, and because of this, adverts may be missed by users and thus there
has to be someone always monitoring the account, answer questions, respond to queries and

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posting and updating information regarding a product in real time. Failure to commit time in
social media marketing will mean that the platform will not be a successful tool for marketing
and will lag behind competitors who commit more time. Thus to do this successfully, more time
which equates to more must be invested in the social media marketing.
However, the advantage is that the adverts are available 24 hours a day and also, consumers can
get response to their questions and queries in real time.
Despite real time updates and adverts being available for 24 hours a day, the time invested to
make it work is tremendous and thus with regards to this, it can be seen as major flaw.
4. Internet connectivity and dependency
Social media is dependent on internet for its operation. This means that companies using social
media marketing also depend on the internet and this is a major disadvantage since they have no
control over it. Ognyanova, Katherine, and Sandra (2015). For example, for a user to access
Facebook or Instagram one has to be connected to the internet. With countries or areas where
internet connectivity is not available, then this means that the company cannot be able to reach
out to its customers or attract new customers. This is more so in third world countries like in
Africa and other places where geographical barriers make a place inaccessible to internet
coverage. West, (2015). Also, it cannot work on it cannot work on its own and requires tools to
direct customers to products such as websites and blogs.
Dependency on internet connectivity is under the PEST analysis which is a situation where a
business encounters challenges that it has no control over and it can be a major impediment to
the business in terms of social media marketing.
5. Unpredictability
The landscape of social media is changing rapidly thus making it unpredictable. For example in
the 2000s, MySpace was what was trending but now it has been out done. Bauckhage and
Kersting, (2014). Also, in 2018 Facebook was hit with a scandal involving algorithms which
then saw very few posts on product brands surface on the user feed. Another detriment on the
issue is that the companies do not have control over this.

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The only advantage of this is that there are numerous companies competing not to be outdone
thus they will tend to offer better services to outdo their opponent which means the companies
will benefit from better services.
Companies using social media marketing should always be up to date with which social media
platform is trending and has majority of users in order to make their marketing via the platform
viable.

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Conclusion
From the literature review, it is very evident that social media marketing is very important
especially in the modern day and era where it is trending and has become a norm. It is also
evident it has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that social media has a lot
of followers making it an ideal platform to reach out to many people. Also, there is real time
communication between company administrator social media account and the customers and this
is a major advantage since issues are dealt with promptly. The major disadvantages are the fact
that needs a lot of time investment which translates to expenditure financially. The other
disadvantages is that social media is dependent on internet for its operations and the
unpredictable nature of social media both of which fall under the PEST analysis meaning the
company seeking to use social media marketing has no control over them.

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References
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education.
Bauckhage, C. and Kersting, K., 2014. Strong regularities in growth and decline of popularity of
social media services. arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.6529
Clark, M., Black, H.G. and Judson, K., 2017. Brand community integration and satisfaction with
social media sites: a comparative study. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 11(1),
pp.39-55.
Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P.C., Vartanian, L.R. and Halliwell, E., 2015. Social comparisons on
social media: The impact of Facebook on young women's body image concerns and mood. Body
Image, 13, pp.38-45.
Leeflang, et alP.S., Verhoef, P.C., Dahlström, P. and Freundt, T., 2014. Challenges and solutions
for marketing in a digital era. European management journal, 32(1), pp.1-12.
Meeker, M., 2015. Internet trends 2015-code conference. Glokalde, 1(3).
Ognyanova, Katherine, and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach. "Political efficacy on the internet: A media
system dependency approach." In Communication and Information Technologies Annual, pp. 3-
27. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2015.
Sandeep, V., Gopal, K.L., Naveen, S., Amudhan, A. and Kumar, L.S., 2015, August. Globally
accessible machine automation using Raspberry pi based on Internet of Things. In Advances in
Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI), 2015 International Conference on (pp.
1144-1147). IEEE.
Shin, W., Pang, A. and Kim, H.J., 2015. Building relationships through integrated online media:
Global organizations’ use of brand web sites, Facebook, and Twitter. Journal of Business and
Technical Communication, 29(2), pp.184-220.

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Weltevrede, E., Helmond, A. and Gerlitz, C., 2014. The politics of real-time: A device
perspective on social media platforms and search engines. Theory, Culture & Society, 31(6),
pp.125-150.
West, D.M., 2015. Digital divide: Improving Internet access in the developing world through
affordable services and diverse content. Brookings Institution.
Wiederhold, B.K., 2017. Thinking of quitting Facebook?