A Critical Evaluation of the Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing

This essay critically evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing. It discusses how social media facilitates creation and sharing of information, ideas, and career interests through virtual networks. The essay highlights the benefits of social media marketing, including platform choices for promotion, enhanced connectivity with target clientele, and the establishment of an effective online presence. It also addresses the potential for creating virtual marketplaces and conducting online surveys. Furthermore, the essay explores the financial aspects of social media advertising and the ability to target specific demographics. However, it also points out the disadvantages, such as the indirect exclusion of certain population segments and the potential for reputational damage due to online criticism. The dynamic nature of social media platforms and policy changes that restrict promotional content are also discussed as potential drawbacks. The essay concludes that social media marketing can be both a boon and a bane, depending on various factors affecting the organization.

Running head: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media refers to the various technologies that are mediated though the computers in
order to help in the facilitation of the creation as well as the sharing of the varied kinds of career
interests, information, the ideas, and other such form of expressions that might take place
through the various networks and the communities that have been existing in the virtual world
(Carr and Hayes 2015). The social media marketing might refer to the usage of the numerous
platforms of social media as well as the various websites in order to bring about a promotion of
the concerned product or the service that might need to be marketed by the concerned
organization (Tuten and Solomon 2017). The following essay deals with the various advantages
and the disadvantages that might be posed by the practices of the social media marketing that are
practiced by a majority of the organizations that have been active within the various industries
that tend to promote the products of the organization through the numerous active social media
channels.
The major advantage of the marketing through the social media relates to the benefits and
scopes that are related to the choice of the platforms and the sites that might help in the proper
promotion and marketing of the products and the services that are marketed by the concerned
company. This advantage of the marketing over the social media might help in the matters that
pertain to the opportunity of the concerned business houses to connect to the target clientele of
the organization in a better and more effective manner thereby helping in the establishment of
the various matters that pertain to the increment of the client base of the concerned company
thereby leading to the matters that deal with the overall improvement of the client base of the
concerned company (Alharbie 2015). The companies are generally observed to conduct the
necessary researches that might help to determine the site that has the highest number of
members who belong to the key demographic sector that has been chosen by the concerned

2ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
organization as the target clientele of the concern (Scott 2015). The researches on the various
social media might also help in the revelation of the fact as to which social media site has
received the maximum footfall thereby marking the concerned website to be one of the areas that
might help in the achievement of an increase in the concerned clientele of the organization.
The other major advantage of the social media marketing is the fact that the social media
marketing helps in the establishment of the effective presence on the part of the concerned
organization over the various social media handles. The marketing of the various products and
services over the social media platforms might help in the matters that deal with the various
opportunities that deal with the potential gains and losses that might be related to the investment
of a huge deal of time for a meagre return. Laroche, Habibi and Richard (2013) state that the
concerned companies might have the chances of conducting an online survey among the various
members who have been active in the various social media handles thereby helping in the
conditions that might have led to the establishment of the concerned company as a leading
company in the concerned industry. Kelly et al. (2015) states that the social media marketing
might also prove to be beneficial to the concerned company since the social media platforms
might also help the concerned company to develop an arena wherein the concerned company
might conduct the sale and the purchase of the various products and the services that are offered
by the concerned company. In other words, it might be said that the social media helps in the
creation of a virtual market place for the various products that might not be available to the
public at large or at the various offline stores. However, this might also prove to be a
disadvantage during the situations that deal with the spending of a huge amount of time for the
researches that might result in a very meagre returns.

3ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
The other advantage of social media marketing is the fact that deals with the
implementation of the financial matters that are needed to advertise on the social media. The
social media marketing might also help in the distinguishing of the concerned target clientele of
the company by promoting the concerned product or the service in the social media platforms
that deal with and are most visited by the target clientele of the concerned company. This
advantage of the social media marketing has its flaw as well (Vinerean 2017). The
advertisements over the social media might be curtailed and devised according to the target
audience in case of the particular product. This might help in the matters that pertain to the
advertisement and the promotions of the product as per the target audience of the concerned
company that has been aiming at the promotional activities related to the concerned product. The
disadvantage that might be faced by the organizations who have been promoting their products
and services over the various social media platforms refer to the problems that are related to the
indirect exclusion of a certain category and niche of the population (Lee, Hutton and Shu 2015).
This might have led to the exclusion of a certain section of the society thereby imposing a limit
on the number of the clients that the concerned organization might have catered to.
The social media marketing also helps in the various matters that pertain to the direct
interaction of the concerned department of the concerned organization with the target clientele of
the organization. The direct contact and the correspondence of the concerned departments with
the concerned clientele that has been targeted by the concerned organization might help the
organization to receive a proper feedback on the matters that pertain to the various products and
the services that have been launched by the organization. The presence of the concerned
organization over the various social media handles assists the organization in the matters that
pertain to the creation of the brand image within the minds of the concerned clients of the

4ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
organization. However, the reputation of the organization might suffer in a worse manner even
with the slightest mistake on the part of the concerned business organization (Whiting and
Deshpande 2014). The concerned members of the fan base of the organization as well as the
other netizens might resort to the various nasty ways to criticize an organization with may be a
very small fault on the part of the organization (Rokka, Karlsson and Tienari 2014). The
continuity of the failed communication or the blows on the goodwill of the company on a regular
basis might result in severe consequences like leaving the virtual world by the concerned
company thereby leading to the return of the concerned business to the stage of brick and mortar
rather than having an online presence.
The social media landscape is subject to change within a few hours and this forms the
very base of the concerned method of marketing. The various websites that might have closed
down in the recent times might have been highly operational in the past days. In a similar
manner, the social media platforms that are being used and are very popular in the recent times
might grow into a wistful memory in the years to come. Thus, the various organizations that have
been dealing with the concerned clientele of the organization might be advised to change
according to the implementation of the various new policies that might have been implemented
by the concerned social media sites (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch 2017). The concerned
organization might be advised to abide by the certain measures are implemented by the
concerned social media platform wherein the concerned organization had been planning to
expand. In the recent times, there has been a change in the policies that are being implemented
within the various social media handles (Nadaraja and Yazdanifard 2013). These might include
the various matters that deal with the lessening down of the various advertisements and
promotional videos and other posts that are being circulated by the various companies. This

5ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
might lead to the conditions that would be presenting a fewer number of posts that are being
circulated among the various target clientele of the concerned organization due to the restrictions
imposed within the various social media platforms. This activity might not be under the control
of the concerned business thereby leading to a condition wherein the concerned business might
be facing a huge loss.
In lieu of the above discussion it might be pointed out that the social media marketing
might prove to be a boon as well as a bane for the concerned organization depending on the
various matters that tend to affect the various members of the organization. The social media
helps in the creation of a virtual market place for the various products that might not be available
to the public at large or at the various offline stores. However, this might also prove to be a
disadvantage during the situations that deal with the spending of a huge amount of time for the
researches that might result in a very meagre returns. The advantage of the marketing over the
social media might help in the matters that pertain to the opportunity of the concerned business
houses to connect to the target clientele of the organization in a better and more effective
manner.

6ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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7ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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