Essay on Social Media Marketing: An Essential Tool for Business Expansion

Introduction

Social media has grown over the years to become one of the most potent marketing tools. Other than being used by consumer brands, social media is also being utilized by all levels of businesses in pursuit of success and expansion. The extensive reach of the different social media avenues is just one of the many advantages of social media marketing for both small and large business (Sari, Febrian, Bagenda, & Sule, 2018). The sufficiency of the traditional advertising strategies has been eroded over time. Owing to the benefits that a business can gain from the use of social media in marketing, social media should be integrated into the marketing strategy of a business. To fully harness the power of social media marketing, however, a business must adopt specific strategies, which are discussed in the section below.

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Findings Analysis

This study has revealed that the enhancement of the interaction between business owners and their customers is the primary way in which social media marketing enhances the performance of a business. Unlike in the past, where the interaction could only happen physically or using conventional modes, which has a limited reach, social media offers a broader reach. For instance, avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have millions of users, and the number is projected to grow moving into the future. The approaches and tools used for communicating with the customers are ever evolving and getting more user-friendly. They also allow businesses to give and get as much information as possible from the customers. Research has shown that customers consider the information found on social media to be more reliable (Kasemsap, 2019). Businesses can also adopt more creative and attractive ways of interacting with the clients to increase the awareness of their brands. For instance, by putting up a website, a business can be exposed to customers in all parts of the world. From the website, the customers can get additional information regarding the business, its products, as well as any current offers.

Moreover, by replying to the comments left by customers on the website, a bond is created between the business and its customer base (Swan & Husted, 2017). Such a connection could not be achieved using traditional marketing strategies. The business can also promptly respond to any complaints or negative feedback given by the customers. This is particularly important in a world where the cost of switching from one brand is getting lower. Besides, as the business environment becomes more competitive and unpredictable, the ability of businesses to survive and thrive is largely anchored on their ability to detect and respond to changes in the behaviors of the customers. These trends can easily be tracked through the feedback left by the customers (Pourkhani, Abdipour, Baher, & Moslehpour, 2019).

To survive in the modern volatile business environment, businesses must strive to create mutual trust, relationships, and engagement with their customers as well as the communities in which they operate. Various social media avenues provide platforms that foster communication, which in turn helps achieve this goal. Tools such as LinkedIn enhances stakeholder engagement as well as cooperation. Other than the marketing and communication process, avenues like LinkedIn are helpful during the recruitment process (Gunarathne, Rui, & Seidman, 2018). The avenues enable the business to hire the best talents in the market, which further helps the business pursue its expansion and success strategy. Moreover, the various platforms offered by social media helps enhance transparency, authenticity, and the spirit of community, which helps create business sustainability.

In the past, the best marketing tools were costly and hence was a reserve for the big businesses. However, social media marketing has helped bridge the gap between big and small companies. Using social media, businesses, regardless of their size, are exposed to millions of customers around the world at a relatively low cost. By adopting the right strategies, such as enhancing customer service, small businesses can effectively compete with the larger players in the market (Taneja & Toombs, 2014). Moreover, a business must carefully choose the social media network to use. The choice is determined by various factors such as the type of products sold as well as the portion of the population targeted. For instance, Instagram is mostly used by the younger generation. Therefore, a business might be forced to choose another avenue when targeting the older generation.

However, there are certain precautions that businesses must take to benefit fully from social media marketing. As technology advances, the possibility of cyber-attacks rises. Businesses must, therefore, invest in robust security systems to ensure that their social media platforms are not compromised. Strategies to protect customer data should also be adopted to avoid litigation that would arise from a breach of data privacy. To overcome these challenges, a business should create a social media policy that outlines the guidelines to be followed in social media communication as well as rules regarding confidentiality. The staff should also be trained on the best practices in social media marketing, and regular audits should be performed (Assaad & Gomez, 2011).

References

Assaad, W., & Gomez, J. M. (2011). Social network in marketing (social media marketing) opportunities and risks. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies, 2(1), 13. Retrieved from https://www.seokursu.com.tr/social-network-in-marketing.pdf

Gunarathne, P., Rui, H., & Seidman, A. (2018). When Social Media Delivers Customer Service: Differential Customer Treatment in the Airline Industry. MIS Quarterly, 42(2), 489-A10. doi:https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2018/14290

Kasemsap, K. (2019). Professional and business applications on social media platforms. Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, 824-847. Retrieved from https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/professional-and-business-applications-of-social-media-platforms/224786

Pourkhani, A., Abdipour, K., Baher, B., & Moslehpour, M. (2019). The impact of social media in business growth and performance: A scientometrics analysis. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 3(3), 223-244. Retrieved from http://m.growingscience.com/beta/ijds/3089-the-impact-of-social-media-in-business-growth-and-performance-a-scientometrics-analysis.html

Sari, D., Febrian, E., Bagenda, W., & Sule, E. T. (2018). The influence of unique capability, functional strategy on company performance of the shipbuilding industry in Indonesia. International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 20(3), 273. doi:10.1504/ijbg.2018.10012627

Swan, T., & Husted, E. (2017). Undermining anarchy: Facebook's influence on anarchist principles of organization in Occupy Wall Street. Information Society, 33(4), 192-204. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2017.1318195

Taneja, S., & Toombs, L. (2014). Putting a face on small businesses: Visibility, viability, and sustainability the impact of social media on small business marketing. Academy of marketing studies journal, 18(1), 249. Retrieved from https://www.abacademies.org/articles/amsjvol18no12014.pdf#page=256