Influence of Social Media and Marketing Communication

For years, marketing has been existing for more than someone could imagine. Social media, on the other hand, has been a new trend that when compared with the old-fashioned way, it has the highest influencing factors when it comes to marketing communication (Sharma & Verma, 2018). Social media marketing has practically become a gold mine for every company because there is no competition regarding how finances are spent. With social media and regular marketing, firms can have low investments in the expansion of their business. In this essay, we will highlight the influence of social media and marketing communication it has in modern enterprises.

Despite the fact that social media is considered a useful channel in all marketing channels to become useful, it is also seen to be incredible in boosting businesses. All companies, in this case, must have the consistency in the use of the social media for positive results. One thing they must realize when using the social media channels is that they cannot use it sparingly but have the patients to improve their marketing channels (Sharma & Verma, 2018). Most companies that stand out have been substantially exposed to the channel communications.

Key Points of Social Media Strategies

In the global marketing strategies, one of the most exciting, increasing and dynamic elements is social media. The primary reason is that it’s a somewhat new, continually evolving and fast-moving channel of communication. It is also because it can become the most authentic, personal and real-time way one can communicate with the multilingual, global audience (Warren, 2016). Not only is social media essential, but it has multifaceted implications that can amplify messages of a company’s reputation and influence the world markets. With such, social media needs to be viewed within the context of an integrated, modern and multilingual marketing plan (Warren, 2016). The plans and media strategies encompass the following aspects.

The social influencing strategy

One of the most efficient ways of familiarizing with the strategy that influences social media is through online communities, active media site, forums and where most audiences like to congregate. To be part of the regular conversation, one is not supposed to be an active contributor and commenter but rather be realistic about their resources (Warren, 2016). One should, however, spend the time to build their relationship with the selected online and social community spheres.

Analysis and Social Media Monitoring

If a company intends to predict the customer’s personalization and behaviour, they then need to be analytic because it is important and relevant to know the client's journey. By monitoring the social media data, the company can efficiently expand its global revenue, brand and create opportunities to connect with multilingual customers (Warren, 2016).

The Management of Social Media

When one wants to build a channel of social media posts, then they need to invent their posts through the media’s campaign, date, post type, content type or target audience. By doing so, the firm can use ethic best content to build their editorial calendar throughout the year for greater initiatives (Warren, 2016).

Environmental Factors that Influence the Strategies of Global Social Media

Large and small companies are not only affected by internal factors but also the environmental factors that are known to have minimal impact. When a company decides to make marketing decisions, it is paramount to consider the environmental factors to develop an accurate picture of the company’s standing as well as the marketplace (Adria, 2014). When the firm decides to ignore the outside elements, then they risk failing and lose revenue which as a result will affect the health of all team member in the entire brand. There are a few environmental factors that should be considered for businesses to be successful.

Religious and Cultural Ideologies

Various ideologies define how businesses conduct and run their company. Ideologies are also very good channels to compete for the customer’s time, resources and attention. Whether cultural, religious or political, cultural and religious ideologies hold strong convictions that are deep in maintaining and defending the consumer (Adria, 2014). For instance, small businesses that do their transactions outside the United States culture dictates, when, where, and how they conduct businesses. A company, therefore, must have devise strategies to run their businesses within this world settings. Since some countries have religious cultures that drive them, some services and products may be decreed even if there is a ready market.

Economic Factors

In the global economy, several factors influence the success of a business in an international platform. When the living standards of a country rise, it usually affects the demand for the products by giving more opportunities for businesses to generate more income. For instance, if the demand of a product reduces then the price decreases. Therefore, when a company develops a business strategy, they are always keen on the price fluctuations. In case there is demand the firm will manage to expand and take risks (Adria, 2014).

Consumer trends

When the market trend changes, then the entire direction of marketing the business diverts with great effect and very little notice. Consumer trends are sometimes as a result of fads, buying habits, endorsement, or customer’s preference. When such patterns change, the marketing strategies must also brand its self by responding to the position products to remain valid for consumers (Adria, 2014). For instance, if the brand has been maintaining its products for some years and the market suddenly changes its taste, then it needs to advance to sustain the new market climate.

International Marketing vs. Domestic Marketing

Global marketing is a complex decision that requires a high degree of formation and planning of internal strategies. Numerous factors must be considered to be successful in international marketing:

Cultural considerations

Culture is an aspect that varies the marketing and worldwide pieces especially when reflected upon accordingly. The cultural context, therefore, is vital if the business wants to save money by avoiding marketing mistakes and costly adverting. For instance, in the U.S advertisements from companies depict marketing everything from soft drinks to shaving products but in conservative cultures which eventually get banned because they become offensive (Zhang, 2012). In China, one company that alters its products to suit the lifestyle of the Chinese is IKEA. For instance, when the company first opened its doors in China, it modified the ordinary king-sized beds to the Hong Kong standards which are much shorter than the normal ones (Giunta, 2016). However, in the U.S consumers prefer larger items.

Payment Method and Price

Before a company decides to launch a product into the U.S market, they don’t consider the competitive pricing and competition of the global market. Whether targeted for global or domestic market the price should be tagged based on the consumer price (Zhang, 2012). In China, IKEA reduced its costs up to 60 percent where a table that was sold for 120 yuan was dropped to 39 yuan which was less than five euros when exchanged (Giunta, 2016). By mass producing the company will also manage to trim the supply chain cost.

The media Mix and the Marketing method

Marketing procedures like print advertisement and websites are used in most countries to market their products. For instance, large nations like the U.S have a robust mailing system as well as media services to share new information rather than relying on printed messages (Zhang, 2012). Before any company invests in the media, they should be familiar with the audience they are targeting. A good example is IKEA in China since it had to change its marketing strategy. The company after offering similar products but at lower prices, IKEA decided to use the Chinese micro-blogging and social media websites Weibo to target the youth clientele (Giunta, 2016).

Conclusion

The external environmental factors as elaborated in the essay are crucial to the success of a business. For instance, small companies that do their transactions to dictates when, where, and how they conduct businesses. Therefore a company must have devise strategies to run their businesses within this world settings. Moreover, when the market trend changes, then the entire direction of marketing the business diverts. Global social media marketing, in this case, is a complicated decision that requires a high degree of formation and planning of internal strategies.

 One recommendation that could help the marketing team is to establish a researched local market, defined global marketing plans and functional relationships to accommodate the local needs whenever they are in need. When these plans are socialized with the international teams, the feedback will be attained on time to avoid any legal issues that may hinder the future plans for the markets. A proactive approach, in this case, will allow the marketing team to revise and adjust their plans in case there are challenges.

Learning Outcome

Throughout this project, I have realized that different markets require different techniques because of the consumer. More profound I have learned that media is a compelling platform that can be used to make any product in any country. What I found more astonishing, is the way IKEA used the Chinese micro-blogging and social media websites called Weibo to target the young group. Marketing in the direction of social media is one right platform for targeting a specific market.

References

Adria, M. (2014). Strategies for Environmental Responsibility. Social Responsibility in the Global Apparel Industry,

144-174. doi:10.5040/9781501304156.ch-008

Giunta, V. (2016). IKEA in China: A “Glocal” Marketing Strategy. Market Entry in China Management for Professionals,

73-93. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-29139-0_8

Sharma, S., & Verma, H. V. (2018). Social Media Marketing: Evolution and Change. Social Media Marketing, 19-36. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-5323-8_2

Warren, C. (2016). Social Media and Outbound Ticket Sales: Examining Social Media Strategies among Top-Performing Salespeople. Journal of Applied Sport Management, 8(4). doi: 10.18666/jasm-2016-v8-i4-7263

Zhang, L. (2012). Traditional marketing channel VS network marketing channel: A multi-market competition model. 2012 International Conference on Management Science & Engineering 19th Annual Conference Proceedings, 22-32. doi:10.1109/icmse.2012.6414255