Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix

By: W. Glynn Mangold & David J. Faulds

          The article starts off by defining Integrated marketing Communications or IMC as the guiding principle organizations follow when communicating with their targeted markets.  It goes on to that by using this method of communication organizations attempt to control various elements of promotional methods such as traditional advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotions, in order to look professional and unified in their communications on the way to achieving objectives set forth. 

            Social media, also known as "consumer-generated media",  has changed the way that tools and strategies are used by organizations.  This form of media creates new sources and ways that consumers learn, use, and educate each other about an organization,  product or brand.  The term social media is a blanket term that includes, blogs, discussion boards, chat rooms, emails from consumers to consumers, and consumer driven ratings online.  These can also be done on personal pages or company sponsored pages. 

            The article goes on to explain that with the explosion of social media in the 21st century managers and organizations have still failed to realize the full potential of utilizing social media as a brand management and promotional tool.  The article does not suggest that organizations move strictly to only using social media as a marketing tool, but to incorporate it into their already proven strategies creating a hybrid tool.  Justification being that "Social media is perceived by consumers as a more trustworthy source of information regarding products and services than corporate-sponsored communications transmitted via the traditional elements of the promotion mix." Due to this traditional means on their own have diminished in value in the eyes of consumers.
            In order to do this Organizations must learn to :

1.      Use social media to help shape discussions and consumer conversations about their brand and product.

2.      Provide networking platforms for consumers to network with like minded consumers and further the flow of conversation.

3.      Use blogging and social media sites to engage customers and promote their brand.  This is twofold as they get feedback from the consumer about their brand or product and can use this information to transform it into a consumer driven product.

            Organizations must not abandon traditional methods but use social media as support.  They must also provide necessary information to facilitate these discussions, Be outrageous and creative in order to catch our attention since we have increasingly short attention spans.  Organizations can also support causes that are important to their market consumers and utilize consumer stories.  IMC is a powerful tool since social media is ever present in our everyday lives.  IMC is no longer has just one avenue to go through, but multiple to use to an organizations advantage.

The Power of “Like”: 

How Brands Reach (and Influence) Fans Through Social-Media Marketing

By: Andrew Lipsman, Graham Mudd, Mike Rich, & Sean Bruich

            As the title suggests, this article is about the social media platform Facebook and its usefulness in brand management and promotion.  The article starts out by giving some facts about Facebook such as how it accounts for ninety percent of all activity on social networking sites, Branded content have many different avenues of use on Facebook, Facebook users spend more than a quarter of their time on the newsfeed portion which also means that 4 percent of all internet use is browsing a Facebook newsfeed.  It goes on to state that  users are 40 to 150 times more likely to consumer branded content on a newsfeed than a brands on fan page due to other consumers sharing. 

            The article then makes a unique distinction with regards potential audiences of branded content.  It identifies 3 types of audiences of branded content, Fans of brands, Friends of Fans, and Non fans( This distinction is not made until later in the article).  Fans are the easiest to reach and promote to as they are already fans of the brand, but an important side effect happens in that friends of fans exposure can be more than the exposure to just fans of the brand.  Friends of fans represent a larger set of consumers on average and receive exposure by way of their friends who are fans of a page.  This research means that the more "fans" a brand gets, the more friends of fans can potentially be reached like a domino effect. 

            Facebook has been identified as having two unique consumer experiences of brands.  The brand and consumer can now interact with each other simultaneously and directly and consumers can share a vast amount of information between each other.  Brands now have the consumers directly at their fingertips and vice versa, which if used correctly is powerful.  The article offers a great amount of unique research about fans of a brand on Facebook and what Facebook can do for a brand and organization with regards to promotion and maintaining a brand.  This all shores up the statement that a brand fan is a powerful tool at the brand's disposal and can be used to facilitate and reach other non fans or soon to be fans faster and more efficient than the brand could do traditionally.  Coupled by real life stories and testimonials, this is also a cheaper alternative since most of these postings and testimonials are free and unsolicited.  Social media and especially Facebook, is still a widely untapped market than will continue to grow.

Questions

Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix

1.  What are the risks to using Social Media as a tool?  What can go wrong if not done properly?

2.  What social media brands or pages have you seen that are thought of as too "gimmicky"?

The Power of “Like”

1.  Have you ever tried a product that a friend recommended or gave testimonial about on Facebook that you otherwise would not have tried?

2.  Do you think that brands take over your newsfeeds and diminish the value of what Facebook is all about?

3.  Have you ever left a testimonial or feedback on a brands page? If not why? And if so, what  did you say and did you receive feedback back from the brand?