Ch 16 - Using Social Media to Connect with Consumers Flashcards
Define social media and describe how they differ from traditional advertising media.
Social media are online media where active users submit news, photos, videos, and opinions, often accompanied by a feedback process to identify “popular” topics. Social media can be classified based on two factors: (1) media richness, which involves the degree of acoustic, visual, and physical contact between the social network and the user, and (2) self-disclosure, which is the degree to which individuals can control the impressions they want to make to others. Social media differ from traditional advertising media (newspapers, magazines, radio, and television) in that user generated content (1) is relatively inexpensive to create, publish, and access, (2) requires little training to develop, (3) can deliver virtually instantaneous responses, (4) can quickly alter and repost, and (5) may not be as private or anonymous as users expect.
Identify the four major social networks and how brand managers integrate them in their organizations’ marketing actions.
The four major social networks are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Facebook is a social network where users create a personal profile, add other users as “friends,” and exchange messages, photos, videos, and opinions with them. To increase traffic to a Facebook Page, brand managers can use paid ads and sponsored stories. Twitter enables users to send and receive “tweets,” messages up to 140 characters long. For Twitter, brand managers can use monitoring programs to track what people are saying about their organization’s brand. LinkedIn lets users post their personal profiles to a network of businesspeople. LinkedIn can be used to create a company profile to share brand information and career opportunities with LinkedIn users and to demonstrate the company’s expertise and professionalism. YouTube is a video-sharing social network where users can upload, distribute, view, and comment on videos. YouTube also allows marketers to create a brand channel to promote a product, show ads for it, and have viewers comment on it. YouTube also allows a company to inform consumers about itself and direct traffic by featuring a link back to its website.
Describe the differing roles of those receiving messages through traditional media versus social media and the factors brand managers use to select a social network.
With promotional messages received through traditional media, recipients are generally “passive receivers” and the communication ends with them. In contrast, recipients of social media messages are “active receivers,” and the company sending them messages hopes they will become “evangelists” and send positive messages back to the company and to online friends. The factors a marketer uses to select a specific social network involve assessing (1) the number of daily visitors to the company’s website, (2) the characteristics (or profile) of those visitors, and (3) the focus of the social network. Of the four major social networks, Facebook has the largest number of daily visitors, followed by YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Each of these has a unique user profile that allows marketers to develop marketing programs to reach specific target segments. Also, because each social network has a unique focus (videos, short messaging, and so on), marketers can modify their marketing programs to take advantage of these differences.
Explain how social media can produce sales revenues for a brand and compare the performance measures linked to inputs or costs versus outputs or revenues.
Measuring the sales generated from social media is more difficult than with traditional media because in many cases there is no direct link between a social network user and a sale. Brand managers can use social media platforms to send messages or paid advertisements to the brand’s audience that include links to the special promotions, to coupon codes, or to specific products in an online store. By tracking the performance of these links, the brand manager can identify the ones that produce sales revenues. Performance measures linked to inputs and costs include (1) cost per thousand (similar to the CPM for a print ad), which is the number of times an ad is displayed to a user, (2) cost per click, which gives the rate the advertiser pays each time a visitor clicks on the ad and then jumps to the web page of the advertiser’s choice, and (3) cost per action, which is the amount paid for every purchase that originates from an ad on a social media network site. Examples of performance measures linked to outputs or revenues include (1) the number of unique monthly users viewing the website at a given time; (2) page views, or the number of times a specific web page is loaded; and (3) visitors, or the total number of users viewing a particular web page during a specified time period.
Describe how the convergence of the real and digital worlds affects the future of social media.
The convergence of the real and digital worlds in social networking is made possible by means of a “smart system,” which is a computer-based network that triggers actions by sensing changes in the real or digital world. An example is how Japanese vending machines are able to recognize a customer’s sex and age and respond with a new digital display on the vending machine. Other components of a smart system include sensors; radio frequency identification (RFID) tags; and apps, which are small, downloadable software programs that can run on smartphones and tablet devices to add functionality to these devices. In the future, there will be: (1) new ways to personalize social media connections; (2) an explosion of bar codes, RFIDs, and quick response (QR) codes linked to new apps available with social media; (3) an increased focus on socially networked “communities;” (4) social networks beginning to charge for user actions that generate more sales for advertisers; and (5) an increased emphasis on measuring the marketing return on investment for social media initiatives. The convergence of social media, smartphones, tablet devices, and new apps will lead to companies having a more dynamic interaction with their customers.
apps
Small, downloadable software programs that can run on smartphones and tablet devices. Also called mobile apps or applications.
blog
A contraction of “web log,” is a web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal and online forum for an individual or organization.
A website where users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange comments, photos, videos, and “likes” with them.
A business-oriented website that lets users post their professional profiles to connect to a network of businesspeople, who are also called connections.
social media
Online media where users submit comments, photos, and videos—often accompanied by a feedback process to identify “popular” topics.
A website that enables users to send and receive “tweets,” messages up to 140 characters long.
user generated content (UGC)
The various forms of online media content that are publicly available and created by end users.
YouTube
A video-sharing website in which users can upload, view, and comment on videos.
What do we mean by social media?
Social media are online media where users submit comments, photos, and videos—often accompanied by a feedback process to identify “popular” topics. Business firms also refer to social media as “consumer-generated media.”
In classifying social media, what do we mean by (a) media richness and (b) self-disclosure?
Social media can be classified based on two factors: (a) Media richness involves the degree of acoustic, visual, and personal contact between two communication partners. For example, face-to-face communication is higher in media richness than telephone or e-mail communication. The higher the media richness and quality of presentation, the greater the social influence that these communication partners have on each other’s behavior. (b) Self-disclosure involves the degree to which an individual shares his or her thoughts, feelings, likes, and dislikes when engaged in a social interaction. Typically, this person wants to make a positive impression to achieve a favorable image with others. The greater the self-disclosure, the greater the likelihood that the person will increase his or her influence on those reached.
