Abstract
Integrating companies to digital channels is a necessity to build and maintain a competitive advantage in today's market conditions. In the business environment, companies realize that sustainable competitive advantage can be gained only by understanding customers' needs and expectations, developing activities that meet their demands, ease their work, and engage them to the brand to create difference and value. Success in marketing will be driven by an effective communication and consumer experience. Marketing and brand managers are in the process of determining how social media tools impact them and what their digital transformation approach and communication strategy should be. This chapter examines the importance of social media for companies and benefits of social media on the performance of marketing processes that enable better communication, planning, and execution from consumer engagement to consumer purchase.
TopIn an increasingly competitive environment for each company main purpose is to offer faster, better quality and more affordable proposals than main competitors. For this purpose, companies utilize all kinds of technological innovation and possibilities. On the other hand, customer expectations are increasing and these high expectations are driving businesses. Focusing only on product or service quality is not enough, also it is important to meet customer expectations almost on a personal basis, to facilitate sales and after-sales processes and to provide the customer with a unique experience. However, for companies, it is not enough to communicate only with the customer, but also to interact with them. Being able to interact with customers is crucial in terms of knowing, understanding, meeting their expectations by interacting. Companies that are interacting with customers are more successful superior to competitors. Innovations in social media and continuous improvements are now key components of competitive and differentiation strategy that directly impact consumers.
The world of social media networks is dynamic and in constant change. Social media just keeps growing. According to statistical information by WeareSocial (2018); the number of internet users in 2018 is 4.021 billion, the number of social media users in 2018 is 3.196 billion, equaling 42% penetration. The average social media user spends 135 minutes a day online. Facebook’s platform still dominates the global social landscape, with total users up 15 percent year-on-year to reach almost 2.17 billion at the beginning of 2018. There are now more than 50 million small businesses using Facebook Pages to connect with their customers. 4 million of those businesses pay for social media advertising on Facebook. 68% of marketers have published video content on Facebook. (Hainla, 2018). YouTube has 1.5 billion users and on average, people spend 40 minutes a day watching YouTube. Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users and Instagram Stories has 300 million users worldwide. Twitter has 300 million monthly active users. LinkedIn has 500 million, Pinterest has 200 million, Snapchat has 178 million users worldwide. The average internet user has 7 social media accounts and 88 percent of businesses are on social media (StrikeSocial, 2018).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social media: It refers to the internet technology that enables the creation and sharing of ideas and information and the building of virtual communities, networks, and relations.
Brand Community: It refers to a community that formed on the basis of attachment to a product or brand and built upon shared values, common interest, and connections.
Social Media Marketing: It refers to the process of marketing through the use of social media platforms.
Content Marketing: It refers to creating content that builds a long-term relationship with the target market.
Engagement: It is the metric that measures the reactions of users on social platforms and allows companies to see how consumers use, talk, and share content about brands.
Social Media Advertising: A kind of online advertising via social media.
Conversion: It refers to any action on the websites or social media platforms.
Social Commerce: A form of e-commerce that uses social media and social networks.