During the fast growth of social media, the ways companies usually use in their marketing are changed; social networks became a great approach for companies to improve their communication with customers. The wide usage of social networking sites and tools by individuals makes companies want to think carefully on how they can benefit from such usage in rebuilding their relationship with customers and increasing their engagement level. Such companies found that social media marketing is the solution through which companies and their customers will become much closer. This chapter covers three main sections where traditional marketing and electronic marketing concepts are reviewed in the first section. Then a detailed exploration of social networks and their distinct features is presented in the second section. Finally a discussion of social network marketing tools and its related technologies is explored in the third section.
TopTraditional And Electronic Marketing: Definition And General Concepts
Marketing, in general, is a collective process where products/services can be exchanged between individuals based on what they want/need. This collective process is going around the following four main factors; which called in literature the marketing mix theory or the 4ps: product, price, place, and promotion.
Traditional marketing is one of the most recognizable marketing techniques that have several strategies; print, broadcast, telephone, and direct mail are the most traditional marketing strategies where print marketing is the oldest strategy that includes advertisements in magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and any other printed material. Broadcast marketing includes radio and television advertisements. Telephone marketing or telemarketing is based on delivering sales messages to the consumers over the phone. And finally direct mail, which sends printed materials such as catalogs and postcards through postal mail to attract consumers. Mainly traditional marketing tries to discover, find, and satisfy customers’ needs and wants using the traditional channels and strategies explained.
More and more people nowadays are choosing to get their advertisements, promotions, and news online rather than through newspapers or magazines. So most businesses have added or fully replaced traditional marketing methods with new and innovative techniques mainly based on the Internet where companies can use social networks, create their webpages and blogs and become much closer with people/consumers (Khattri & Sharma, 2013).