Social Media Marketing Practices and Issues Between the United States and China

Introduction:

Social media marketing is a way that a company garners attention through the use of social media sites. Social media itself refers to online platforms that allow their users to share different types of information. For example, facebook.com (Facebook Inc.’s website) allows it’s users to post, comment, share and “like” stories, pictures and videos about their own life, their friends, celebrities, organizations, brands and companies. Facebook was the largest global social network as of January 2014. The company reports that 728 million of its registered users log in to their account on a daily basis to perform some type of social action (Aichner & Jacob, page 257).

Generally speaking, social media are web-based applications and interactive platforms that facilitate the creation, discussion, modification and exchange of user-generated content (Vernuccio, 2014).The academic journal “Measuring the degree of corporate social media use” identifies 13 different types of social media in the U.S. This includes: blogs, business networks, collaborative projects, enterprise social networks, forums, micro blogs, photo sharing, product/services reviews, social bookmarking, social gaming, video sharing and virtual worlds. A brief description and example of each is detailed below:

Blogs- Blog (a word derived from ‘web’ and ‘log’) is a list of informational material by individuals and companies sorted by date, which can be read and commented on by visitors. Example: The Huffington Post.

Business networks - Used by individuals to establish and maintain professional contacts. Users can create a profile and share the same information you would typically find on a resume such as: type and duration of education, professional experience, and expert knowledge. Companies can use business network to search for new candidates and experts. Example: LinkedIn.

Collaborative projects- Projects that bring together internet users with a common interest in order to plan, develop,...