Marketing - Social Media

Social Media

Social media has become the new norm in our society over the last few years. It creates a virtual environment for individuals, groups, companies and organizations to share ideas, advertise or simply communicate with friends, customers, marketers and others willing to listen. The new platform of social media has changed the face of marketing both for the marketer and the consumer. The change has allowed both groups to enhance their connection with each other.

When a consumer decides to look into a pair of Nike shoes they might research the company's website. On the website customers are able to browse through various items sold by the brand and also decide to join one of the many social media outlets the company is affiliated with. For example, consumers could "like" Nike on Facebook, or follow Nike on Twitter and keep up-to-date on the latest news from the brand or learn about promotions the brands might be offering. By following a brand through a social media outlet consumers are capable of sharing their desire to like a brand with their friends giving those individuals the opportunity to look into that company or product. Social media has become the new form of word-of-mouth advertising. Not all consumers will decide to associate themselves with a brand but can still be influence habits through a blog.. For example, if an individual starts a runners blog and mentions that they are wearing a certain Nike shoe that had either improved their performance or that the shoes rub their feet wrong when running causing a lot of discomfort can influence consumer behaviors. This type of information from blogs, Facebook and Twitter allows marketers to review their products and improve the areas they are seeing being mentioned on these sites. The advantage to having this information available through social media versus traditional forms of marketing is the speed in which companies receive their feedback. With traditional marketing researchers would have...