Role of Digital & Social Media Marketing- Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the role of Digital and Social Media Marketing in Consumer Behavior. Answer: Literature Review It has been studied that social media and channels of digital media marketing have facilitated the ways of marketing. With the help of social media, the marketers find it easy to focus on the mass of crowd for marketing or promoting and reaching the consumers. In order to penetrate a large market, the organizations must develop a suitable strategy that combines all of its marketing goals into one comprehensive plan. A good marketing strategy needs to be drawn from the market research as well as the focus should be on the appropriate product mix to gain the maximum profits. This certainly helps to sustain the business. Therefore, the marketers tend to think of the ways about how their strategies can be implemented to receive positive gains. In addition, the implementation of social media strategy must require appropriate communication channels where each party becomes aware of the scenarios. Social media have provided new and significant opportunities to the consumers to engage in the social interaction. The following analysis describes how and to what extent social media and digital have influenced the consumer buying behavior. The analysis has been conducted considering the findings and outcome of previous studies on the current topic. Concept of Digital marketing According to Hudson and Thal (2013), with the advancement of Smartphone and Tablets, Digital marketing reached a new high margin. The users who would remain unrelated now know about it. Hence, Tiago and Verssimo (2014) also commented that digital marketing is the use of the channels to reach the desired target market through some of the significant channels or medium such websites, multi-media advertising, online search engine advertisement, e-marketing, inactive marketing and others. In addition, the digital marketing has been considered as new form of marketing and it has provided the marketers with the new opportunities to conduct the business. In this context, Royle and Laing (2014) also mentioned that marketing activities conducted through digital channels enable the advertisers to directly communicate with the key customers with a rapid velocity. Furthermore, Holliman and Rowley (2014) also commented that digital marketing has recently been referred as one of the significant me ans to cut through the mass as well as interact directly with the consumer. Here, the trend toward direct, one to one marketing and additional focus has been paid to the implementation of digital channels as means of effectively advertising to consumers. While focusing on the digital channels, the mobile marketing is considered as the recent development. The global marketing is one of the fastest growing markets due to the increase in the number of middle-income people. The mobile marketing is anticipated to attain millions of users in the upcoming decade. Thereby, the investigation on digital channels advertising could influence the way the business is conducted. The developments as well as global use of interne technologies have transformed the way society communicates in their professional and regular life. According to Chaffey and Patron (2012), one of the significant indicators of this transmission is emergence of new communication tools. Thus, Royle and Laing (2014) mentioned that new communication tools emerging with the advancement of technologies are called digital marketing. Thus, the digital channels come in mind, the marketers or the business owners usually think of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other similar social media platforms. Concept of Social media The growing development and advancement in the internet in the recent time have made the new systems accessible and available to business. For example, the social media such as online communities is a good scenario. As put forward by Divol, Edelman and Sarrazin (2012), the general availability of internet has provided the individuals with the opportunities to use social media, from email to Twitter and Facebook. It has been studied that with the advances in the internet as well as the emergence of Web 2.0, the inter-connectivity between individuals expanded on the internet (Witkemper, Lim Waldburger, 2012). Certainly, this advancement of internet enabled the consumers and business to collaborate on the internet. Presently, an increasing number of social media platforms have been developed that facilitated the progress of sharing information as well as the generation of content in online context. Some popular and demanded social media tools are Facebook, Twitter and YouTube where ind ividual play a significant share their ideas, news and other social content. Likewise, the marketers share the business updates in social media tools to receive customer feedbacks. With the rise in social networks, a new era of content creation has emerged, where the business owners and individuals could easily share the experiences and information with the large population. In addition to this, in the social media platforms, the consumers are largely receive the opportunities of developing social interaction. The individuals can be familiar with one another. As put forward by Sashi (2012), such social practice could greatly influence users intention to buy. In this context, Stephen and Galak (2012) also commented that it is significant for the organizations to have a business model adapted to social commerce. Social media could be leveraged to generate marketing masterpiece. The large organizations like Skittles as well as Dell have successfully used social media to enhance their brand, and community around the products. On the other side, small like Kogi BBQ are using social media to maximize their sales as well as dominate the late night food craze in Los Angeles. Irrespective of the size of the companies, the social media can be used to initiate a conversation with the target market as well as elevate the brands. Social Media Consulting Team has successfully worked for clients and developed a strong campaign that drives traffic as well as the build the community (Williams et al., 2012). Agnihotri et al., (2012) commented that social media marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on people, clearly not on the products. Likewise, these products can easily be presented by the organization with as many qualitative features as well as the promotional tools as possible. However, signifi cant attributes that need to be considered is the comment and appreciation sent or left by the customers. The customer feedbacks on social media tools could make the marketers anxious, as feedbacks on the social media sites could often create a negative image in the public. As put forward by Castronovo and Huang (2012) people provide the content, and this has probably been the reason why social media marketing remains challenging for the marketers. In social media marketing, the negative word of mouth can be spread across the world in a couple of minutes only. As the explosion of internet-based messages are transmitted through the Social Media, they have become a major factor in influencing several aspects of consumer behavior, such as awareness, consideration, data collection, post purchase and purchase decisions. With the advent of digital media marketing, the customers remain as the trouble soul; they form different definition of What Looks Good to them. For example, they might compare the FMCG products service with the television services. As opined by Brennan and Croft (2012), the consumers might expect one brand element to become equivalent to another brands element. Like the social media marketing, it is also observed in the digital media marketing that customers want response as fast and clear as possible. It is certain that one viral tweet could destroy organizations rapport. Consumer Behavior Understanding the consumer buying behavior is a significant aspect of marketing. As put forward by Goh, Heng and Lin (2013), the consumer behavior is the study of how people make decisions regarding what they purchase, want, need or act in respect with a product or service or the organization. Therefore, Hosany Martin (2012) emphasized on the following factors to learn the consumer behavior or to know how consumer behavior influences the marketing. Psychological factor- In a regular life, the customers are being affected by several issues that are unique to their thought process. As put forward by Hosany and Martin (2012), psychological factors could include the perception of need or situation and the ability of the individual and their attitude. Each individual responds to a marketing message based on his or her attitude and perception. Thereby, the marketers must consider the psychological factors while creating a campaign to ensure that their campaign could appeal to their target audience. Personal factor- It is studied that personal factors are the characteristics that are particular to an individual and it might not relate to other people within the same group. These characteristics could help to learn how individual make decision, their unique habits, opinions and interests. In this context, Rucker, Galinsky and Dubois (2012) also mentioned that when personal factors, the decisions could also be influenced by age, gender, background, culture and other individual issues. For example, an older individual is likely to demonstrate different consumer behavior than a younger individual. This means that they could select the products differently and spend the money on items that may not be preferable to younger generation. Social Factors-The social factor has a significant impact on consumer behavior. The social factor carries social characteristics. As put forward by Goh, Heng and Lin (2013), social influences are quite diverse and could include social interaction, work and school communities as well as families. It might include a persons social class, which could include income, condition of living and education level. The social factors remain diverse and it might remain difficult to analyze while developing a marketing plan. Nonetheless, it is critical to consider the social factors in consumer behavior because the social factors could influence how people respond to marketing contents as well as marketing purchase decisions. Impact of social media marketing on consumer buying behavior Internet and virtual communities have certainly transformed consumers, societies and the corporation with wide access to information, better social networking as well as enhanced communication abilities. Thus, the social networks are defined to be websites, which link millions of users from all over the world with the similar interest, hobbies and views. Blogs, YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are the significant examples of social media that are widely accepted by the all level of customers (Naylor, Lamberton West, 2012). The internet user are using several online formats to communicate to share ideas regarding a given product, service and other consumers are considered as the objective information source (Lee Ma 2012). The unique aspects of social media as well as its intensive popularity have certainly revolutionized marketing practices such as advertising and promotion. Social media has certainly influenced consumer behavior from information acquisition to post purchase behavior s uch as dissatisfaction statements. A significant influence of organizations has been noticed in the last few years. It was also studied that social media websites provided the opportunity for business to engage as well as interact with the potential consumers. These opportunities increase a sense of intimacy with the customer and build significant relationship with the key customers (Saravanakumar SuganthaLakshmi, 2012). In addition to this, the high level of efficiency of social media compared to other conventional channels prompted industry leaders to consider that organizations should participate in online campaign taking place Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Effects of digital media marketing on consumer behavior Marketing is a vast concept, which enhances the stability in the relationship between the buyers and the sellers. Exposure of conscious and rational approach in carrying out marketing activities acts as an agent in the deals, trades and transactions between the buyers and the sellers The earlier versions of marketing included the retail stores, which witnessed the physical presence of the buyers. This provided the marketing personnel with the opportunity to study the customer approaches and behaviors towards the offered products and services. Even retail stores have introduced the concept of social media marketing for expanding their business upto the benchmark of international standards (Schivinski Dabrowski, 2016). As per the arguments of Scott et al., (2017), the modern versions of marketing, social media has replaced the stores. Now, the people can make online purchases by sitting at their homes. Such is the advancement and benefits of science. Putting the news of the newly launched products or services on the social networking sites and the websites helps the personnel to attract large number of audience towards the brand image. Maintenance of quality within these products influences the purchasing decisions of the customers (Stephen, 2016). Along with quality, innovation in packaging and preservation of originality within the contents of the products also influences the purchasing power of the customers. Deceiving the customers with false promises adversely affects the buying power of the customers. Luring the customers with attractive discounts, offers and schemes and denying making such claims stains the personality of the marketing personnel. This reflects the gaming mentality of the personnel with the needs, demands and requirements of the customers, which necessitates the need of courtly interventions (Labrecque et al., 2013). Viewing the issue from other perspective, complying with the marketing legislations, such as Consumer Protection Act (1986), contradicts the gaming mentality. As a matter of specification, adherence to the legislations qualifies the personnel as capable of protecting the individual sentiments of the customers. Along with this, complying with the propositions of competition policies helps the companies and organizations to indulge into fair trades, deals and transactions with the contemporary brands (Schivinski Dabrowski, 2016). This fairness acts as one o f the major agents for luring the customers towards the brand. Affirming the wrong practices of the customers disqualifies the marketing personnel as ineffective in terms of influencing the buying behavior of the customers. On the other hand, concepts such as user generated contents support the personnel to provide thrilling experience to the customers. Typical examples in this direction are contests regarding the products that the customers are purchasing. Through these contests, the personnel receive the feedbacks from the customers regarding their reactions towards the offered products and services. According to Levy and Gvili (2015), abiding by the ethics in case of social media marketing is one of the crucial points for retaining the customers. Uploading vulgar and obscene contents with the products and services affects the visual perceptions of the customers, especially the children and adolescents. Bearing in mind their developing stage and the increased demand of social media, exposure of rationalistic attitude is expected from the personnel (Schivinski Dabrowski, 2016). Consumer buying behavior theories and models Individuals expressing common behavior are grouped into certain categories. Large scale response to the sales, discounts and offers makes the customers a segment of individuals. This example represents the concept of part for the whole. This large scale response is a planned action exposed by the customers. This type of expression resembles with the propositions of the Theory of Planned action or Theory of Reasoned Behavior. The customers make plans prior to the execution of purchases, which is the root cause or reason of their behavioral conduct (Cheng Huang, 2013). Viewing the aspects from other perspective, the aspects can be correlated with the aspect of cause and effect. Introducing lucrative deals, offers and schemes instigates the customers to make heavy purchases, which satisfies their needs, demands and requirements. Making mistakes in the purchases also accounts within the reasoned action. Delving deep into the aspect of mistake, it is the unconscious mind of the customers which falls prey to the glorified form of the market. This type of expression is devoid of plans and reasons in reality; however, the consciousness is subdued by the unconscious, which leads to the momentous error of judgment (Zeugner, Ã… ½abkar Diamantopoulos, 2015). This issue bears resemblance with the first stage of Engel, Kollet and Blackwell Model, where visual perception dominates the rational thinking. Due to this dominance, the customers indulge in wrong decision-making regarding their purchases. Herein lays the appropriateness of the term impulse buying proposed by Hawkins Stern in his model of consumer behavior. In such a situation, Maslows Hierarchy of Needs proves to be an effective model in terms of exposing the consumers aware of their needs and then conducting their purchases (Scott et al., 2017). Providing va rious options before the customers supports them in deciding the products that they need for fulfilling their requirements. The aspect of motivation and encouragement in the previous sentence contradicts the darkness of the word black in the Black Box model. Keeping various options at hand enables the personnel to alter the perceptions of the customers towards the products and services. Box can be related to the gaming mentality of the personnel to compromise with the needs of the customers for acquiring the hot seat amidt the competitive ambience (LeBlanc, 2015). Critical reflection of the applied theories and models, concrete plans is crucial for the customers in terms of making effective purchases. Application of rationality in this planning provides an escape to the consumers from the black unconscious entrapment to the enlightened world of social media. This escape ceases their search for quality and branded products and provides freedom from the box of compulsions regarding purchases. This freedom enhances the concept of rational thinking, one of the prime aspects of Behavioral Theory (Cheng Huang, 2013). Herein lays the conjunction of all the applied theories, where projection of the consumer behavior attains centrality. Research Gap The literature helps to identify that even though the previous studies have effectively focused on the importance and popularity of social and digital media, the studies did not include the barriers that an organization might face in implementing the social and digital media marketing. All of the studies have discussed about how social media can be implemented in business. However, social media negatively influences the marketers. The studies did not focus on the negative influences of such strategies. Moreover, the previous studies did not focus on the financial performance of the organization in respect with the implementation of social media marketing strategies. 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