Category: Social Media Marketing

The following piece of the model is Social Search which assumes a significant job for small organizations these days – it is tied in with animating and dealing with notoriety through interest. Social Bookmarking opens up new channels for the business through participating in social bookmarking and labeling content. Notwithstanding that it can deliver extra hunt traffic, in any case, it requires exertion. Another huge region of the system are informal communities. Long-range informal communication locales are valuable for the little firms which endeavor to benefit from the potential prospects on Facebook, Instagram, and suchlike. Those systems require a great deal of exertion to comprehend and organizations need to deal with standard substance sharing on the off chance that they need to exploit them.

The last piece of the strategy is about Micro – social stages for constant correspondence like, for example, on Twitter. This component remains on the highest point of a pyramid and assumes a significant job for the business world nowadays. (26-29.) As detailed by Jantsch (2011), regardless of the way that the procedure for the accomplishment of Social Media Marketing goals is normal, the strategies required vary contingent upon the case organization. For example, a few associations should begin with a Facebook page, while different ones need a Twitter account from the outset. The analyst guarantees that it is basic for little organizations to know precisely the proper behavior in each progression of the social showcasing movement. Just all things considered the procedure will be viable. (56-57.) As far as the goals of Social Media Marketing are concerned, Jantsch recommends the accompanying pyramid model: To conclude, an organization can pick whether to pursue a social advertising sensible movement or act in consistency with a goal structure, the thought is to decide the strategies and work as per the picked procedure.

As per Schaffer (2013, 11), Social Media Marketing can be advantageous for businesses paying little respect to its size. The researcher asserts that little and medium-sized organizations can benefit considerably more from utilizing the internet and get the most extreme focal points from it. In spite of the way that Social Media accomplished its fame rapidly, around 91% of advertisers in 2014 asserted that Social Media Marketing was an essential component of their organization’s systems (Social Media Examiner, 2014). The creator will right off the bat examine the upsides of Social Media Marketing. These days shoppers utilize the internet not exclusively to assemble the fundamental data about the item or service, yet additionally to connect with its maker and different buyers just as to share their encounters.

The point of the web is to bring issues to light among the clients and these days long-range of interpersonal communication destinations, for example, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram help organizations to build their image acknowledgment and make effective promotion. (Kotler and Armstrong 2014, 78.) Wilson (2010), claims that particularly few organizations can benefit from Social Media Marketing, instead of the customary one. For example, one of the advantages of Social Media Marketing is that it empowers an organization to achieve an immense number of potential clients in a brief time frame. Moreover, the web permits to contact of buyers legitimately and effectively, just as to connect with them. Internet Marketing gives a chance to fabricate dependable client connections by requesting purchaser input and reacting to the requests of the customers. (8-13.)

In addition, one of the advantages of the internet is its minimal effort with regards to achieving the objective clients in contrast with conventional media, for example, papers or TV. So as to publicize on customary media an organization needs to make immense speculations while utilizing the web for this reason for existing is free. To the extent littler organizations are concerned, it may be an issue for them to put a lot of cash in promoting, which is the reason utilizing Social Media Marketing is useful all things considered. (Shoeless, Szabo, 2010, 89-90.)

As indicated by Barefoot and Szabo (2010, 92-93), Social Media Marketing gives an incredible chance to the R&D team to gather buyer criticism on items and administrations, so as to address the errors and increment consumer loyalty. Notwithstanding that, utilizing online life for promoting purposes empowers little undertakings to lift brand mindfulness and make generosity. The report of Ohio State University (2015) states that associations effectively utilizing online life stages have increasingly faithful clients. The figure underneath delineates the advantages of Social Media Marketing:

• Figure: Showing the benefits of Social Media Marketing
• Figure: Benefits of various platforms

Notwithstanding all the positive countenance of Social Media Marketing, it is critical to make reference to that it additionally has its defiance. As detailed by Rohm and Weiss (2014), utilizing Social Media Marketing requires adequate information in that circle and a reasonable technique. So as to prevail in Social Media Marketing only making of Facebook or Instagram records isn’t sufficient. Improvement of a Social Media Marketing procedure is a tedious and complex procedure requiring exertion. So as to be effective in utilizing online networking for showcasing purposes it is critical to make posts with connecting with data and deal with a record via web-based networking media every day. What is more, Drury (2008, 25), asserts that Social Media Marketing requests a totally better approach for client correspondence. While in customary media the key idea is to move the data about the firm to the client, Social Media Marketing suggests a correspondence between the dealer and the purchaser, just as a trade of thoughts. Correspondingly, little-measured organizations need experts who have learning and abilities in purchaser correspondence or contract online life advisors. One more test of Social Media Marketing is that occasionally customers share their great as well as their awful encounters utilizing informal organizations. In this way, it is critical to respond rapidly to negative client remarks and make a move so as to avoid potential outcomes, for example, harm to the organization’s notoriety. (Schaffer 2013, 100-101.) The graph beneath delineates the difficulties of utilizing Social Media for Marketing.

• Figure: Disadvantages and challenges of Social media marketing

In spite of the way that Social Media Marketing has its drawbacks, it very well may be valuable and powerful for the business execution of a little association. In any case, authorities should be prepared to contribute time and work on an organized web plan so as to make progress.

Tools & Platforms

These days, the significance of digital platforms emerges as a driver of conveyed advancement and speeds the imagination for future developments (Esposito De Falco, Renzi, Orlando, and Cucari, 2017, pp 1345). A stage is a steady type of sharing an advancement system and its point is to acknowledge and quantify developments. They talk about that there are two sorts of stages which are pioneers and complementors. Pioneers could be those organizations that drive and make advancements from various separate bits of innovation while actualizing one whole piece. Complementors are the individuals who spotlight on building up a stages market.

Scholars as Sedera et al. (2016) clarify that Digital Platforms play a basic job in the IT foundation and their objective is to encourage developments to their qualities including preliminary capacity, ease, simplicity of support or decreasing the obstructions in associating with different advances. These started attributes give the capacity for associations to use and accomplish advancements. They are otherwise called the embodiment of advancement favoring advances, where development boundaries are relied upon to be at a negligible level. Model for development boundaries could be money related or HR.

Facebook

Facebook is a web-based social networking apparatus where individuals and organizations can trade, share and assess data (Jin, 2015). At present, it is evaluated that Facebook is the most positioned site on the planet with an inexact number of 1.1 billion clients (Judd, 2014). In Facebook, individuals can likewise post data that can be loved, remarked on, or shared by different clients enrolled in a similar social stage (Schmidt, Zollo, Del Vicario, Bessi, Scala, Caldarelli, Stanley, and Quattrociocchi, 2017). The preferences offers, and remarks can be characterized as a substantially followed dispersion. For instance, by sharing, individuals demonstrate a longing to spread news to other individuals in this stage. At the same time, a remark can open an aggregate discussion where individuals can expand the cooperation between one another. Subsequently, new connections can be constructed. As indicated by Leek, Canning and Houghton (2016), Facebook is one of the most regularly utilized stages in B2B advertising, while the B2B organizations utilizing the stage, frequently interface with individuals they know (Zsolt and Miklos, 2014).

Instagram

While Facebook and LinkedIn are web-based platforms where organizations search and target new business clients, Instagram is where organizations and clients trade data predominantly with pictures. In any case, Instagram is a site whose design is to feature on viable pictures which individuals can use for communicating and sharing feelings to other people (Tobin and Chulpaiboon, 2016). Instagram has a great many dynamic clients month to month with a few million shared pictures and recordings. A similar report accepted that Instagram outwardly can speak to everything that one organization needs to give or express to its business clients. That is the reason, there are numerous organizations that think about that Instagram is a significant apparatus that can draw in clients and individuals can construct connections by imparting close interests and insights.

Notwithstanding, conversely Andersson and Wikström (2017) consider clarify how Instagram use in B2B organizations had been trying because of controlling the brand of the organization. Moreover, a similar report talks about the significance of using Instagram for sharing general substances and afterward utilizes the input from partners to further make the common substance.

In general, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram are the most widely recognized web-based platforms where B2B organizations endeavor to procure new clients (Judd 2014, referred to in Baruffaldi et al., 2017). The reason of that comes because of the enormous number of clients who show enthusiasm to work in those three (3) computerized instruments (in the same place). For instance, Facebook enables individuals to have direct associations to one another by effectively sharing data and making remarks (Schmidt et al., 2017). At the same time, LinkedIn is a business stage where individuals trade business sentiments to one another (Baruffaldi et al., 2017). At long last, Instagram gives a passionate inclination to the clients by sharing pictures and indicating outwardly what the B2B organization works with (Tobin and Chulpaiboon, 2016). Be that as it may, by and large, the development of advanced stages is demonstrated as a viable component that decreases vulnerabilities and institutionalized communitarian practices. (Esposito De Falco, et al., 2017). It is viewed as that advanced stages can possibly trigger development in associations, encouraged by their preliminary capacity and cost viability (Sedera et al., 2016).

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify a relationship between social media marketing through artists and consumer buying behavior if any. The focus was on the feasibility to marketers and the medium i.e. social media artists, its impact on consumers. Data were collected through questionnaires and quantitative as well as the descriptive analysis was applied. It was found that a significant relationship exists between a social media personality endorsing a product and the consumers buying the same. There is potential for marketers to explore this medium as currently, it is beneficial to all parties involved, as seen in this and previous research.

Introduction

In the recent trends seen in marketing, with respect to India, we observe a twin development; growth of entrepreneurs and start-ups on one hand, and growth of local art forms, small artists and various social media platforms that help talent reach millions. This has led to the development of social media marketing, not just through direct advertisements and the use of big data, but also through indirect marketing wherein companies collaborate with small celebrities and reach millions, to considerable effect. The viability and whether these methods prove strategically effective are, however, questionable.

The popularity of such marketing, currently, is commendable. In recent times, the need for mobile phones by each and every person has led to access to social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and so on; through which brands are advertised and/or endorsed in the most creative ways. Studying this will be helpful for businesses to assess their gain and exploit the consumers and customers. For instance, consumers can be the children who use the products bought by their parents, who will be customers who purchase the products.

A marketer will want to know the feasibility of social media marketing to increase their productivity and market value through lowered costs. A social media artist will want to attract more consumers through their high following in their channels and endorse the marketers’ brands. These social media artists impact consumers directly or indirectly, in their purchasing decisions, frequency of product usage, and brand loyalty aspects.

Hence the very foundation of this research was established from all these perspectives.

Literature Review

A whirlwind of digitalization, networking and internet use in the last decade has affected all spheres of life. The buzzword in the midst of all this, social media, is also an ideal ground to reach millions at once. Product placement, aggressive advertising and even non-profit marketing is done through social media, in fields such as medicine (G Radu, 2017). This new platform has certain key factors, such as emotional connection, time management, extreme caution, and constant change. It is a fast game, with low cost, surprisingly high results and clearly high (reputational) risk (ARCA, 2012).

Compared to online marketing and digital marketing, using a social media artist places a person to connect with a consumer and a marketer. Consumers tend to trust them more than celebrity endorsers as social media is more personal, authentic and relatable. It acts more like word-of-mouth marketing, in fact (Maoyan, 2014). Social media use by an average person is almost addictive, and can easily drive behavior. With the right mix of loyalty and incentive, almost any product can be sold to a consumer off social media (Shenbagamurthy, 2016).

From a social media person’s point of view, this type of endorsement can go both ways, similar to the marketer. On one hand, their skills can be combined with the marketer’s financing to achieve a win-win situation for both. In fact, it might help them with more followers and the marketer with brand loyalty (Lisette De Vries, 2012). So far, this developing marketing idea seems to be most beneficial to most parties involved. The key is the right management and control of the vast reach social media marketing provides.

Dangers are also part of this approach such as exploitation of artists through unpaid deals, magnified impacts of minor issues, and even loss of investment in technology if an idea fails to take off (Hajli, 2014). The exact feasibility of a marketer, how marketers see this medium, benefits to the social media artists, and overall impact on an average consumer are yet to be discussed. The occurrence of this phenomenon in the Indian context and its implications are also unknown, so far. However, the fact remains that social media is being heavily used and will be a game-changer in the near future. (Glucksman, 2017)

Statement of the Problem

The existing literature shows studies across the world, spread over multiple social media platforms. There is a research gap when it comes to India and newer, emerging social media platforms such as Instagram and Youtube. Also, research considering multiple perspectives on the same concept has not been made. This research addressed the feasibility of social media marketing to marketers and artists, and its impact on consumers.

Objectives

1. To document the motivational factors that drive social media artists to involve in indirect marketing of products through their social media space
2. To assess the perceived effectiveness and efficiency of indirect social media marketing through social media influencers for the marketer
3. To analyze the relationship of such indirect marketing with the consumer purchase behavior

Research Methodology

Data was collected through three questionnaires. One questionnaire was circulated among social media artists. Another questionnaire was distributed to analyze consumer responses. A third questionnaire was sent across to marketers. This was done to identify the flow of information and management of such marketing. All data sources were primary. Also, convenient sampling was followed.

The analysis of data was done through quantitative analysis for consumer data namely Chi-square through CrossTabs using IBM-SPSS software. Descriptive analysis was adopted for marketer and social media artist responses.

Scope of the study

The consumer and social media artist respondents for this study are mainly between the age group of 15-30 years, across income levels. The three companies contacted have a global, national, and local reach respectively, and an age span of 25 to 100 +years. The responses were predominantly from Bangalore. The results of this study are applicable to all parties in the consumer product industry considering the growing use of social media as a viable platform for marketing.

Analysis and Findings

I) Feasibility to social media Artists

The questionnaire was sent to artists who have popularity at both regional and national levels. The total responses retrieved were six, out of which the responses were received to the extent of 50% from male and 50% from female social media artists. It was found that most of them (nearly 33.33%) are in the age of 21 years and the rest of them are evenly spread across the age bracket of 19-29 years. The other findings were:-

• 83.35 of them were found to use Instagram as their medium of communication to endorse the products to the consumers and the rest were using Youtube. It is interesting to note that none of the artists used mediums like Facebook or Twitter which were considered to be one of the most important tools of social media marketing in the studies or research conducted during the time 2010-2015.
• The study revealed that the field of education is not related to their current job of being social media artists. It revealed their interest of being an entrepreneur rather than working a monotonous job.
• The motivational factors that have driven the artists into the social media handle were predominantly their personal interests and the other accompanying factors were the increasing number of technology users and the purpose of knowledge sharing.
• Though all the media artists from whom the responses were recorded were artists who were involved in the promotion of products, it was surprisingly shown that almost 66.7% of them were not paid for such endorsements.
• It further shows that 66% of such artists have signed a contract with the company for such endorsement, specifically those who were paid.
• The most popular form of promotional techniques that are used by these artists are Instagram videos, giving free gifts, conducting contests, and conveying positive comments about the product. This creates curiosity amongst the consumers to use the product.
• It was found that these artists further act as a point of contact to communicate with the marketers for future purchase decisions.
• Before endorsing such products, almost 83% of the population sample agreed that they were given complete information about the product.
• The study revealed that consumers do not unsubscribe from social media artists’ channels even if they are dissatisfied with the products that were endorsed by them.
• It can be concluded that such product promotions, which are taken up by artists do not super cede or divert them from the original content ideas in social media space, rather the promotion becomes a part of their usual media content.

II) Feasibility to marketers

The marketers contacted to provide a range of products, mainly consumer goods such as accessories and lifestyle products. All three marketers, namely Swatch, Titan and Al-Sham used social media marketing. Previously, they followed traditional means such as hoardings, TV commercials, magazines, newspapers, and radio advertisements. The source of identifying social media marketing as a medium was equally spread across competitors, internal research, external reports, and consumer feedback.

The findings were:

• The marketers mostly target high-income youngsters between the age group of 15-28 years.
• The unanimous factor for selecting a social media artist is followers
• Incentives are mostly discount codes and subscriber giveaways
• All contracts with such artists were for a year or less
• Cost of marketing is comparatively lower
• Surprisingly, marketers see this as a long-term strategy and not a temporary plan
• Objectives of these marketers for using social media marketing are split up between market expansion, product launches, cost cutting, and customer relationship management.

III) Impact on the consumers

Table 1.0 gives a perspective on the division of people following/not following social media artists and purchase/nonpurchase of products influenced by them. Invalid responses were due to respondents not having ever used a product endorsed by a social media artist.

There were a total of 155 respondents for this part of the analysis. A quantitative analysis using IBM-SPSS software was conducted. Keeping ‘following a social media artist’ as an independent variable, the following findings were arrived at.

Since the P value is 000 for Pearson Chi-Square, there is a significant relationship between social media following and influenced purchase as well as social media following and use of products promoted by social media artists.

An open-ended question was provided to get a deeper understanding of the such influence on social media marketing and has been summarised as follows – People follow them for the reason that they are likable for their skills, talents, and acting. One of the respondents feels that some celebrities as well as industrialists are genuine and will not indulge in unethical promotions. They also feel that these artists have higher credibility in terms of their following which are in large numbers. Another respondent, from a tech-savvy perspective, feels that unboxing videos provide a better reference when purchasing an electronic gadget; which social media artists often put up as posts. They also believe that the products advertised by them are the products that they prefer, so they perceive it to be of good quality.

Conclusion:

As far as social media artists are concerned, it is found to be feasible for them to endorse such products offered by the company, especially paid artists. But as far as India is concerned, the process is still found to be in its nascent stage of development. This could probably be a profitable avenue for budding entrepreneurs to try and explore social media marketing. Both global and domestic marketers consider this type of product endorsement through social media artists as an effective long-term strategy and find it to be a cost-effective measure of promotion.

From the consumer front, it is evident from the findings that there is a substantial relationship between the social media following and the influence that the artists have on consumers’ buying decisions. There is a relationship between social media following and the usage of products that are endorsed by social media artists.

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Introduction

The onset of the 21st century brought about increased integration of digital technology in businesses around the world. This extraordinary development has changed industries worldwide and created more entrepreneurs, investors and business altogether in a short amount of time. Rapid digital technological advancements and the increasing accessibility of the internet to the critical mass has revolutionized businesses. As a matter of fact, it has become important for businesses to recognize the significance of incorporating digital technology and the internet in their marketing plan or simply adopting electronic marketing (e-marketing). E-marketing is the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), computer networks, and the internet in marketing activities (El-Gohary, 2010).

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is an e- marketing strategy which involves utilizing social media platforms and websites to advance marketing efforts (Dehkordi, et al., 2012). According to (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), social media is defined as “ a group of applications based on the internet that build on technological and ideological foundations of web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of content generated by users”. This study provides a brief background on social media marketing, delineating how it may enhance market growth in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with the theme being based on Finders Keepers Zambia. The study further assess how social media marketing could improve sustainable competitive advantage, business performance and profitability with regard to market growth in SMEs.

Background of the Study

Finders Keepers Zambia is an independent clothing shop which started in 2017 and is located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is a for-profit SME that sells both contemporary and vintage second-hand clothing. In Zambia, shopping from second-hand clothing outlets was previously considered to be for the frugal and less fortunate members of society. This is because second-hand apparel is cheap, from stalls located in local markets and run by sellers who are not formalized. Finders Keepers Zambia has taken advantage of the internet to establish a formalized version of this business model and created a ‘Click and Mortar’ store.

Social media has become more popular and accessible over the past decade which has created possibility for the businesses to reach the market, interact with consumers and create relationships with them. The rise of social media use has rapidly created more online stores, click and mortar stores, and has transformed traditional brick and mortar stores into click and mortar stores because (Dehkordi, et al., 2012). Unfortunately, the majority of the businesses that have capitalized on online presence are large corporation, however, this does not indicate that it is impossible for SMEs to take advantage of social media to boost market growth. humbleness

Research Problem

It is challenging for most SMEs to thrive and maintain being sustainable because they often lack the resources of their larger, already established competitors. It is essential that SMEs have a marketing plan to administer the marketing function of the business in order to cement their place on the market and acquire market share. Social media marketing is a fairly new concept of marketing making it difficult for businesses, particularly new and small businesses, to know how to navigate it. Businesses have to create a social media marketing plan which is to be part of the overall organizational marketing plan. This research seeks to determine the relationship between social media marketing and market growth, attempting to understand the best ways for SMEs to exploit social media marketing.

Justification for the Research

The significance of this study is to assess the implications of social media marketing on SME market growth in Zambia. The outcomes of this study provide insight on the different strategies SMEs owners and managers utilize to acquire potential consumers, connect with them and develop long-term customer relationships via social media marketing. The study will further provide preliminary understanding on how SMEs can use social media marketing to gain competitive advantage, optimize business performance and compel profitability. Additionally, the outcomes of this study will highlight the benefits of employing social media marketing in SMEs.

Research Aim, Question and Objectives

The study undertakes the following:

Research Aim

The study aims to improve the understanding of how social media marketing can be integrated and utilized in SMEs for the promotion of market growth. The theme of the study is based on SMEs in Zambia using Finders Keepers Zambia to illustrate relationship between social media marketing and market growth.

Research Objectives

1. To establish the profitability of social media marketing in SMEs.
2. To identify the benefits of social media marketing for SMEs.
3. To determine how SMEs can exploit social media marketing to boost competitive advantage.
4. To establish how social media can be used to optimize business performance.

Research Questions

1. Is social media marketing profitable for SMEs?
2. What are the benefits of social media marketing for SMEs?
3. How can SMEs exploit social media marketing to boost competitive advantage?
4. How can social media be used to optimize business performance?

Research Hypothesis

• H₀: Social media marketing can promote market growth in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.
• H₁: Social media marketing cannot promote market growth in Small and Medium Enterprises.

This study is based on the H₀ (null) hypothesis.

Research Scope

This research focuses on the on effect social media marketing has on market growth. It was conducted in order to assess how SMEs can leverage social media marketing to enhance market growth. The study makes use of at data from Finders Keepers Zambia and any other available data which proved to be authentic and significant to the study taking into account the time frame from 2005 to 2020.

Research Contributions

This study intends to improve the existing knowledge base, as well as, attempt to provide a platform for further research on the relationship between social media marketing and market growth in SMEs. Additionally, the outcomes of this study will aid SMEs in Zambia by guiding them on the best strategies to implement to exploit social media marketing for market growth.

Research Design

The research design applied to this study is explanatory. It will encompass assessing and reviewing information to determine the impact that social media marketing has on market growth in SMEs. The study will mutually utilize research techniques which are qualitative and quantitative.

Research Approach and Method

The research will have an inductive approach making use the existing knowledge. The study will comprise of information collected between 2005 and 2020. If need be information dated earlier than 2005 is used it will be intended for the background of the study. The study will utilize a combination of qualitative and quantitative data ensuring that non-statistical and statistical data is conjointly employed to support the research findings and final outcomes of the study.

Data Collection and Analysis Techniques

The study will make use of both quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments such as questionnaires and interviews respectively, to collect the necessary information, for the purpose of determining solutions for the research questions of the study. The study will also make use of information generated directly from Finders Keepers Zambia. The data collected will be assessed in an explanatory nature as the information required to establish the interaction among the variables of the study are centered on social media marketing and market growth. The data collected will be summarized and illustrated in graphical and tabular figures when necessitated

Dissertation Layout

This study consists of five chapters that are centered on the research topic.

Chapter one serves as the introductory chapter preluding the entire study, introducing the relationship between social media marketing and market growth in addition to presenting the background of the study. The chapter further presents the research aim, objectives, and questions. The justification of the study and the problem statement are also exhibited in this chapter.

Chapter two reviews the literary works and any other relevant literature that has preceded this study on assessing social media marketing and market growth. The chapter consequently provides gaps realized in the aforementioned literature. The chapter is reliant on secondary data.

Chapter three focuses on the methodology of the research, therefore giving an account of the research design, research methods and strategies the researcher applied in the study. The chapter further discusses data analysis approaches, sampling techniques applied, as well the selected sample size.

Chapter four confers and analyses the findings of the study to deduce results. Graphical illustrations such as graphs, charts and tables are then used to present the deduced results. Additionally, the chapter provided feedback from data collected in previous chapters to respond to the research questions.

Chapter five concludes the study giving conclusive details and recommendations for future research based on the findings in the study. Additionally, chapter five outlines the implications and the limitations of the study.