Executive summary
The highly competitive business environment requires business establishments to adopt innovative approaches to market their goods and/or services (Smith & Zook, 2011; Sterne, 2010; Tuten, 2008; Zarrella, 2009).
This report recommends that the business under discussion should use the platforms of social media to market its products. It contains the objectives, findings, analysis, conclusion, and recommendations. It draws on the information that is contained in various journal articles and books to discuss critical aspects vis-à-vis social media marketing.
Objectives
The main problem that is experienced by many companies across the world is the increase in competition from rivals (Gillin, 2008; Hettler, 2010). Thus, it would be critical for the management teams to utilize the most effective strategies to market commodities.
It is critical to underscore that better sales correlate with an increase in turnover (Borges, 2009; Evans, 2010; Evans, 2012). Thus, two objectives would be adopted. First, the firm would aim at using the right content to attract future buyers. Second, the management would focus on enabling customers to access products using various mobile devices.
Findings
Companies choose online marketing platforms based on their objectives and the ease with which they can manage the approaches. The following table summarizes the commonly applied tools on social media:
Figure 1. A table showing the main groups of social media tools and their levels of applications.
It is evident that owners of modern communication devices, such as tablets, consume more news on their gadgets (Hanna, Rohm & Crittenden, 2011). However, the number of those who purchase products on their devices stands at 41.4%, while the number of those who research products stands at 80.8% (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). There is a relatively high likelihood of online consumers becoming repeat buyers of goods and services.
Analysis
Online marketing tools
From the findings, it can be learned that Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the most commonly used online platforms of advertising and marketing (De Vries, Gensler & Leeflang, 2012). Each platform is mostly used by different categories of people and/or future buyers. For example, Facebook is preferred by the young people, while Twitter and LinkedIn are applied by the middle-aged professionals (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Communication devices
It is evident that modern purchasers are using high-tech devices, such as tablets, to access news about firms and products that would help them to make informed decisions. Online information is important in enabling companies to sell significant volumes of their goods.
Buying behaviors
The fact that online marketing encourages repeat buying behaviors could be a benefit to companies because their products would register improved sales. Although, only 41.4% of online users purchase goods on the internet, the percentage can be improved by utilizing more innovative strategies (Saravanakumar & Suganthalakshmi, 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that the use of online platforms to market products is gaining popularity across the world. This has been mainly supported by the well-developed firms’ websites. Future buyers of commodities access product information that is on websites. The new knowledge gained from this report is that firms have the potential to increase their sales using various online tools to market goods.
Recommendations
Based on the findings highlighted in this report, the management of the firm should adopt the following suggestions:
- Identify the main market segment that would lead to improved sales. This would be critical because demographics are the main determinants of customers’ purchasing behaviors.
- Utilize online tools that can be applied with a lot of ease by future buyers.
- Conduct regular evaluations to assess the level of success of marketing on the internet.
References
Borges, B. (2009). Marketing 2.0: Bridging the gap between seller and buyer through social media marketing. New York, NY: Wheatmark, Inc..
De Vries, L., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: an investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26(2), 83-91.
Evans, D. (2010). Social media marketing: the next generation of business engagement. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Evans, D. (2012). Social media marketing: An hour a day. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gillin, P. (2008). Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-charge Your Business!. Fresno, CA: Linden Publishing.
Hanna, R., Rohm, A., & Crittenden, V. L. (2011). We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem. Business horizons, 54(3), 265-273.
Hettler, U. (2010). Social media marketing. Berlin, Germany: Oldenbourg Verlag.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2011). Two hearts in three-quarter time: How to waltz the social media/viral marketing dance. Business Horizons, 54(3), 253-263.
Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), 357-365.
Saravanakumar, M., & Suganthalakshmi, T. (2012). Social media marketing. Life Science Journal, 9(4), 4444-4451.
Smith, P. R., & Zook, Z. (2011). Marketing communications: integrating offline and online with social media. London, United Kingdom: Kogan Page Ltd..
Sterne, J. (2010). Social media metrics: How to measure and optimize your marketing investment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Tuten, T. L. (2008). Advertising 2.0: social media marketing in a web 2.0 world. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Ward, B. (2011). Social media marketing. Boston, MA: Data-Becker.
Zarrella, D. (2009). The social media marketing book. Sebastopol, CA: ” O’Reilly Media, Inc.”.