Social Media Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Social Media Paper - Essay Example In the business context, social media continues to be the most used tool especially in the recent past (Lefebvre and Flora 1988, p.301). Some of the areas in business using social media as a platform to achieve goals and objectives are advertising, public relations and marketing. This is essentially because these are the very branches of the corporate world that need to come into close contact with the masses of people Research indicates that the corporate world spends billions of dollars on the social media to advertise and market their products. For example, in United States of America, the corporate world spent close to four billion dollars on the social media marketing (Hamill 1997, p. 300-323). The trend has continually changed, with exponential growth in the amount of money spent every year. Some of the social networks, for example LinkedIn, concentrate mainly on the corporate world (Ibrahim 2010, p.3-10). Here, networks are created between various business persons and firms. O ther business firms chose to use the platform for public relations by posting the videos of their CEOs giving insights about them. This means that social media is intertwined with the business world and its impact cannot be wished away. Social media brings in a shift in the concepts of reaching out to the consumers and selling the products to them. The traditional way of communication, say for example through posters, newspapers and televisions are slowly being replaced by the use of the social media (Xia 2009, p. 469 – 478). The implication to both the corporate world and the consumers is the change in the way the concepts of marketing and advertising are viewed. It is in this regard that I look at how the concepts of marketing, the consumers and the audiences have changed with the use of social media. Change in the Conceptions of Marketing, Consumers and Audiences The historical concept of marketing was that the consumers were provided with the manufacturer’s good, w hether good or bad (Zwick and Dholakia 2008, p. 318-325). However, with the social networking, it is not easy to penetrate into the market with this kind of an approach. The concept of marketing has broadened to include the processes of developing the product to its distribution. It also works closely with the research and development departments to learn on the necessary innovation on their products (Ibrahim 2010, p.3-10). The social media has therefore brought the need to have a comprehensive look at marketing. Its definition has changed to; the processes of planning and implementation of the concepts in the production chain to meet the demands of the consumer. With the understanding of how important social media is, the marketing strategies have taken a different turn (Mangold and Faulds 2009, p.357 – 365). Most of the marketers have moved to integrate marketing mix with the social media. The marketing mix includes the product, place, price and promotion. Looking into thes e four key aspects of marketing, one realizes that the concept has totally changed. For example, the products are varied and numerous. The tangible products have been modified to include the personal needs of different groups of people. The products vary in characteristics even as the characteristics of the consumers vary. In the second aspect of the marketing mix, the place, the location is now very flexible (Ibrahim 2010, p.3-10). A consumer may not have to be in a specific place as it was before. It