Relevanceof Socialmediainmarketingandadvertising

Splint_International_Journal_Vol-3_Issue No-7_2016
RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING AND

ADVERTISING
Sajjad Husain
Research Scholar
Mewar University
Chittorgarh, Rajasthan
Dr. Ali Ghufran

Asst. professor
Dept. of Administrative and Financial Sciences
Oman College of Management and Technology
Barka, Sultanate of Oman
Mob: 00968-91254514
E mail: dralighufran@gmail.com
Dr. D.S. Chaubey

Dean, Research & Studies
Uttaranchal University, Dehradun
Email.chaubeyds@gmail.com, MO-9411712859
Abstract
The social media has witnessed an exponential growth in the new millennium. n the present
information age the social media marketing has become a part of doing business. Marketing
with Facebook has been hot for quite a long time but recently more and more companies have
been using Twitter and other social media for marketing. Social media marketing, or SMM, is a
form of internet marketing that implements various social media networks in order to achieve
marketing communication and branding goals. Social media marketing primarily covers
activities involving social sharing of content, videos, and images for marketing purposes, as well
as paid social media advertising. According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that
social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts
increased traffic to their websites. And according to Social Media Examiner, 97% of marketers
are currently participating in social media—but 85% of participants aren’t sure what social
media tools are the best to use. With this into mind present research work focus on the Relevance
of Social media in marketing and advertising. The study conducted based upon the data
collected from the literatures and from other multiple secondary sources of evidence. After doing
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the extensive literature survey and reading books and other support material it was found that
social media is increasing its horizon and motivation large number of consumers as well as
marketers and manufacturers to use it as an important source of important dissemination and
conformation. There is need to promote these program and make them aware and prepare them
to face the challenge of change. To keep pace with the flow of the global economic challenges, it
is needed to develop foresightedness and take initiatives in managing the social media program
and enhance its relevancy. Some of the suggestions based on the study is also presented in the
paper.
Key words: Social Media Marketing(SMM), Face book, Tweeter, LinkedIn, social media
program, etc
Introduction
Over the last few years, social media has systematically graduated from a place where people go
to catch up and engage in chitchat with friend and colleagues to the holy grail of marketing for
most businesses, as well as a place where entrepreneurs and professionals signup to network.
Recent research shows that the role of social media on marketing decisions is startling, meaning
it is time companies started putting more emphasis on their social media strategy. It is quite
unfortunate that many businesses and organizations dive into the social media bandwagon
without a clear strategy. As a result, they end up disappointed. However, there is an
overwhelming evidence that social media, if approached correctly, can be a goldmine—where
companies can increase brand awareness and influence buying decisions of their following.
Quite simply, social media is a peer influencer when it comes to making buying decisions, as
71% of consumers are likely to purchase an item based on social media referrals. Another study
carried out by Hubspot reveals that 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media
marketing was important for their business, with 80% indicating their efforts increased traffic to
their websites. And according to Social Media Examiner, 97% of marketers are currently
participating in social media—but 85% of participants aren’t sure what social media tools are the
best to use.
The Internet and the use of social media have fundamentally changed the consumer decision
process. In the past, marketers worked on the assumption that consumers started with a large

number of potential brands in mind and methodically narrowed their choices until they had
decided which one to buy. After purchase, consumer relationships with the brand typically
focused on the use of the product or service itself.
Social media has evolved through many generations and eras, it has been defined in various ways
by different authors, researchers as well as academia. Some argue that it stems from the very
early forms of interpersonal communication via email, while others solely accept it as the more
recent form of social interaction on social media sites. Despite all the different arguments that
exist regarding social media, extant academic literature on the topic is rather sparse. That being
said however, the topic of brand perceptions has been studied and researched in depth in both the
academic and corporate worlds. The understanding of brand perceptions has been the source of
many debates which has resulted in a wealth of literature to draw on for this research study.
Human beings are social and nowadays, consumers are participating in variety of activities, from
consuming content to sharing knowledge, experiences, opinions, and involved in discussion with
other consumers online (Heinonen, 2011). Today, with the growth of Internet, online social
networks have become important communication channels and also virtual communities have
emerged. Consumers belong or admire different online groups generally and those groups are
able to change their purchasing decisions behavior (Solomon, et al, 2010). According to Evans,
et al (2009) joint decision-making is defined as, consumers are taken their decisions within the
environment around them such as environment of family, friends, and coworkers. In traditional
way, consumers make their purchase decisions base on information that they received through
mass media (e.g. advertising, newspaper, television comment), but nowadays, online social
networks can have power to affect consumers’ purchase decision (East, Wright& Vanhuele,
2008).
Nowadays, consumers have taken a role for spreading opinions through online social networks
such as Facebook rather than being message receivers from marketers (Sinclaire & Vogus,
2011). On the online social networks, consumers can share experiences, opinions, and
knowledge therefore they can interact easily with one another through online social networks
(Huang & Chen, 2006). Online interactions and recommendations influenced consumers’
product choices (Senecal and Nantel, 2004). The research study by Hennig-Thurau and Walsh

(2003) showed that, there are five factors of reading online opinions (interaction with other
consumers) that influence consumers’ behavior in terms of purchasing and communication:
• Obtaining buying-related information (reduce risks)
• Social orientation through information (consumers can evaluate and compare between
different products)
• Community membership (consumers belong and admire different online social networks)
• Remuneration (consumers like prize and award)
• Learning about new products’ consumption
Online social networks provide a place for consumers where they can share their product
opinions either positive or negative with one another in social interaction (HennigThurau,
Gwinner, Walsh & Gremler, 2004). It means they can share their own recommendations,
opinions and compare their experiences with other consumers (Kim & Srivastava, 2007). A
recent research by Edison (2011) on American users of online social networks showed that about
52 percent of Americans have at least one or more social network profiles. The research also
showed a quarter of online social networks users follow their favorite products, companies and
services on these online social networks sites, that 80 percent of them used Facebook companies
and brands pages. The finding can showed online social networks have become a product
information source.
Review of Related Literature
Chung and Austria (2010) postulate that Social media includes various methods of online
communication such as social networking, user-sponsored blogs, multimedia sites,
companysponsored websites, collaborative websites as well as podcasts. This definition includes
just about the entire scope of the activities that a majority of individuals who participate in online
communications would be involved with.
Dutta (2009) further reiterates this point by stating “it’s no secret that social media—global,
open, transparent, non-hierarchical, interactive, and real time—are changing consumer behaviour
and workplace expectations.” It is becoming increasingly difficult and in some cases, impossible

to follow traditional communication structures of non-transparency and hierarchy when people

communicate via social media platforms. This is particularly true of business communication.
Consumers now have more access to information than they ever had before.
Over 50 per cent women who access the internet in India have said that internet research
influenced their decision before finalising a product, Google India's 'Women & Web' study
reveals. In terms of the most researched category and influence on final purchase decisions,
internet influence was the highest for skin care products, with over 72 per cent of the surveyed
women admitting the influence. Baby care (with 69 per cent) and hair care (with 65 per cent)
products were the other categories that scored high in terms of influence of the internet. In an
study titled “Digital & Social Media in the Purchase Decision Process,” on 2000 shoppers of US
conducted by ARF it was found that roughly one-third of shoppers were either introduced to a
brand or product, or changed their opinion about a brand or product during the buying process,
because of social media. What’s more, 22% of shoppers surveyed by the ARF said that social
media was “important in my final purchase decision.” "There have been doubts about the
effectiveness of social media for business because the link between a firm's efforts and the return
on investment hasn't been established," Bezawada in his study on title” Social media pays off for
businesses “ states that when customers engage with a business through social media they
contribute about 5.6 percent more to the firm's bottom line than customers who do not
The unique aspects of social media and its immense popularity have revolutionized marketing
practices such as advertising and promotion (Hanna, Rohn and Crittenden, 2011) Social media
has also influenced consumer behavior from information acquisition to postpurchase behavior
such as dissatisfaction statements or behaviors about a product or a company. (Mangold and
Faulds, 2009)
Electronic media have transformed consumers, societies, and corporations with wide spread
access to information, better social networking and enhanced communication abilities (Kucuk
and Krishnamurthy, 2007). The social media network link millions of users from all over the
world with same interests, views and hobbies. Blogs, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook are
examples of social media that are popular among all level of consumers. (Sin, et al., 2012) Users
are using several online formats to communicate, (e.g., blogs, podcasts, social networks, bulletin

boards, and wikis) to share ideas about a given product, service, or brand and contact other
consumers.
Many marketers believe that the organizations should aggressively promote only one advantage
in the market concerned (Moise, 2011) and social networks in the online environment allows
them to appear more attractive to consumers. The much higher level of efficiency of social media
compared to other traditional communication channels prompted industry leaders to state that
companies must participate in Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and others, in order to succeed in
online environments (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
Communication of brand / company and users help create a favorable or less favorable image of
other users who read information posted and consider them in the information or purchase.
Interactivity with target brand in social media is perceived differently by consumers depending
on the message they convey (Shin, 2008). The perceived risk of purchasing and how much
money are willing to pay for a product also determines the user to think more about the quality
and the utility of the product.( Ioanas, 2012)
Consumers use social networks in daily life for various reasons. Most of them want to maintain
relationships with relatives or colleagues/friends. Maintaining interpersonal connectivity
between online users of a social media channel has benefits derived from establishing and
maintaining contact with other people in a manner of giving social support, friendship, and
intimacy. Shopping has always been a social experience and social networking allows consumers
to interact with individuals—many of whom are likely strangers when we talk about online.
Cultural aspects have an influence on consumers’ usage of social networks and a great impact
over the online purchase intentions. (Pookulangaran et al., 2011) Currently, ecommerce can be
done through social media, and it enables to reach to more potential buyers. Due to the
advantages of social media in connecting businesses directly to end consumers, in a timely
manner and at a low cost (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010), has been seen that a great influence on
customer perceptions and behaviors (Williams and Cothrell, 2000), and has been brought in the
center of attention in different industries in the last few years
Social media campaigns should not just be considered as a separate entity. It's effectiveness in
B2C marketing especially can be enhanced with other marketing methods. This example in

particular shows how to effectively tie in offline promotions with social media marketing. The
underlying strategy with Estee Lauder's "Lets Play Makeover" campaign is thus to use social
media as the major point of purchase, but at the same time, offer alternatives for users to make
purchases, ultimately allowing them to fully engage with their products and services whichever
way they prefer. 24 Proctor & Gamble’s Olay brand was another successful story in pioneering
of cosmetics category of products to explore the use of online interactions through such sites. It
rolled out an online interactive diary for the Olay Regenerist anti-ageing skincare brand in 2006.
The diary provided detailed information on the skin each week for the first eight weeks of
product use, taking the consumer through the process, as the effects of the product were not
immediately visible. Research conducted post this activity revealed that Olay had produced a
four to six times higher intent to purchase among the target group, with 78% of the sample
saying they had purchased the brand within the last year. According to a report by Stylophane
(2010) “if a user joins the fan page as a result of viewing an advert, this action is logged on the
advert itself, which means friends of the user can see this action, prompting them to also become
a fan of the brand.”
The consumer decision journey begins with the consumer's top-of-mind consideration set:
products, services or brands assembled from exposure to ads, a store display, an encounter at a
friend's house, or other stimuli. In the funnel model, the consider stage contains the largest
number of brands; but today's consumers, assaulted by media and awash in choices, often reduce
the number of products they consider at the outset. Off-line channels such as television
advertising, in-store browsing and direct word of mouth are at their most influential at this stage,
but as the consumer moves from consider to evaluate, the Internet plays an increasingly
important role. The model proposed by McKinsey has been modified slightly here to include the
"Zero Moment of Truth" (ZMOT), a term recently coined to describe the new reality where
marketers have to compete for shoppers' attention online long before a purchase decision is
made. At this stage, consumers' outreach to marketers and other sources of information is much
more likely to shape their ensuing choices than marketers' efforts to persuade them.
Social media campaigns are increasingly being used at this early consideration stage to drive
traffic to websites. An example was earlier this year, when Hilton Hotels and Resorts joined
forces with The Onion, the satirical news website, to attract young professionals to its hotels,

with a unique social media campaign. Onion Labs, the creative services arm of the publishing
company, helped Hilton create a website, vacationcarecenter.hilton.com, that allowed users
diagnose their vacation needs and receive customized prescriptions for visits to Hilton hotels to
cure what ails them. Onion Labs also created cartoons to be shared by social media that
represented humorous ailments that afflict workers in need of a vacation. The site contained a
"global vacation alert level," a real-time, interactive map that showed differing levels of need for
vacations in respondents' home countries, as well as vacation research by Hilton, dating from
1989 to 2013. The new Hilton Web site was promoted to The Onion's 4.5 million Twitter
followers and 2.2 million Facebook fans, and was also featured on the in-room television channel
in the brand's hotels, and in brief Hilton ads on Facebook and Twitter.
Twitter itself is increasingly being used as a stand-alone marketing tool to generate awareness for
a tourism product or service. The Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) won a marketing award
in 2009 for a wine tourism promotion called "Vintage Tweets" - a cutting-edge public relations
effort that utilized social media to promote wine tourism in Virginia. VTC organized Vintage
Tweets in September of 2009 in Arlington to kick off October Virginia Wine Month. The state
tourism agency used Twitter to target media, bloggers and consumers who were passionate about
wine travel, live in and around Washington, D.C., and had significant number of Twitter
followers. VTC used Twitter to invite 40 of those consumers to a wine reception, featuring six
different wineries from across the state. The guests tweeted about their wine tastings and also
took part in Virginia Wine Travel Twitter trivia. In total, Vintage Tweets was able to reach over
43,000 consumers in just 24 hours, providing key facts and travel ideas to potential visitors from
across the country.
Social Media and Information Evaluation
At the evaluation stage, consumer outreach to marketers and other sources of information is
much more likely to shape their ensuing choices than marketers' efforts to persuade them.
Companies are no longer the unrivaled experts on the attributes or quality of brands and
products. Online reviews of hotels or cruise lines, for example, play an important role during the
evaluation stage. Where they appear directly on travel company websites, they represent an
opportunity for the company to address negative comments and mitigate the impact, while
positive reviews represent cost free, compelling advertising.

Such customer to customer communication also takes place indirectly on blogs such as
travelblog.org or review sites that link to social media such as Tripadvisor.com. In fact, blogging
websites can be an effective tool to reach consumer during this evaluation stage. Tourism
Queensland capitalized on the popularity of blogs in 2009 when they embarked on a global
search to find an Island Caretaker to explore the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
and report back to the world about their experiences via a blogging platform. The campaign was
called the 'Best Job in the World.' With a salary of AUD $150,000 on offer, over 34,000 would-
be caretakers from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between uploaded a 60-second
video showing their creativity and skills. The job went to a charity worker from England, who
was still, in 2011, reporting via blogs on his adventures. The campaign generated $80m of global
publicity for an investment of just $1m.
Having a presence in an online virtual world is another social media opportunity for marketers to
showcase their services. An example is Second Life, an online world with a million active users
and a thriving virtual economy. Second life allows its users to create a new, and improved,
digital version of themselves. Retailers have set up shops to sell digital as well as real world
versions of their products, and even musicians can promote their albums with virtual
appearances. Starwood Hotels and Resorts created an elaborate digital prototype for a new chain
of hotels called Aloft before the first real hotel opened in 2008. Projects like Aloft are designed
to promote the venture but also to give its designers feedback from prospective guests.
An online brand community can be another effective social media tool for marketers to leverage
at this evaluation stage. Research on brand communities has found that commitment to a brand
can be influenced (positively) by encouraging interactions with groups of like-minded customers
and identification with the group in social context offered (and sponsored) by the firm and the
brand, but controlled and managed primarily by the consumers themselves. A good example is
the Walt Disney World Moms Panel. This is a forum where online "Moms" answer questions
and offer advice about family vacations to Disney. The "Moms" are selected to be panelists
because they have demonstrated an excellent knowledge of Disney products. Being familiar with
the parks, resort hotels, dining and entertainment, shopping, and recreational activities, they can
offer the help and tips consumers need when planning their vacations. Panelists receive a trip to
the Walt Disney World Resort for their participation and in 2012 the Panel boasted 43 panelists

whose expertise spanned Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club,
Adventures by Disney and Disneyland Resort offerings. The Moms Panel offers guests vacation
insights on a variety of platforms including exclusive "How-To" videos from panelists and
celebrities, dedicated Facebook content, personal Disney Parks Blog posts and in-park meet-ups.
Social Media and Product Purchase
Point of purchase - which exploits placement, packaging, availability, pricing, and sales
interaction - is an ever more powerful touch point. For hospitality marketers, this 'buy' stage is
often likely to occur online, given that the travel sector accounts for around a third of all global
e-commerce activity. It has been suggested that companies should avoid hard selling on social
media sites, but for many tourism marketers, social media platforms are fast becoming more than
a customer relationship tool. Many hotels for example, now offer room-booking technology on
their Facebook pages, which is leading to incremental sales. Westin Hotels & Resorts for
example, introduced in 2011 a 'Shop' tab on its properties' Facebook pages. The shopping widget
serves as a fully contained shopping transaction, instead of working as a link from Westin's
website. Bolongo Bay Beach Resort in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands also sports a unique,
free-standing booking engine on its social-networking site; an engine that has proved to be very
successful.
Social media and Reinforcement
Interestingly, after purchase, a deeper brand connection begins as the consumer interacts with the
product and with new online touch points. For example, McKinsey found that more than 60
percent of consumers with facial skin care products conduct online research about the products
after purchase - a touch point not entirely captured in traditional purchaser funnel models of
communication. Vail Resorts have capitalized on this 'enjoy, advocate, and bond' stage with their
new EpicMix social media campaign for skiers. The idea of Vail's EpicMix is to track activity on
and around the mountain via radio frequency scanners installed at the 89 lifts across Vail, Beaver
Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Heavenly. The scanners interact with the RF-enabled chip
embedded in season passes and daily tickets, listing lift rides, vertical feet skied and days on hill.
Special accomplishments - like clocking up 10,000 vertical feet - are recognized with collectible
digital pins which can be instantly flaunted on Facebook after downloading the EpicMix app.

Users can also create colorful collages, mixing professional photos with their own snapshots, any
pins they have won and snow reports or resort stats - effectively designing their own promotional
postcard to commemorate their holiday. This gaming option won Vail a Webby award in 2011.
One relatively new social media platform that is helping tourism and hospitality businesses
engage with consumers in this enjoy, advocate and bond stage is the emergence of geo-location
sites such as Foursquare, Gowilla and Loopt. Foursquare encourages consumers to broadcast
their whereabouts (or 'check-in') in exchange for discounts or coupons etc. Foursquare recently
hit one billion check-ins. People use the Foursquare app on their smartphones to check in to
places like music festivals, restaurants, pubs and hotels, and just about any other type of physical
and even nonphysical location. Once they check-in, users often share that information with
friends, families and followers on Facebook and Twitter. Foursquare users compete for badges,
points, and "mayorships," awarded to those who check in to a place most frequently. Business
owners claim their venue on Foursquare (for free) and reward people simply for checking in, for
checking in a certain number of times, for checking in with friends, or they reward the person
who checks in the most (the "mayor"). For example, Chili's Grill & Bar, a national restaurant
chain in the U.S., rewards its customers with free chips and salsa every time they check in.
Chili's makes money on the deal because customers don't walk into Chili's just for free chips and
salsa and leave. They order appetizers, entrees and drinks.
Dutch Airline KLM used Foursquare as part of an innovative social media campaign that focused
on random acts of kindness. The airline's 'How Happiness Spreads' campaign of 2010 employed
a 'Surprise Team' to give passengers tailored, unexpected gifts at the airport. When passengers
checked in at KLM's Foursquare locations, the KLM Surprise team used social networks such as
LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to find out information about the passenger. The KLM Surprise
team then used this information to come up with a personalized gift to surprise the passenger
with. The team followed up after surprising a passenger by monitoring the conversation
generated on social networks by that person and their friends. They also took photos of the
people they had surprised and posted them to the KLM Facebook page. KLM has previously
proven its social media savvy with a popular Facebook application allowing users to create
luggage tags using their Facebook photos.

Brand communities were mentioned as an important influencer in the evaluation stage of the
consumer decision journey, but because brand community members have a strong interest in the
product and in the brand, they can also be a valuable source of innovation.
Virgin Atlantic Airways uses social media opportunity to gather insights to drive continual
incremental improvements. For example, in response to online-community suggestions, it
launched a system to arrange taxi sharing on arrival with passengers from the same flight. Fresh
insights from social media also reinforce the innovation aspect of the brand. Facebook
interactions helped the company appreciate the extensive planning that goes into a big trip, so
they launched Vtravelled, a site dedicated to inspirational journeys. Customers moderate the
conversation and exchange information, stories, and advise. The site leads to some sales, but its
main benefit to VAA comes from brand reinforcement and new customer insights.
Other tourism organizations are using social media at this final stage to respond to consumer
complaints. Southwest Airlines for example, who has 1.2 million Twitter followers, has a team
of 10 staff from communications and customer relations that monitors the account from 5am to
11pm, hours in which the airline operates (Holmes, 2011). At least one person from each unit
monitors the account, fielding questions about lost baggage, delayed flights and misplaced drink
coupons. If someone tweets a complaint to @SouthwestAir, the reply may come from the team:
"So sorry to hear about your lost luggage. Have you filed a claim? Any progress yet?"
So what we see is that as consumers progress through the four-stage decision journey, consumer
driven marketing - word of mouth, online research, offline and/or print review - has increasing
impact. Social media therefore make the 'evaluate' and 'advocate' stages increasingly relevant.
Organizations profiled above like Hilton, Disney, Vail Resorts, Virgin and KLM are embracing
social media to good effect. However, social media still accounts for less than one percent of an
average marketing budget, and research to date suggests that the majority of tourism and
hospitality companies are not engaging consumers in a meaningful way using this platform.
Perhaps instead of focusing on how to allocate spending across different media (television, radio,
online etc.), marketers should be targeting the various stages in the decision journey. A large
proportion of the marketing budget is usually spent on the 'consider' and 'buy' stages, yet insight
from this article suggests that consumers seem to be influenced more during the 'evaluation' and
'enjoy-advocate-bond' stages. Marketing efforts therefore that help consumers navigate the

evaluation process and then spread positive word of mouth about the brands they choose can be
as important as building awareness and driving purchases. Those companies that do engage with
consumers on a consistent basis using social media will find that such engagement can be used to
reinforce strength and durability for a brand - and eventually lead to increased sales.
Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Research
In conclusion, research indicates that retailers can increase awareness of their brand by being
creative when engaging customers on social media sites. “As more shoppers are using social
media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn) and rely on them for marketing
shopping decisions, promotion through these media has become important” (Shankar et al. 2011,
32). According to Curran et al. (2011), social media sites such as Facebook are better than other
advertising avenues because it stores information on all its users thus ensuring marketing reaches
a retailer’s specific target market. Social media sites are a great stage for retailers to create an
experience and retailers can use information stored on social media sites to improve user
experience with their brand. Further research establishes that a firm can benefit from social
networks to predict the likelihood of purchase intention. This can be done by taking into account
a firm’s choice of network (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest etc.) and by examining that
network’s data. Assessing a network’s data substantially improves a company’s marketing
efforts because it provides the company with vital information on the network’s users, which
helps determine the best social media tactics for that particular site. Based on several study, it
can further be argued that knowing which social media sites a company’s target market utilizes is
another key factor in guaranteeing that online marketing will be successful.
Since social media sites can be exploited for the information it provides on consumer behavior
with regards to their purchasing intentions, research further suggests that businesses should
incorporate social networking sites into their business model or promotional mix. A business
model is a system of codependent structures, activities, and processes that serve as a firm’s
organizing logic and create value for customers, itself, and its partners (Sorescu et al. 2011).
Mangold and Faulds (2009) recommend that social media should be regarded as an integral part
of an organization’s integrated marketing strategy and should not be taken lightly.

Moreover, research based on a small retailer’s perspective is limited. How have smaller firms
utilized social media within their business model? How successful has social media been with
increasing their customer base, brand awareness, and sales? It has become clear that when
marketers from large corporations present a new product or brand, they consider both traditional
and nontraditional media in which to place advertising in order to make sure they reach their
target market (Cheong and Morrison 2008). Small retailers also need to start utilizing
nontraditional methods of marketing in creative and engaging ways to make certain that they
attract a larger number of consumers. Sorescu et al. (2011, 11) states “another way in which
retailers can engage customers is by selling not just products, but an entire experience that while
centered on the products, adds an entirely new exciting layer to the retail setting.”
Additional research is warranted regarding which social media marketing tactics are effective for
small retailers. Further studies could look into both the positive and negative longterm effects of
social media marketing on a small firm. Small retailers have a smaller budget and tighter
constraints yet provide more personal retailing, therefore a study examining how these aspects
factor into a small store’s social media tactics would be beneficial. Studies should also suggest
how small retail businesses could initiate and maintain social media marketing to improve
relationships with their customer base. To stay relevant retailers need to keep up with the
changes to ensure that they will be noticed by consumers, reinforcing the fact that moreresearch
would be valuable to all parties involved: retailers, marketers, and scholars. “Anyone who’s not
engaged in some form of social media is [making] a mistake in today’s world given the volume
of people [who have] embraced and utilize social media” (Le Veque as cited in Gonzalez 2010,
84). Social media opens up a whole new world for small retailers by providing an endless array
of potential interactions with consumers, which is the main reason why there is a need for an
increase in studies examining the impact of this new phenomenon on small retailers.
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Splint_International_Journal_Vol-3_Issue No-7_2016

RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING AND

Dr. Ali Ghufran

Dr. D.S. Chaubey

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

• Obtaining buying-related information (reduce risks)

• Remuneration (consumers like prize and award)

• Learning about new products’ consumption

Review of Related Literature

Splint International Journal of Professionals

to follow traditional communication structures of non-transparency and hierarchy when people

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Social Media and Information Evaluation

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Social Media and Product Purchase

Social media and Reinforcement

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Research

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

Splint International Journal of Professionals

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