Chapter 5

Social Community
 Learning Objectives
 How do social networking communities enable user
participation and sharing?
 Why is engagement a goal of brands using social
media marketing? What are the benefits of
engagement?
 In what ways can brands utilize social networking
communities for branding and promotion?

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Figure 5.1
The Social Community Zone

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 Social Networks

A social network is a set of socially relevant

nodes connected by one or more relations.

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Social Network Domination
Around the World

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Diffusion of Innovations
Diffusion of Innovations theory given by Roger
presents characteristics of innovative products that
explain the rate at which people are likely to adopt
these new options.
Example: Facebook Messenger

Observabilit
Relative Compatibilit
y and Simplicity ADOPTION
Advantage y
Trialability

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Characteristics of Social
Networking Sites
Social networking sites typically vary in terms of
three important dimensions:
1. Audience and degree of specialization
2. The social objects that mediate the relationships
among members
3. Degree of decentralization or openness

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Audience Specialization
 Social networking sites can be internal or external.
 Internal social network provides a method of
communication and collaboration that is more
dynamic and interactive.
 Example: N-Square by Nissan, TownSquare by Microsoft,
BeeHive by IBM, Backyard by Yahoo.
 External social network is open to people who are not
affiliated with the site’s sponsor.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Social Objects and Passion-
Centric Sites
 Sites designed around sociality, the ability of an object
to inspire social interaction, are known as Vertical
Networks.
 They emphasize some common hobby, interest, or
characteristics that draws members to the site.
 They do not attract same traffic as general sites but
members are more involved.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Decentralization

 As social media sites are continue to proliferate

around the web, how to manage all of this new
activity?
 How to let people easily access multiple sites and to
understand where they go and why?

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Openness and Identity
Portability
 Many SNS require new members to register.
 Information of membership is valuable for
 Member management
 Product development
 Promoting the site
 Utilizing the member data for other purpose
 Complaints about the lack of centralized communities
have given rise to the terms social networking fatigue
and social lock-in.
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Openness and Identity
Portability
 Problem of social network fatigue and social lock-in is
similar to Switching Cost.
 How social media minimizes the switching cost
problem?
 Identity Portability (OpenID)

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Openness and Identity
Portability
 Open Source
 OpenSocial Code (By Google)
 API (Application Programming Interface)

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Engagement

What does it mean to engage?

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 Engagement
• From a customer perspective, engagement means
customers’ behavioral manifestation toward a
brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from
motivational drivers.
• When customers are engaged they:
• Exhibit Positive word of mouth
• Provide recommendations
• Help others make decisions
• Blog…….
• They become brand ambassadors
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 Engagement
• Brand will develop brand fans.
• Brands can develop fans by helping them move
from lower levels of engagement to higher ones.
• The higher the engagement the more positive
outcomes of the brands in terms of
• Positive word of mouth
• Enhanced perceptions of brand equity
• Sales

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Brand Fans
• Brands participate in Friendvertising
• Friendvertising means a brands use of social
networking to bild earned media value – and
puposefully cultivate Brand Fans.
• www. Socialbakers.com – To search for brands
free social statistics area.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Characteristics of Social Fans
 Emotional engagement
 The object is meaningful in the emotional life of the fan
 Self-identification
 The fan personally and publicly identifies with like-minded fans
 Cultural competence
 The fan has a critical understanding of the object, its history, and
its meaning beyond the basic functionality.
 Auxiliary consumption
 The fan collects and consumes related items and experiences
beyond the basic object
 Production
 The fan becomes involved in the production of content related
to the object.
Marketing Applications
 Social presence
 Earned media
 Paid media

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Social Presence: Brands as
Relationship Nodes
 Brands may create a brand profile within selected
social networking communities. In this way, the brand
acts as a node in the network’s social graph.
 The fan base is an indicator of the brand’s success in
establishing a known presence within a community.
 Return on emotion (conceptually) assesses the extent
to which a brand has delivered a value in exchange
for the emotional attachment fans have awarded it.
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Social Presence:
Brands as Relationship Nodes
 Brian Solis, author of Engage, recommends that brand
managers build the brand’s social media persona on a
foundation of 8 decisions
 What are the brand’s core values?
 What social objects illustrate the values?
 What has the brand promised?
 What are the aspirational attributes?
 What traits are associated with the brand?
 What opportunities exist?
 How brand align with the company’s culture?
 What stories bring the brand to life?
Travelocity’s Roaming
Gnome

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Earned Media

 Brands earn value in social media when

 they engage customers over time (Relationship Marketing)
 they encourage consumers to interact with the brand and share
those interaction with others.
 The Earned Reach (the breadth and quality of contact
with users) gained when people share positive brand
opinions and branded content with others is invaluable.
 Brands Talk
 @menshumor: This morning I gave birth to a
food baby and I think @tacobell is the father.
 @tacobell: I want a DNA test.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Real-Time Marketing (RTM)
 It is a kind of social media conversation on the
fly.
 Brands post messages that resonate with the
moment, whether the moment is planned or
spontaneous.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

Real-Time Marketing (RTM)

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 Paid Media in Social
Communities
 Social ads are online display ads that incorporate user data in the ad or in
the targeting of the ad and enable some form of social interaction within
the ad unit or landing page.
o There are three variations on social ads:
 A social engagement ad contains ad creative (image and text) along
with an option to encourage the viewer to engage with the brand
(e.g., clickable “Like” button).
 A social context ad includes ad creative, an engagement device, and
personalized referral content from people in the viewer’s network.
 Organic social ads are shared on a person’s activity stream following
a brand interaction (such as liking the brand).

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Native Advertising

Paid advertising based on a form unique to

the vehicle within which it is placed.

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Figure 5.2 Relationships Among Media

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 Is The Brand Ready for
Social Communities?
 Is the brand set up for engagement?
 If the brand participates in social media, where should the brand
be?
 How can the brand’s profiles be developed in such a way as to
reflect the brand’s personality?
 If “fan pages” exist among brand loyalists on social networking
sites, how can the brand leverage fan sites to better meet its
objectives?
 How can the brand integrate its social network presence into
other campaign components?
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Recap and Questions
 How do social networking communities enable
user participation and sharing?
 Why is engagement a goal of brands using social
media marketing? What are the benefits of
engagement?
 In what ways can brands utilize social
networking communities for branding and
promotion?
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Recap and Questions
 What social activities are the focus of
participation in social communities?
 How can brands create identities in social
communities?
 What are the types of social networks in social
media?
 What are the characteristics of social ads? How
effective are the social ads?
Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015
 Recap and Questions
 How can brands engage consumers in social
communities?
 What is earned media? How do brands
encourage earned media with their social
networking activities?
 What are the characteristics of brand fans?

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015

 Discussion
 Is it a good thing to “friend” your professors?
Why or why not?
 Are Facebook friends the same as real friends?
Are Facebook fans are real fans? Discuss.

Social Media Marketing, 2e © Tracy L. Tuten and Michael R. Solomon 2015