The Use of Social Media in the Consumer Society
Introduction
The digital age is characterized by the integration of social media in business and personal interactions. Companies have recognized the role of social media in increasing brand awareness and maintaining customer engagement. Social media enables companies to establish relationships with their customers by exchanging information about a product or service through feedback and reviews. Social media marketing enables companies to use social media applications to support traditional marketing by creating an interactive environment where customers can share user-generated content. Companies can also leverage user-generated content to forecast changes in consumer behavior and make appropriate changes to their products and services to increase customer satisfaction. Social media marketing applications in the business environment continue to hang based on the changes in technology and the advancement of social media sites. This paper reviews the current trends and practices in social media marketing, the implementation of social media marketing, and the practical application of social media marketing in the tourism and hospitality industry.
Current Trends and Practices
Social media is a tool that companies use to reach customers and effectively advertise products and services. According to Priya & Madan Mohan (2021), customers are demanding engaging brand experiences through augmented reality, live video, photos, and 360 videos. Brands have responded to this need by using augmented reality in their marketing campaigns. Customer receptivity and impression are also expanding. This has created the rise of storytelling in marketing to convince customers about a product’s or service’s benefits. Storytelling is classified as on-the-go and lean back and forward (Kreutzer et al., 2014). On-the-go is a short form of nonlinear content such as GIFs, animated banners, and cinematographic. Lean forward includes medium-sized or short content such as product listings, infographics, lead generations, and canvases shared as targeted Integra or Facebook content. The leanback includes social extensions and interactions with premium content.
The second major trend in social media marketing is using influencers, especially celebrities and models. According to Costello (2020), influencers focus on a segmented group of customers with whom they share the same interests to gain their trust and convince them to purchase a product or service. They serve as opinion leaders in different fields, thus prompting consumers to rely on or seek opinions to inform their purchasing decisions. Companies also use memes to catch their audience’s attention on social media platforms. Malodia et al. (2022) define a meme as a cultural form of communication relayed from one person to another. Companies are also using trending topics to market their brands. For instance, trending topics on Twitter are used as hashtags to catch the audience’s attention. Another trend is the use of marketing campaigns to engage customers and get their insight about a product or service before it is released. This trend is mainly applied by companies and brands in the technology sector. Other trends will likely emerge with technology development and new social media platforms.
Research: Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is a promotion strategy that uses social networks to share images and videos to engage customers and actively meet marketing goals. One of the elements of social media marketing is an audience persona. Brands are required to create a persona that speaks to the target audience based on the audience’s demographics, such as age, gender, and income levels. The persona should consider the customer’s fears, interests, needs, and behaviors. The second element is marketing objectives and goals. Social media marketing content is designed based on the goal the company or brand wants to achieve. The most common goals include generating leads, increasing brand awareness, and getting website traffic. The goals may be changed based on the changes in customer behavior. The third element is the budget. Social media marketing requires determining the amount of money allocated to each social media platform. Companies may focus on social media platforms that expose them to a wide customer base despite the costs incurred. The main factors to consider in budgeting include analytics tools available for different social media platforms, paid promotions, marketing content, social media management tools, and the efforts used to engage customers. The fifth element is the target market. The effectiveness of marketing is determined by the ability to appeal to the main customers. Therefore, it is important to establish the target audience so that the marketing content can be designed to appeal to them.
The rise of social media marketing has been embraced in modern-day companies to establish a relationship with customers. Many social media platforms allow customers to personalize information and preferences, thus making it easy for companies to divide their customers into different segments. The customers are then engaged through marketing campaigns that initiate conversations about a product or service. According to Kreutzer (2018), the use of social media in marketing is driven by a deep understanding of the customers. Therefore, companies use social media platforms to integrate customers, relationships, prices, and products or services. Social media is also used to create value by establishing a fit behavior of salespersons in sharing information, trust building, and customer service and social media capabilities. Companies also integrate customer relationship management in social media marketing to get feedback from customers on products and services and any concerns that may reduce the intention to purchase. Social media marketing transforms social mobilization in consumer society. Social media marketing content is vital in increasing customer awareness by answering customers’ questions about a product or service. Companies can use customer feedback to improve their products and services to meet customers’ needs and analyze customer behavior to predict their willingness to purchase.
According to Appel et al. (2019), social media marketing can take different forms. One of the main forms is the conventional Facebook model, which includes substituting the notion of a human acquaintance with a tangible product or brand by creating a Facebook page or group. This model also applies to Twitter through a social network and micro-blogging. It enables customers to receive small advertisements and updates from different brands. In addition, the model also includes using collaborative projects such as editable data sources such as blogs. Blogs enable companies to increase brand awareness by sharing information about new products and services. Blogs are also used to share information about promotions and special events. They support customer engagement by allowing customers to comment and give feedback on the content shared by a company or brand. The second form is the integration of different social media platforms to diversify social media marketing and reach a wide customer base. Companies use different social media platforms to reach customers in different demographics. For example, Instagram and Snapchat are used to reach young customers because they represent the highest population of users on the platforms. The content restrictions on the platforms also dictate the choice of social media platform. For example, YouTube only allows video uploads.
Social media represents a promotion mix. Companies use social media platforms to give customers access to information and offers. Social media also facilitates participatory promotions that effectively add a thrill to online purchasing. Companies also use social media platforms to create a buzz for brand awareness. Subsequently, this shifts the promotion method from traditional marketing, where there is a coordination of the elements of a promotional mix, to the development of a communication strategy, frequency, content, timing, and communication medium selected by a company to sustain customer engagement (Minazzi, 2014). Therefore, social media combines traditional and modern marketing, where customers interact with the company or brand to create trust rather than only focusing on advertising products and services. Social media marketing also enables brands to create long-term relationships with customers based on interactions on social media sites. For instance, brands that are active on various social media platforms establish a good relationship with their customers through regular updates and soliciting customer feedback and opinions, thus creating a sense of belonging among customers.
Further, social media marketing is derived from different insights related to business operations. One of the main insights is the presence of a channel facilitating information sharing. The channel may include different platforms linked to achieving marketing objectives. For example, Twitter updates may be shared on Facebook to increase audience reach. The presence of a channel enables a company to focus on specific customer social media preferences, thus enhancing marketing effectiveness. The second insight is the engagement profile, which includes the engagement level within a specific communication medium. A company’s presence on social media platforms is not enough; hence, there is a need to create an engagement profile by initiating interesting conversations about products and services. Besides, Gretzel & Yoo (2017) argue that combining the engagement profile and the presence of a channel creates wallflowers, butterflies, mavens, and electives. Mavens include high engagement levels across different social media platforms, while wallflowers include a small number of channels and medium to low engagement. On the other hand, butterflies involve using many social media platforms with medium and low engagement. Lastly, electives include high engagement in a few social media channels. Social media marketing also has to address the issue of the availability of an appropriate social media channel and how to communicate effectively with a specific audience.
Social media diversity makes it hard for brands and companies to maintain an active presence on all social media platforms. Therefore, they have to choose the most important platforms and actively engage customers based on the platform’s relevance in their marketing efforts. It is also important to take care of existing social media connections to maintain followers for broad brand awareness. Companies and brands must also ensure that they align their marketing activities across social media platforms to create uniformity in their social media marketing initiatives. Internal marketing significantly influences the setting of social media marketing, hence the need to align internal marketing strategies with the selected social media marketing approaches. Another important aspect to consider in social media marketing is the relationship between search engine marketing and social media marketing (Nyagadza, 2020). The role of social media is to increase online visibility, and the structure of social media platforms makes them attractive to search engine marketing. Companies and brands can create interesting content on their social media platforms to encourage users to view it, thus increasing the links to the social media page. It is also important to ensure that the marketing content is appropriate to the target audience.
Social media marketing plays a major role in influencing consumer behavior. According to Kreutzer (2018), customers use social media to look for information before purchasing a product. Social media platforms enable customers to exchange information about a product through product reviews and ratings. Customers are likely to purchase a product if it has positive reviews, thus creating a need for companies to increase customer satisfaction so that they can be positively reviewed on social media platforms. Some factors that influence the extent to which social media marketing influences consumer behavior are emotional engagement, emotional experiences, brand community, brand trust, and brand awareness. Brands create a brand community by actively engaging customers through feedback and regular updates on the company’s products and services. Social media marketing mainly influences customers who regularly use social media platforms to confirm their concerns about a product or brand. Social interaction on social media platforms allows customers to share their purchase experiences, thus influencing perceptions about a product or service. Companies may create sustainable consumer behavior by creating positive purchase experiences and applying consumer insights to improve their products.
Practical Application
The tourism and hospitality industry is rapidly growing due to the rise of different agencies and destinations offering a wide range of products and services. This has created stiff competition, prompting companies and brands in the sector to focus on social media marketing to enhance brand awareness. Social media sites used in tourism marketing encourage interaction to encourage users to share their images, opinions, feedback, and discussions about a destination or hotel. According to Tripathi (2017), social media dictates hotel reservations based on the images posted and customer reviews and ratings. Therefore, marketers in the tourism and hospitality sectors need to leverage social media marketing opportunities by creating social media platforms and designing appealing content to catch customers’ attention. Social media platforms provide information about destinations, facilities, experiences, and reviews, thus influencing a purchase decision. They also give customers different ways to interact. For instance, customers can interact by sharing their experiences about a specific destination, images of a destination, and recommendations on different destinations. Also, Gretzel & Yoo (2017) argue that the value chain of the tourism and hospitality sector includes tourism agents, country tourism boards, transport companies, tour operators, and destination managers who rely on social media to acquire customers. Therefore, social media marketing in the tourism and hospitality industry facilitates the interaction of different operators and stakeholders in the industry. This has facilitated the creation of partnerships between tourism agents, transport companies, destination managers, and hotel operators.
Moreover, according to Minazzi (2014), social media marketing increases traffic, brand awareness, and search engine marketing, resulting in increased sales. Social media platforms support the search, evaluation, discovery, and exchange of information about suppliers in the tourism and hospitality sector and other participants in the value chain. Tourists have become co-marketers, co-producers, and co-consumers by sharing user-generated content, including facts and opinions about a tourist destination. Notably, the application and influence of social media marketing strategies are essential in meeting the global demand for tourist products and services. Also, the availability and creation of internet space significantly change the tourists’ incentive to book and plan trips to different destinations. Tourist destinations increase their experience and confidence by using social media to share information with potential customers through travel blogs and social media posts. Companies in the tourism and hospitality industry are also using social media to promote and stimulate customer engagement, thus facilitating tourism awareness globally. The main advantage of using social media marketing in tourism is creating desire. Essentially, images and videos of a tourist destination may create the desire to visit the destination based on its appeal. In addition, customer comments on the images and videos may also influence desire. For example, positive comments by customers who have visited the destination may increase desire.
Lastly, conversations are vital in tourists’ search for information and decision-making. Sharing experiences through personal photos, videos, and narratives contributes to the tourism experience. According to Gretzel & Yoo (2017), personal experiences shared on social media platforms are used by those planning vacations and inspire their willingness to visit a specific destination. Therefore, social media platforms are vital in documenting and communicating tourism experiences. Tourism content is engaging and experimental, thus making it fit for social media marketing. Tourists also develop a feeling of solidarity and acknowledge that information should be shared to help improve tourism experiences. This has created a rise in virtual communities where tourists exchange information on their experiences and recommend improvement areas to enhance their experience. Social media marketing in the tourism sector can also be applied to gain insight into tourists based on feedback about a destination or the services offered by a hotel. For instance, negative feedback from a customer who was disappointed by the customer service offered can be used to identify changes that can be made to increase customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Social media marketing is vital in modern-day companies due to customers’ information-seeking behavior. The availability of different social media platforms allows companies to increase their brand awareness by posting marketing content on different platforms. Companies must also leverage current trends to improve their social media marketing efforts. For example, they may use influencers to attract more customers to the content shared on social media platforms. Companies must also consider using social media platforms to increase customer engagement by initiating conversations on interesting topics. Customer engagement is essential in developing a brand community and creating customer loyalty, which contributes to increased sales. The tourism and hospitality sector is among the industries benefiting from social media marketing. Tourists’ decision-making is influenced by the information they access on social media platforms regarding destinations. Therefore, companies in the industry should focus on creating a positive customer experience to guarantee that they get positive reviews on social media platforms. The nature of social media marketing in the tourism and hospitality industry is unique because customers are actively involved in its implementation by sharing user-generated content. Therefore, companies in the industry can leverage their relationships with customers to increase brand awareness by encouraging customers to share pictures and reviews about a destination. Although social media marketing is well-developed, there is a possibility of more advancement to accommodate the changes in consumer behavior and adapt to technological advancements that allow users to create and share different types of content. Therefore, companies need to update their social media marketing strategies regularly.
References
Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2019). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79-95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1
Costello, J. (2020). Influencer marketing. Influencer Marketing, 286-301. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429322501-21
Gretzel, U., & Yoo, K. (2017). Premises and promises of social media marketing in tourism. The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Marketing. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315858265.ch36
Kreutzer, R. T. (2018). Social media and social-media-marketing. Social-Media-Marketing kompakt, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-21147-9_1
Kreutzer, R. T., Rumler, A., & Wille-Baumkauff, B. (2014). Trends im online marketing. B2B-Online-Marketing und Social Media, 243-245. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04695-8_6
Malodia, S., Dhir, A., Bilgihan, A., Sinha, P., & Tikoo, T. (2022). Meme marketing: How can marketers drive better engagement using viral memes? Psychology & Marketing, 39(9), 1775-1801. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21702
Minazzi, R. (2014). Mobile social media marketing in tourism. Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality, 127-135. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05182-6_5
Minazzi, R. (2014). Social media impacts on travel suppliers: Social media marketing. Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality, 77-126. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05182-6_4
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Question 
Assignment Content
Review Principles 3 and 4 of Arizona’s Language Development Approach for an overview of the purpose and importance of targeted and explicit language instruction and assessment feedback. Understanding these principles will help you complete this week’s assignment.
The Use of Social Media in the Consumer Society
Complete Option 1: Reading Lesson or Option 2: Writing Lesson, below.
Option 1: Reading Lesson
After reviewing your class’s English learners’ AZELLA score reports, you have decided to conduct a small group reading intervention with a few of your English learners. You will be planning a Targeted ELD lesson for a small group of English learners at the pre-emergent/emergent level. Your lesson should focus on a foundational reading skill (phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, or fluency).
Select an elementary grade level (K-5).
Access the following ELP Standards for your chosen elementary grade level:
Arizona English Language Proficiency Standards Kindergarten
Arizona English Language Proficiency Standards Grade 1
Arizona English Language Proficiency Standards Grades 2-3
Arizona English Language Proficiency Standards Grades 4-5
Review the Reading Foundational Standards and choose a reading standard and at least 1 sub-skill (a, b, c, etc.) to focus your lesson on. As you review the standards, remember that the ELP standards are on the left column and the ELA standards are on the right column. You also will link your lesson to the ELA Reading standards.
Review ELP Standards 9 and 10 as well, and determine if any of these language standards/sub-skills apply to your lesson. Remember, ELP Standards 9 and 10 are language standards that focus on vocabulary and grammar.
Note: The lesson template requires coding for the standards. Please refer to this document for assistance with coding the standards.
ELPS Coding Guidance Document.docx
Please let Cindy know if you have any problems with this file.
In the documents for the Arizona content standards:
Arizona History and Social Science Standards, Arizona Science Standards, or Arizona Mathematics Standards, guidance for coding these standards is provided.
For an example, please see p. 9 of the History and Social Science Standards, K-2.
Create a 20- to 30-minute small-group lesson (Targeted ELD) that will assess your chosen standard(s) and include differentiated instructional strategies to support your English learners.
Use the Reading Lesson Template to complete your lesson.
The steps that you provide in your lesson should be sufficiently detailed that another educator could teach this lesson without asking you for clarification.
Avoid the use of worksheets.
Avoid round robin and popcorn reading.
Any clip art included must be copyright free.
This lesson must be your own creation. Do not use or adapt a lesson from a website or any other source, including sources such as Teachers Pay Teachers, Course Hero, etc. Do not submit a lesson plan that you already submitted in another University of Phoenix class.
Submit your assignment as ONE .doc or .docx file. No multiple files. No .pdf files. No zip files. No URL (link). No other file types.
Rubric for this assignment:
sei504_v4_Wk5 Targeted Lesson Rubric.pdf
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