The Effectiveness of Social Networking in Marketing: with Special Reference to Facebook

The Effectiveness of Social Networking in Marketing: with Special Reference to Facebook

Miss U. Geetha MBA, M Phil.

Mr. Subramanian. R Mr. Tomin Pious

Department of Management Studies PSNA College of Engineering and Technology

Dindigul.

Abstract Online Social networking sites have become popular and unavoidable element in our everyday life. These sites have a great influence in each individual personal life, where traditional are converted to trend in recent period because of social networking. Not only in personal life, these social communities are more interrelated to modern business environment. These influences have given great opportunities to organisations to concentrate on a new vision of marketing their products and services than their traditional method. In India marketing through social network has grown rapidly high and its importance is increasing day by day because the number of internet users as of June 2017 is 462.14 millions, which is the second largest country in data consumption. Social Network (Facebook) provided many tools like pages, groups and ads which can be used by any one for marketing. These tools are widely used and promote the enterprises in all possible means. Even though they have certain limitations, Facebook provide powerful customer targeting options where users can customize and hide ads as per their requirements. This paper present a detail study on the effectiveness of social marketing with special reference to Facebook , and their contribution to the growth of enterprises.

Keywords Social media, social media marketing, facebook, facebook marketing , benefits of facebook marketing, facebook marketing strategy. Introduction (Heading 1)

1. INTRODUCTION

   Social networking has become buzz in recent technological era. The trending social media sites vary a lot across different countries and demographics based on different level of usages. Social network are reaching their peak worldwide. By 2017, it was found that 71 percent of internet users were concentrating on social network than using it for just surfing and these figures are expected to increase . Social networking is one of the most powerful online activities with high user involvement rates and with expanding Smartphone usages. North America stands number one among regions where social media sites are highly popular, with an usage rate of 66 percent. In 2016, United States population had a social media profile with more than 81 percent. As of the Q2 of 2016, U.S. users use 61 weekly minutes via PC, spend more than 215 weekly minutes on via Smartphone, and 47 minutes per week via tablet devices on social networking sites.

   The increased usage of Smartphones and mobile devices

   across worldwide has opened the possibilities of mobile social networking sites with increased features such as location-based services like Foursquare or Google Now. Several social networks are available for different mobile OS as mobile social apps, whereas some networks have been optimized and customized for mobile internet browsing, which enable users to flexibly access and visualize blogging sites such as Tumblr or Pinterest via tabs.

   With over 1.86 billion monthly active users, social network Facebook is currently the market leader in terms of reach and scope. This site has been re shaping the social media landscape and peoples mindset towards online social network since its launch and has been an key factor in discussions about users privacy and differentiating between the private and the public online services. Social networks not only enable users to communicate beyond local or social boundaries, but also offer possibilities to share user-generated content like photos and videos and features such as social games. Social advertising and social gaming are two major points of revenue for social networks.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA

   Social media are computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. The variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available introduces challenges of definition; however, there are some common features:

   • Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.

   • User-generated content, such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions, is the lifeblood of social media.

   • Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.

   • Social media facilitate the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

   Users typically access social media services via web- based technologies on desktop, computers, and laptops, or

   download services that offer social media functionality to their mobile devices (e.g., Smartphones and tablet computers). When engaging with these services, users can create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content or pre-made content posted online. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations, communities, and individuals. Social media changes the way individuals and large organizations communicate. These changes are the focus of the emerging fields of techno self studies. Social media differ from paper- based media (e.g., magazines and newspapers) or traditional electronic media such as TV broadcasting in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy, and permanence. Social media outlets operate in a dialogic transmission system (many sources to many receivers). This is in contrast to traditional media which operates under a monologist transmission model (one source to many receivers), such as a paper newspaper which is delivered to many subscribers, or a radio station which broadcasts the same programs to an entire city. Some of the most popular social media websites are Baidu Tieba, Facebook (and its associated Facebook Messenger)

   , Gab, Google+ , Myspace , Instagram , LinkedIn

   , Pinterest , Tumblr

   , Twitter, Viber, VK, WeChat, Weibo, WhatsApp, Wikia, Sna pchat, . These social media websites have more than 100,000,000 registered users.

   In America, a survey reported that 84 percent of adolescents in have a Facebook account. Over 60% of 13 to 17-year-olds have at least one profile on social media, with many spending more than two hours a day on social networking sites. According to Nielsen, Internet users continue to spend more time on social media sites than on any other type of site. At the same time, the total time spent on social media sites in the

   U.S. across PCs as well as on mobile devices increased by 99 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 66 billion minutes in July 2011. For content contributors, the benefits of participating in social media have gone beyond simply social sharing to building a reputation and bringing in career opportunities and monetary income.

   Observers have noted a range of positive and negative impacts of social media use. Social media can help to improve individuals' sense of connectedness with real or online communities, and social media can be an effective communication (or marketing) tool for corporations, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, including advocacy groups and political parties and governments.At the same time, concerns have been raised about possible links between heavy social media use and depression, and even the issues of cyber bullying, online harassment and "trolling". Currently, about half of young adults have been cyber bullied and of those, 20 percent said that they have been cyber bullied regularly. Another survey was carried out among 7th grade students in America, which is known as the Precaution Process Adoption Model. According to this study, 69 percent of 7th grade students claim to have experienced cyber

   bullying and they also said that it is worse than face to face bullying. However both the bully and the victim are negatively affected, the intensity, duration, and frequency are the three aspects that increase the negative effects on both of them.

3. FACEBOOK

   Facebook is a social networking service and website started in February 2004. As of September 2012, Facebook has over one billion active users. Users may make a personal profile, add other users as friends, and send messages. Facebook users must register before using the site. The name of the service comes from the name for the book given to students at the start of the school year by some universities in the United States. These books help students get to know each other better. Facebook allows any users who are at least 13 years old to become users of the website. Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The website's membership was only for Harvard students at first. Later it included other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It eventually opened for students at other universities. After that, it opened to high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. Based on ConsumersReports.org in May 2011, there are 7.5 million children under 13 with accounts. This breaks the website's rules.

   A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users. Entertainment Weekly put the site on its end-of- the-decade "best-of" list. It said, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook? Quant cast estimates Facebook had 138.9 million monthly different U.S. visitors in May 2011. According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 about 41.6% of the

   1. population had a Facebook account. Facebook's growth started to slow down in some areas. The site lost 7 million active users in the United States and Canada in May 2011 relative to previous statistics.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

   Social Media Marketing makes use of social media sites to raise visibility on the Internet and to promote products and services. Social media sites are useful for building social (and business) networks, and for exchanging ideas and knowledge. Social media networking is part of a trend known as Web 2.0, which refers to changes in the way users and software developers use the Web. It is a more collaborative use of the Web that enhances creativity and knowledge exchange. It is a more interactive and user-driven way to help users participate and collaborate over the Web through open applications and services. It is critical, therefore, that content is accessible to the user; the user should be able to create, share, remix, and repurpose content. Technologies that are accessible and

   affordable like Ajax (a method of building interactive applications for the Web that processes user requests immediately) and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) support Web 2.0 principles such as user empowerment. Social Media Marketing uses podcasts, wikis, blogs, folksonomies, online videos, photo sharing, news sharing, message boards, and posts on social networking sites to reach a large or targeted audience.

   We Humans are essentially social animals. Communication and interaction is vital for the Human society. People love to socialize and interact with one another. Internet technology has changed the way the people communicate. Gone are the days when one had to write a letter or book a telephone call to speak to a friend or relative living across the country. Today technology enables one to be in touch with friends and family across the globe instantaneously.

   Look at any individuals lifestyle today. Most often you will find people spending over two to three hours every evening on the internet chatting with friends and communicating with likeminded people. People of all ages tend to find social networking sites that deal with the subject of their interest and follow the conversations happening there. Internet being a global phenomenon, you will find people from all over the world coming together to talk and share information about their particular topic of interest. It had never been easier that this to make friends and socializing over the internet.

   When we talk of social networking we are not just referring to the chatting and other blogs and forums where people discuss certain topics. We seem to be using the social media for sharing videos, movies, music, photos and all of the information that one would want to share. Millions of viewers log into You Tube to view the latest movies, clippings etc. every minute. Similarly millions are logging into Facebook searching for friends online and sharing information about self with friends all the time. Flickr happens to be the most favorite site for photo sharing.

   When you want to know the definition or meaning of a particular word or a topic, what do you do?. It is quite likely that you will check out the Wikipedia or Encyclopedia sites online. If you follow the history of Wikipedia, it best describes the growth and power of social media. Wikipedia is a site that allows anyone and everyone to contribute topics, explanations and definitions at its site. The information so provided can be reviewed by those interested and anybody can comment or provide corrections as well as further explanations. Thus the topics are built, reviewed, changed and reformed through the collective effort of people who are interested in the particular topic. This is perhaps the best example of social media network where people come together to discuss, deliberate, communicate and create content that is useful to one and all.

   When you look at the social media marketing websites from the eyes of the marketing companies, one gets to see a huge potential waiting to be explored. Social media networks represent markets and customers who are online and

   listening. With captive audience being available, marketing companies can reach out to the prospective customers and help build opinion about their products and services as well as initiate discussion about their products with the help of those who are interested as well as those who have been customers of the company. Marketers can learn a lot and get real feedback about their product and experiences from the customers online and besides initiate interest in others who are watching and following the topic.

5. FACEBOOK MARKETING

   Facebook pages are often linked to company web pages elsewhere on the Internet; therefore, its often a good idea to use some of the same information in both places, in order to maintain a familiarity. A business page can be searched for as soon as it is up, but unlike a personal profile, you cannot invite friends through it. Business pages do not get friends, they get fansand that distinction does make a difference.

   To create an initial seed for the fan base, each member of the marketing team should begin by liking the business page on their own personal profiles; all employees, in fact, should be encouraged to join in. When an individual likes a page, Facebook immediately posts (read: advertises) this event to their profileand this activity can be seen by every one of their friends. Joe Smith lkes [this brand]. The word begins to spread.

   Every Facebook user who likes a page will get to see any content a business posts, and be notified of posts through their news feed. If they are engaged by that content, they may comment on it, or like that item; and Joe Smith commented on [this brands] status update appears on all of their friends news feeds. Additionally, they may share this content, which will post (again, read: advertise) the entire content to their own profiles, and notify their friends to come look. The company's task, then, is to encourage this process as much as possible.

   The most important aspect of Facebook marketing is consistency of communication. Creating a Facebook page and then leaving it alone will result a business nothing. To attract fans, a business should regularly post new content in a variety of different formats, so that more people will see and share the page. Content can announce upcoming promotions, spot- light specific products or people, share fun facts, provide incentive codes for discounts on products and services, and anything else that will catch the interest of fans.

   Given the way Facebooks news feed works, the recency of a post is a major factor in organizing what a user sees. The average user has more than 130 friends, and may be a fan of

   several brands, personalities, and organizations. When he or she logs in, there is no way to instantly see activity from every one of those sources. The news feed shows them posts from the friends/etc. they interact with most, and which are more recent. Therefore, a company's post is only likely to be visible on their fans news feeds for about three hours after they post it. Furthermore, depending upon the time of day they post, it is likely to be seen by entirely different portions of their fan base.

   In addition to varied content and formatting, posts should invite customers to interact and respond. Businesses should present consistent calls to action, which can be as simple as watch this, like this, or share this." Additionally, businesses can invite participation through contests and polls (which are also a way to collect market research). Such low- commitment investments encourage familiarity and affinity in their customer base. This positive relationship can be further promoted through maintaining two-way communication. In other words, when fans post a comment on content, businesses should respond. How much they respond will depend upon how many fans comment, and how much time they can commit to Facebook marketing; but the more any particular fan interacts with a page, the more likely he or she is to buy.

   Facebook may have started out as a social network for college students, but, by now, nearly everyone with an internet connection is using it. The minimum age requirement is 13, and there is reason to believe it is being used by all other age groups. Facebook doesnt publicly release data on their most popular age group, but a survey by Pew showed that social networking is most popular with the 18-29 age group. Its popularity decreases with age. It is least popular with those 65 and older.

   Facebook has three tools (pages, ads, and groups) that can be used by anyone. Each of these options has its own purpose, and they can be combined for greater reach.

   • Pages : Facebook pages are similar to profiles, but for businesses, organizations, and public figures. Users can Like a page, which means theyll automatically receive updates from that page in their news feed. Users also have the option to Like a page but not follow it. (Users also can follow some profiles.) While profiles require a mutual relationship between friends, pages can be liked by anyone, without a requirement for the page creator to accept a fan. They also dont have a restriction on the number of friends/fans they can have (unlike profiles, which are limited to 5,000 friends).

   • Ads : Facebook offers a fantastic targeted advertising platform. You can create ads targeted at

     specific geographic areas, ages, education levels, and even the types of devices used for browsing. Facebook also lets users close ads they dont like and Like a page right beneath an advertisement:

   • Groups : Facebook groups are similar to discussion forums, but with additional features that pages and profiles have (like a wall). You can create groups related to your industry or product offerings as a way to reach out to potential customers.

   • Tabs : Facebook allows you to use up to 10 application tabs, known to Facebook admins as the Favorites section. Photos and Likes are required tabs. You may move the Likes tab wherever you wish, but Photos must remain as the first. Your top tabs are set to a limit of four.

6. FACEBOOK MARKETING STRATEGY

   • Targeted Advertising

     Facebook gathers so much demographic information about its users, Facebook has one of the best targeted advertising programs online. We can target users based on virtually anything you might find in their profiles, as well as track your success with each segment. Ads can be run on a per- impression or per-click basis. Facebook shows us what bids are for ads similar to our requirement, so we know if your bid is in line with others in our industry. We also can set daily limits so theres no risk of blowing your budget.

   • Types of Facebook Ads

     There are a number of ad subtypes you can choose from. We can create ads that direct to your Facebook page, or to a site not on Facebook. We can create ads to promote a Facebook event, complete with an RSVP link. We can create ads for mobile app installs and app engagement. Users Can Hide their Ads. Facebook used to offer the option to Like any advertisement on Facebook. Not anymore. People can Like an advertisement (if its that type) or hide the ad. Upon closing an ad, Facebook asks the user to specify why they didnt like it. Its valuable information, providing insight into why our ads might not be doing very well.

   • Powerful Targeting Options

     As already mentioned, Facebook has some of the most powerful targeting tools of any online advertising program. We can target by virtually anything on a users profile. We might start with the location, if thats important. We can specify either city, zip code, county, or state. This works particularly well for local businesses. From there, you can choose basic demographics, including relationship status, age, workplace, education (including major and years of attendance), birthday, and much more.

     We can target ads to people who have recently moved. So, if We own a gym in Scottsdale and want to find all the individuals who recently moved to the area, We can target our ads and ad copy to those individuals. We also can target people based on their interests. Say, for example, if we have a

     product thats targeted at baseball fans. We could enter baseball in the Interests field. Or, maybe some one have written a book and they are sure that people who like another certain book will like theirs. Enter the books title under Interests, and they can specifically target those users. We even can target a private list of users. If we have a list of email addresses of people that we want to target, we can use Facebooks ads manager to target just those people. So, if we run a SaaS business and have 200 people on our prospect list, we can use their email addresses to target them with ads in Facebook.

   • Customization of Ads

     The other big advantage to tightly-targeted ads is that we can create different ads for different demographic groups. Better- targeted ads are going to gain better results. If we are targeting baseball fans, we might create individual ads for different popular teams. we could have one ad specifically aimed at Red Sox fans, one at Yankees fans, and another at Cubs fans, and then have those ads shown only to people who have indicated in their Interests that they are fans of hose teams Or, lets say we have targeted people based on their love of a particular book. we could mention that book in the ad itself to make it more likely to catch their attention. Create different ads for different books, and then target accordingly.

7. BEEFITS OF FACEBOOK MARKETING

   With more than 800 million users, Facebook is definitely the biggest social media network that the Internet has. Thats why online marketers cant ignore the potential that the social networking giant can give to businesses. In fact, more and more brands are creating their Facebook fan page to build an online presence across the Web.

   • Wider Target Customer Reach

     Although Facebook started as a social network for college students, it now has millions of users from around the globe. The largest segment of its users is ranging from 3554 years old, while the fastest-growing division of its demographic is 55 years old and above. Regardless of the age bracket of users that your business wants to target, Facebook can be a great way to reach them.

   • Multiple Marketing Platforms

     Facebook has three marketing platforms that anyone can use to promote their brand: Pages, Groups and Ads. Pages are basically free Facebook profiles for businesses, organizations and public figures. The only difference is that there are no restrictions on the number of fans that can like a companys page. Meanwhile, Groups are like discussion forums but designed in a User Wall format. The Ads, on the other hand, is the social networks paid marketing platform that helps businesses reach their customers based on their desired demographic. However, it can be very expensive depending on your business goals.

   • Specific Market Targeting

     Other than having many active users, Facebook also gathers a huge amount of demographic information from its users.

     Thats why businesses can target their desired customers based on virtually anything there is in a users profile

     .

   • Budget-friendly Ads

     Facebooks advertising platforms can run on either a per- impression or a per-click basis. The social networking giant is also budget-friendly, since it allows users to set daily limits. Depending on a business niche, it also shows users the relevant ads open for bidding.

   • Business-to-customer Relationship

   Facebook is one way to create and foster a community around a brand. It encourages a two-way discussion between the brand owners and its customers, while providing room for additional marketing campaigns.

8. CONCLUSION

Social media has fundamentally changed the way businesses interact with customers and the public at large. What started as an innovative way to approach the marketplace has become an essential tool for marketing, public relations, and customer service. But as easy as social media has made it to connect with customers, it does come with a few drawbacks. Unlike other forms of marketing, in which marketers retain control of the messaging, theres no control on social media. This can be great if people love you or your business, but it can be a disaster if they dont. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow anyone and everyone to share their opinions, which makes for interesting conversation, but can be dangerous for marketers.

Facebook has become one of the top social media platforms these days and there are numerous advantages associated with it. Not only can people use it personally for connecting with friends and family, but it has also turned out to be a handy tool for promoting and advertising a business. Facebook isnt just powerful. Its flexible. No matter what type of company we run, it has enough different marketing options where we can tailor our marketing efforts to fit our company, our budget, and our time constraints. It can take some time to get to know all of its features, but its worth it. Facebook still is growing at a rapid pace, and every day it becomes a more indispensable part of social media marketing. With its many marketing platforms and features, Facebook has proven itself to be powerful and flexible for any type of businesses. While having a business page on Facebook is very similar to owning a website.

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