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Why Social Media? CHAPTER 1 Why Social Media? When an organizer for a national trade media and are interested, but they don’t show was asked, “What is the biggest know where to start. They know that the question your group has about building Yellow Pages don’t work anymore, but so- their business through social media?” his cial media can be overwhelming.”1 response was, “They hear about social If one is new to social media, there is a lot to grasp. This is a common prob- lem for both small business owners and large multinational companies when LEARNING OBJECTIVES looking at social media. This book is intended to help both students and After completing this chapter, businesses understand the social media landscape and how to approach it students will be able to: strategically. • Explain why social media is Many businesses struggle with social media because they lack a definite • • • • important • • • • plan. They start with an end in mind instead of creating a strategy and objec- • • • • • Define social media marketing • • • • © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. tives. A company might start a Twitter account or a Facebook page, but it is • • • • • • Explain the 7 myths of social • • not likely to see results unless there is a clear understanding of its marketing • • • • • • marketing • • objectives. Like any form of marketing, a strong strategic plan for social • • • • • • media is required for success. • Describe a brief history of social • • • • The advent of social media has also posed a challenge to traditional media marketing • marketing methodologies. During the recession of 2009-2010, budgets for • Explain how social media market-Social Media marketing and advertising were slashed, and big marketing firms have been ing is different forced to adjust. The job market for marketing professionals is changing (see • Identify the characteristics of a the end--chapter case study and exercise set for details). Advertising revenue successful social media marketer has increasingly moved to the Internet, with even long-time print magazines • Describe the careers in social such as The Atlantic shifting to a largely digital-based revenue strategy.2 For media marketing many firms, the focus is now online, which makes knowledge of social media marketing especially valuable for students and/or soon-to-be job-seekers. 1 80871_ch01_rev04_001-024.indd 1 12/31/11 12:22:27 PM This book is organized into two core sections: the first four chapters will lay the foundation for engaging in social media, including marketing strategy and objectives, targeting specific audiences, and the background rules of social media. The remainder of the book will encompass more detailed elements of social media marketing and how to adapt the strategy to specific platforms and international audiences. By creating a solid content plan and choosing the right tools, a business can expediently and successfully navigate to its marketing goals and objectives. Finding a Way Through Social Media With the rising number and popularity of social media sites, as portrayed in Table 1.1, lots of people are “doing” social media marketing. Some trailblazers in the field have achieved notoriety for their mastery of certain platforms and for their written instruc- tional manuals to assist others in doing the same. This textbook codifies the knowledge in the field of social media marketing, and examines the successful routes that others have already discovered. By learning about the successes and failures of others’ media strategies, a student of social media marketing can use tools that help find an efficient and effective path. With a decisive strategy, combined with knowledge of where others have gone before, it will be possible to take aim across the field of social media, and make any necessary corrections along the way. In social media marketing, businesses often start their efforts by heading in a ran- dom direction, and results take a long time or are never achieved at all. Alternately, the firm spends time trying many different approaches, and after substantial cost and effort, figures out how to accomplish its goals. Some businesses become exhausted by the jour- ney and write off social media marketing as ineffective because it is too difficult to figure out. However, with the right tools and knowledge, any business can potentially gain from social media marketing, without getting lost along the way. Monthly Google Alexa Global Social Visitors Page Traffic Media Site Category (millions)* Rank** Rank*** Facebook Social Network 700 9 2 YouTube Video Sharing Site 450 9 3 Wikipedia Wiki-based Encyclopedia 350 8 6 Twitter Microblogging Site 200 9 9 WordPress Blog Hosting Site 150 9 93 LinkedIn Social Network 100 9 13 Flickr Photo Sharing Site 90 9 36 © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. MySpace Social Network 80.5 8 124 Photobucket Photo Sharing Site 75.5 7 143 Blogger Blog Hosting Site 75 9 7 eHow Article Directory 55 7 149 Digg Social News Site 25.1 8 190 © Cengage Learning 2013 Learning © Cengage Table 1.1 Popular Social Media Sites, as of December 2011 *Estimated unique monthly visitors according to eBiz|MBA Inc. **Google Page Rank uses the number and quality of links to a web page to determine its relative impor- tance, using a scale of 0-10, with 10 indicating the highest rank and 0 the lowest. ***Alexa Global Traffic Rank estimates a site’s popularity, with traffic data from Alexa Toolbar users and other diverse traffic sources, using an ascending scale where 1 represents the highest traffic rank. 2 Chapter 1 | Why Social Media? 80871_ch01_rev04_001-024.indd 2 12/31/11 12:22:28 PM What Is Social Media Marketing? As a relatively new field, many have attempted to define “social media marketing.” For example, the most popular online collaborative encyclopedia, Wikipedia, defines it thus: Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online commu- nities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public rela- tions and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. In the context of Internet marketing, social media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is primarily published by users, not direct employees of the property (e.g., the vast majority of video on YouTube is published by non-YouTube employees) . Social media marketing has three important aspects: 1. Creating buzz or newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that attract at- tention, and become viral in nature. Buzz is what makes social media marketing work. It replicates a message through user to user contact, rather than the traditional method of purchasing an ad or promoting a press release. The message does not necessarily have to be about the product. Many successful viral campaigns have gathered steam through an amusing or compelling message, with the company logo or tagline included incidentally. 2. Building ways that enable fans of a brand or company to promote a message them- selves in multiple online social media venues. Fan pages in Twitter, MySpace or Face- book follow this model. 3. It is based around online conversations. Social media marketing is not controlled by the organization. Instead it encourages user participation and dialogue. A badly designed social media marketing campaign can potentially backfire on the organiza- tion that created it. To be a successful [social media marketing] campaigns must fully engage and respect the users.3 This Wikipedia definition captures the essence of social media marketing, although it lacks precision and conciseness, whereas the following definition provides both clarity and succinctness: Social media marketing (SMM) uses social media portals to positively influence consumers toward a website, company, brand, product, service, or a person. Typically, the end goal of social media marketing is a “conversion,” such as the purchase of a product, subscription to a newsletter, registration in an online community, or some other desirable consumer action. As Wikipedia points out, this conversion is accomplished by creating a buzz online so that complementary content about an indi- vidual or company’s offerings goes viral, with consumer-generated media endorsements © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. spreading like wildfire across the Internet. Chapter 1 | Why Social Media? 3 80871_ch01_rev04_001-024.indd 3 12/31/11 12:22:28 PM CASE STUDY Fiskars Creates a Social Media Community around Scrapbooking Introduction Fiskars is a global consumer products corporation, which has a variety of interna- tional brands and has been in existence for over 360 years; established in 1649, it is the oldest company in Finland. It launched the world’s first plastic-handled scis- sors in 1967, with a distinctive orange handle that is still easily recognizable today.4 That classic model has now sold over a billion copies. History In the late 90s and early 2000s, Fiskars was faced with competition from a variety of other brands. While Fiskars had a groundbreaking product, they needed to make a bold move to cement its status. Crafts and hobbies are a $30 billion industry, and high-quality scissors are integral to most crafting projects.5 Fiskars decided to focus its efforts around scrapbooking hobbyists and to develop a better connection with its customers. In 2006, Fiskars hired consultants Brains on Fire to help implement a plan.6 After interviewing people in crafting groups on Yahoo, the consultants’ research paid off. From the interviews, the company selected four women to become “The Fiskateers,” who were to spread awareness of the Fiskars brand to their friends and acquaintances. The Fiskateers were hired part-time and encouraged to travel around the country and build relationships with store owners, tradeshow hosts, and hobbyists.
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