Digital Marketing & Social Media

Digital marketing is a local and worldwide market located in internet websites caused by the digital development through the years, especially the last decade.

It demands the use of electronic devices such as personal computers, smartphones, cell phones, tablets or game consoles through which an internet network has access. The last ten years had a significant effect on the digital marketing because of the development on new innovative and smart devices which makes the digital marketing and social media more accessible than ever before.Through its development the digital marketing gradually replaced the TV advertising because of the advantages that the digital marketing acquired. More and more people for one or another reason are starting to prefer online shops instead of going shopping to public shops.

This was one of the main reasons why more countries started investing more on online advertisements. For example the United Kingdom became the first world’s major economy in the end of 2009 to spend more on online advertising than on TV advertisements - currently, the internet takes 23% of all advertising spend, compared with 21.9% for TV. It becomes harder to a person to develop and succeed with a company or a brand without an internet access to it and in the near future it can be said that it will be quite impossible because all of the conveniences that the digital marketing has. Social sites like Facebook, Tweeter, MySpace are often used way for companies to advertise their products because of the giant influence and attendance these few sites has achieved during the last years.

Actually they make the connection between companies and customers more close and easy as well.Each new product or discount which a company offers is published on their internet site and Facebook page with the option of internet payment and delivery to an exact address where customers receive their product in a shipment. Kotler and Zaltman (1971) consider social marketing the design, implementation and control of calculated programs that can influence the acceptance of social ideas as well as the involvement of product planning, its pricing, people’s relations with it, its distribution and marketing research.The authors give example from the 70s of the last century when business people were looking for ways to achieve success with certain products, being car deals, soap and cigarettes. Today’s world, however, offers the use of social media to support businesses of any kind.

Ramsey (2006) published data according to which spending in the US only after the year 2010 would surpass $11. 3 billion. Social media allows businesses and consumers to communicate through the Internet.While traditional media is considered a monologue, social media is referred to as a conversation (The H Agency, 2010) because of the interactivity: employers explain their products and services and consumers comment on them.

This means that social networks permit digital consumers to be in control – they can post information – not only can they post factual material but also their own opinion, which leads to the influence on others. (EYGM, 2012) Adults are not the only ones who have turned into an aim for businesses: 93% of teens use the Internet (Lenhart et al, 2007).Why digital marketing has been developed Digital marketing has been developed as the closest and easiest connection between companies and customers which requires from the users an internet connection and some basic computer skills in addition to search and order for products through brand’s site with the option of shipment which usually requires an extra payment. Through the last decade digital marketing has improved in many aspects worldwide.

Firstly it has improved its range, it still has a big area to cover and it is doing it quickly with the help of many people’s digital strategies and innovative creations. Tablets, smartphones and some more made the digital marketing less dependent from the computers which helped for its development, dissemination and usage all over the world. Many people have been disappointed by the fact that they can not find the cloth or the size of the cloth they have found before in the exact public shop because the shop is already out of this product and the person have been sent to another shop from the same brand.In the online brand’s shops a customer can find and order for a product which is out of stock in the public shops or to order a product from an old collection with the option of eventual discount in advantage for the company to empty from manufacture that they might not sell in the future. Nevertheless there are online shops in which people are offering their own products on their own advertisement and assessment for the price. The most used and popular site worldwide for this kind of shopping is “Ebay.

com” and such local is the Bulgarian online market “Prodavalnik. com” in which customers can find brand new products , second hand products from all kind of aspects in promotional prices. Digital marketing and social media and the business needs Social media hides certain risks. Leakages of internal information, database hacking (stealing important data), negative comments leading to hurt reputation (EYGM, 2012) are among some of the risks that businesses have to face.

All of these make businesses and organizations reconsider their involvement with the digital marketing and seek for better usage of it.Jerome and Amit (2013) found that one of the biggest concerns for marketers is the lack of proper metrics that would help them determine the differentiation between traditional and digital media. According to Divol et al. (2012), currently 39% of companies rely on digital marketing and it is expected that in the next four years the percentage will reach higher levels. The authors expect that executives would be able to identify the functions, touch points and goals of social media activities.

Also, approaches for the measurement of their impact and risks could be managed. One of the biggest needs that businesses have to face when it comes to social media and digital marketing is the communication with the consumers. Certain tools (such as networking websites, blogs, et cetera) help improve the communication. Another aspect of better communication is the winning over new audiences with repurposed existing content. (The H Agency, 2012) Sometimes, products and services might fall into the pit of no recognition.

Digital marketing addresses this problem by bringing passive bystanders on-board as active users through Internet-based campaigns. Hanna et al (2011) give an example for this with BMW who incorporated the Internet into their 2000 advertising campaign by distributing an online-only movie which turned out to be an advertisement. Another car manufacturer is given as an example in research – Toyota. It allows its customers to provide feedback on a wide range of issues through its “Open Road Blog” (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).Digital marketing answers services needs as well, even in more of a “niche” markets, such as healthcare. The need for unified message strategies and methods of measuring reactions and outcomes is met by applying commercial marketing techniques into the digital world.

Those could be analyzing target audiences, identifying the objectives of targeted behaviour changes, tailoring messages, and adapting strategies like branding—to promote the adoption and maintenance of health behaviour. (Evans, 2006) In order for products to be sold and services to be used, businesses need to tell a story.This need is considered a key point in the digital marketing world. (Hanna et al, 2012) Even though it might seem that a big budget is in the need for story-telling (because of traditional media), when it comes to social marketing this is not the case. Companies can engage customers - especially younger ones – without having to spend huge amounts. In other words, digital market addresses another risk that mostly smaller businesses encounter – investing big amounts without proper return.

One of the most important needs – the one where customers need to be understood how and why they apply the offered products and services – is actually a key point when strategizing. Consumption must be seen from a social point of view, which digital marketing allows. (Kozinets, 1999) Digital marketing and social media and the customer’s needs One of the main advantages that the Digital marketing provides to customers is the opportunity for exchange of information. Significant amount of information is accessible any time for the customers at no charge.

It also provides interaction between the customers and suppliers, concerning the goods and services offered. In result of that, the quality of customer service is enhanced, as well as the response time. External communication (between customer and supplier) can be done in various ways, like by e-mail, newsgroups, mailing lists, chat-room activities etc. The communication through the Internet also can strengthen the loyalty of customers and it is useful for gathering information about their preferences and tastes, which helps developing new products.There are effects of the digital marketing that are found to be neither positive, nor negative for customer needs.

For instance, selling a life insurance requires physical presence. On the other hand, there are products that a customer may feel embarrassed to buy and, in that case Internet is the preferred way of advertising and selling. This shows that it depends on the type of product whether the digital marketing is contributing for the satisfaction of customer’s needs.It is exclusively difficult to measure customer’s satisfaction with digital services. As many researches show, the Internet is influential, especially for young people and upper socio-professionals.

Also, social media is considered to be more reliable source of information about product or service than other more traditional advertising channels like the radio, television, newspapers and magazines. The opportunity to write a feedback about a product, also makes the customers feel more secure and engaged with certain organization.As an illustration, given in the article by W. Glynn Mangold and David J. Faulds (2009) Toyota made “Open Road Blog” in 2008, where customers can submit their feedback about various range of issues. They can criticize, make useful suggestions and point out what they think could be enhanced.

Nowadays, many major companies worldwide invest vast amount of money in digital advertising. However, in the near future it is not likely for the digital marketing and social media to become the main tool for advertising.As stated in the article by Crittenden Victoria L. et al (2011): “It is no longer enough to merely incorporate social media as stand alone elements of a marketing plan. Companies need to consider both social and traditional media as part of an ecosystem whereby all elements work together toward a common objective: whether to launch and promote a new product or service; to communicate a new company initiative; or to simply further engage customers in a rich, meaningful, and interactive dialogue.”