Social Media and Decision-Making Process - Essay Example

Social media and decision making process Introduction Online marketing is becoming a vital aspect of marketing. Relative its newness and exceptional growth, the use on online tools for marketing and sales are becoming the new model of success. Online retailing is the newest shopping version available, and it is usual to observe the increase of sales annually. From the latest news, majority of consumers have resorted to shopping from their computers and other devices that can connect to the Web. The resultant effect can be quantified by the sales volume recorded in a single day. Comparing the sales recorded on 25th November 2011, and that of the same day in 2010, there is a significant increase of sales by a whopping 26 percent from the previous year. This year the amount generated on the single day is $816 million becoming the heaviest online sales volume received in a single day (Diers, 2012, p. 23). The overall U.S. retail e-commerce spending for the month has increased by 15 percent. There is greater access to online shopping on Cyber Monday. This is a marketing term developed in 2005 by online retailers that define the increase of online shopping activities on Monday. Approximately 50 million Americans visited online retail sites on a black Friday representing a 35 percent increase from the previous year. The number of customers accessing the top five retail sites namely: Amazon, Walmart, BestBuy, Target, and Apple increased by double digits. This result shows that multichannel retailers recorded strong growth in visitors’ access. The increased use of online retailing has greater marketing implications to marketing principles. The need for change in the marketing strategy to absorb the increasing online visitors is essential for any firm because it leads to greater sales volume. The success for any company lately is based on the focus on the customer and commitment to market change. Globalization affects marketing in a drastic way by affecting marketing. Use of World Wide Web in marketing and online shopping is the next revolution. The data obtained for visitors to the online sites depict the success attainable by venturing in it. Consequently, the need for strategizing and formulating of online strategy in ensuring increase in sales volume is essential. Product innovation is powered by the consumers. Therefore, marketing of the products must ensure correct feedback is obtained from consumers to facilitate understanding of new product development. Driven by the need of simplicity, consumers need must be catered for. For instance, online shopping is a product of customer innovation. The challenges associated with it are handled by virtual money systems such as Alert pay, Skrill, and Paypal among others. The paradigm shift, from traditional innovation based on the company product to consumers being innovators; carry with it several marketing challenges (Beverly & Thomson, 2011, p. 63). Additionally the involvement of consumers in product modification and innovation affects established marketing strategies. These strategies are changed to incorporated new emerging market trends. The implications for this development require that marketers take the untapped digital media and online tools. This potential must be exploited for marketing to achieve the desired success. Results from research conducted shows that there is an agreement on the importance of online presence and digital tools. Internet provides three main benefits to consumers: increase efficiency, product evaluation and transaction convenience. Marketing and sales promotion is becoming one of the most important aspects of the marketing process. The company must be able to address the various issues resulting from the change in technology and communication. Social media is a vital tool in both the present and future because it enables the creation of relationships between consumers and customer. The development of the brand loyalty is vital because it increases the sales and revenue collection (Diers, 2012, p. 111). However, in the advent of change in communication, the continuous rebranding and improvement of the products will encourage brand acceptance. The future trends indicate improving growth and development of the new approaches in communication which will improve feedback collection for the improvement of the company’s operational and marketing strategies. The continuous link with the customers will affect product development by increasing the opportunity for market research. In line with the change, sales agents and personnel must be able to understand the importance of the different technologies and accept the new changes in communication and advertising. In conclusion, the changes in technology have increased information transfer, which in turn affects the development of the new products and services. In addition, the sales agents will be required to develop positive relationship with the clients Social Media Marketing To help with the online marketing, social media has been employed in advertising and promotion of the brands. Several brands have registered success in the social media usage. Currently, social media usage must be employed to meet the younger generation (Diers, 2012). Marketing of products using online tools has increases sales volume because the clients employ online purchase of items. Apart from employing the online tools, social media have a massive impact on the success of the country both in business and politics. The Arab revolution is a product of social media usage in the airing of the grievances of the citizens. Facebook is the leading social media platform with massive subscribers and increased success in terms of usage. Facebook as a social media tool enjoys massive support from the youths who have employed it in communication and information transfer. Companies use social media marketing strategy to improve brand image and resonance (Beverly & Thomson, 2011, p. 113). Marketing involves the employment of all the necessary platforms of promotion and advertising with the SNSs offering a better platform for communication. Social media platforms offer the opportunity for collection of feedback. Traditionally, feedback collection of products released in the market was hard to obtain owing to the nature of information sharing systems. However, with the introduction of social media platform companies are able to prepare the market for the introduction of new product, while also collecting the customer preferences about the product. The success of products in the current society has been pegged on the marketing plan and action employed by the company (Beverly & Thomson, 2011, p. 145). Public relations use social media to improve product perception and facilitate the development of positivity towards the company. Social media can be employed both in communication and persuasive advertising with enormous success. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, are some of the widely used social media platforms that can be used by the companies in marketing and promotion of the products. The success of the company depends on the marketing strategy employed in the process and the establishment of a strong brand presence. Major companies such as sportswear companies have used social media in promotion of brand resonance. The impact of web bonding on decision making process Social media platforms have helped in shaping the life of the people in various ways. Several platforms have been used for the purpose of information sharing. The information shared has varied from elementary to complex depending on the perceived used. Web bonding is a product of the continual communication on social media platforms. Facebook is an outstanding platform in web bonding because it encourages the development of communication and relationship between members of the society. The media use on family relationship needs to be researched on to establish the link between social media and the various methods of communication. The interaction in SNSSs can facilitate community building and between family members in particular. The building of peer relationships is dependent on the bonding and communication resulting from the process. The ability to connect with old friends makes the social platform useful. Citizens of some countries have engaged the social media use in the liberation process. The success of the engagement is based on the ability of the social media to transfer information fast and also allow for instant feedback collection. The instant feedback collection helped in the struggles for change in countries such as Egypt and Libya. However, the crippling of social media usage in Syria made it impossible for communication and web bonding to occur, thus; slowing down the process of liberation. Social platform provided the necessary tool for communication and activism leading to the success witnessed in some countries in spearheading regime change (Diers, 2012). Social media especially the SNSSs help in establishing relations with people outside the family circle while also enabling a wide range of contact. SNS members have the ability to track acquaintances in terms of what their activities and the posting they do or the information they consume. The use of SNS has enabled citizens to be empowered and be able to develop necessary skills for the purpose of the liberation struggle. Benefits of computer mediated communication Computer mediated communication may lead to hyper-personal communication between individuals because it may exceed face-to-face communication. It offers the message sender several communicative advantages which affect the self-presentation (Beverly & Thomson, 2011, p. 156). For instance, computer mediated communication offers the sender a platform to edit self and create an optimized presentation about a person to others. The concept is supported by the hyper-personal model that specifies the conditions necessary for either interpersonal or impersonal interaction. Hyper-communication is desirable because it is experienced in impersonal. The combination of media attributes such as social-psychological process and social phenomena makes computer mediated communication hyper-personal. Social attributes of the media allow the sender to edit change or present personality in a different way. As witnessed in the contemporary society, social media has led individuals to serious problems including rape and even murder. Thugs present themselves as good people in need of support and slowly they gain the trust of the message recipient. After developing trust, the recipients are cornered and before they realize they are in trouble. This indicates that computer mediated communication surpasses face-to-face communication because of hyper-personal communication. To overcome security threats, when communicating online, communicate with people whom you have met personally only. In addition, avoid people who use nick-names or abstract names rather than their true identity because that is a sign of forgery. Consequently, when communicating online avoid giving personal information such as housing details, telephone and physical location and workplace details unless the personal communicated to be known at a personal level (Benioff, 2012, p. 96). Online relationship that spring up and grow rapidly may be a bad sign because most scammers work hard to earn trust by communicating fast and talking about emotive issues such as love and death. In conclusion, the employment of social media marketing has improved performance of companies and their product. Despite the success, social media poses challenges because of the faster information transfer. Product failure can be spread faster through social media leading to massive losses and brand image loss. Reference Benioff, M. (2012, May 12). Welcome to the social media revolution. Retrieved October 24, 2012, from BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18013662 Beverly, M., & Thomson, T. (2011). The Power of Real Time Social Media Marketing:How to Attract and Retain Customers. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Diers, A. R. (2012, January 5). Reconceptualizing Mass Communication as Engagement: The Influence of Social Media. Retrieved from Journal of Mass Communication and Journalism: http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/reconceptualizing-mass-communication-as-engagement-the-influence-of-social-media-2165-7912.1000e104.php?aid=3633 Read More