Social network marketing - Research Paper Example

? Social network marketing Task: Social network marketing In many organizations, communication is the main tool for marketing, the quality of the marketing strategies depends a lot, on how the organization communicates their information to the outside world. This has a lot to do with accessibility and clarity in the mode of communication used. A good communication network can give an organization an upper hand in the advertisement sector; this can either be marketing or conveying urgent information to the public. In an education institution for example, it is very useful in educating people, a good communication network can be used efficiently in conveying information to the students. It attracts even those people who are not even directly involved in the institution hence it reaches out to a large area network. In the past the means of communication were not so advanced and it took long to convey information to a wide area network, this, however has changed over time and the communication network is getting more and more efficient such that you can reach anyone you like , anywhere and with very minimal time (Bosari, J. 2012, pp 53). The social media has been the core of communication in this era, hence for an institution it is very recommendable that there is a social media means of conveying information to the members and public. Social media is the best tool for marketing available to the people right now, communication is simplified, and there are minimal delays. However for one to come up with an efficient social networking site it takes a lot of dedication and patience, it is not built in a day and one has to work hard to make their social network site efficient in the field. Social media marketing is a branch of internet marketing that entail the use of the internet to reach out to other people. Social network marketing therefore is a fundamental tool for an organization aiming to maximize on their marketing chances. Social media networking is open to many different form of communication, this include; the use of video calls, audio or voice messages, and written messages. This is possible when using social sites to convey information (Cambia, E. Et Al. 2011, pp 59). It goes without doubt that social media networking is the most efficient method for educational institutional marketing, in addition to the many advantages of social media; it also gives the liberty to navigate through different links and access more information from the internet. It can be used as a way of uniting other communication networks. The advantages of social media marketing are almost limitless; this mode of communication gives room for even very small corporate or business entities to, market their products without any form of victimization so long as they have an effective social media account, one that can be easily accessed by many individuals. Engaging in online conversations is a very effective way of using the social media to convey information to individuals (Deis, H. & Kyle, H. 2010, pp 87). One could also use the social media to combine it with other promotional brands to better their products; it gives room for research on the products and gain extra information on the marketing strategies. This is done in an entertaining and more interactive way such that you have direct access to your target audience. It is like having a personal conversation, but from very different geographical positions. Having online conversations is the most effective way of having a basis for a better background in making a reliable social site. It helps one to gain the confidence of other institutions such that they can give you access to some of their internet products hence expands the range of potential contacts and audiences. Social media network is no longer a trend, it is a necessity in the marketing industry and a must have for every serious institution. Research has it that more than 94% of all institutions in the world use social media network as their preferred marketing option. social media not only offer a medium for advertisement but also it gives room for interacting with other institutions hence it equips one with more skills in their field of professionalism. It gives room for direct and immediate responses to certain questions making it very effective (Demers, J. 2013, pp 36). A time is coming when social networking will be the core of every business entity or institution that wants to have bright future inn marketing. It offers space for branding of one’s products as a means of effective marketing since it gives access to many other institutions and gives room for effective interaction. Social media is versatile and flexible to any user, even the small institutions get to market their products effectively. Social media marketing is also effective in that it gives the opportunity for giving information on the branding options in a certain institution. The options are then revealed to a number of interested parties who then get the venue to apply for the branding opportunity, another outstanding feature of the social media network is the ability to do everything at the comfort of one’s house or work place without necessarily moving from one institution to another. there are available options of mediators who help in certain aspects of the communication process, for example one can aces courier services to transport any products that is needed from one institution to another (Kietzmann, J.H. & Canhoto, A. 2013, pp 67). A reliable for of social media is the use of the Facebook social site accounts. This is the most common of social sites with millions of users from all over the world. I would therefore give some recommendations on the schools Facebook account and the ways of improving its productivity in the marketing of the school. The Johns Hopkins School recently went a notch higher as far as social media networking is concerned. It remodeled its websites to improve the quality of information offered in the website; this is a great achievement to the school since it gives more room for the students to get certain information that they might want to find out from the school’s database. This rates the school as among the top institutions on the information and communication technology sector. Despite the upgrade the schools Facebook account seems to be lurking behind in availability of information. Facebook being the most used social site, the school should consider making upgrades on the account to make it more beneficial on the marketing of the schools products. The videos and photographs are of very low quality and do not match the standards of many other institutions, the sound quality is also very poor, the Facebook account looks as if it has been abandoned and is not taken seriously by the school. This makes it difficult for students to communicate efficiently due to sound barriers caused by the bad state of the account, recently there was a situation where there was confusion since the school hired two photographers for an event unknowingly, and it was disappointing when some of the photos could not be uploaded into the schools account. This is an embarrassment to the schools owing to the fact that other educational institutions offer some of the best services when it comes to the Facebook social site. To counter this inconvenience I would recommend that the school upgrade the account such that the page is the main center stage for communication among the students and the lecturers. The problem to be solved should be that which brings the connectivity barriers disabling the audio and video quality to be recommended standards, enabling the students to communicate, more effectively among each other and to the school administration. Good connectivity would enable the school to easily organize events, communicate it to the school, and avoid inconveniences, as was the case in the photography issue. The department responsible for marketing should make a plan to improve on the page and its execution. Once this is achieved, learning will be very effective since students are able to communicate among themselves and with their teachers efficiently. The school would also benefit from closer examination of its own marketing strategies and both internal and external social engagement (Trattner, C. & Kappe, F. 2013, pp 289). I propose that the research plan should entail four phases, these phases should involve interviewing and examining the, members of the marketing department, having their consultations on the available options for improvement in the sector without coming into conflict with the school management. The interviews should entail information such as their current role in the social media websites; it should also seek to know the marketing strategy of the department now that a major too for marketing is on the verge of being paralyzed. It should ask for the selection procedure of the contents to be posted in the social site page. Such would determine the rules of accessing the Facebook page. The students’ position in the social site should also be defined so that they should know of the accessibility of the page. Such information is very vital to know the number of people who would access the page and for what purposes they would need it. There should be an interview with the students to know their expectations of the social site; this might be used to instill the needed pressure on the heads of the department so that the page should be more lenient and not over possessive much that the social site is not of any use to the students. The students are the main users of the Facebook page and they should be given the most priority in deciding the expectations of the page. The opinion of some of the best business schools is the region is very vital since it would be good to set high standards. It is expected that the performance of their Facebook page is above average, emulating from them would give the students high expectations hence they would use the page more often. these business school that have used Facebook social site effectively over the past few years have had some comments to say about it, some of the students said that the site has been a major tool for keeping them up to date about the ongoing in the school. Before the introduction of this social site most of the students confessed that they did not know much of what was going on in the school, they only knew about the most common occasions. The site has therefore helped also in bringing the student body close to their teachers. One of the students say that at some they misplaced their identity card in the school compound, on announcing the ordeal in the schools Facebook page, he found the card, someone brought it to him. Again, this proves of thee many ways in which the page could help. This research would require the use of so many resources hence I would get permission from the school administration to have access to different articles and journals I might need for the research. In order to access both the internal and external communication structure would need permission from Carey’s communication department. The research would take a period of around eight weeks for its completion, if I prioritized my personal work (Cox, Shirley A. 2010, pp 56). The information given above is total proof of the fact that social media networking is the best marketing option for any institution that wants to compete effectively. It is evident that those who have used the marketing option have had many good things to say about it, efficient, far-reaching, cheap quick, easily accessible, and convenience are just a few of the advantages that come with this type of marketing. Though there have been claims that the social media is affecting students and children negatively, it goes without say that its advantages surpasses the disadvantages a great deal. Most of the people are glad that they have access to this type of social media network . Carey could benefit a lot from this type of marketing if they upgraded their Facebook page features, it would save them a lot of time and resources. Social media networking is the future of marketing and one should not be left behind on such matters as marketing, since it is available in almost all forms of career. References Bosari, J. (2012). The Developing Role of Social Media in Modern Business. World. Cambria E Et Al. (2011) Sentic Computing For Social Media Marketing. Enterpreunial Executive: Applications 59. Deis, H. & Kyle, H. (2010). Using Social Media to Increase Advertising and Improve Marketing. Entrepreunial Executive: 87 Word Of Mouth. Journal of Public Affairs 13 (2): 146-159.Demers, J. (September 24, 2013). The Top 7 Social Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014. Kietzmann, J.H. & Canhoto, A. (2013). Bittersweet. Understanding and Managing Electronic Trattner, C. & Kappe, F. (2013). Social Stream Marketing On Facebook: A Case Study. International Journal of Social and Humanistic Computing. Cox, Shirley A. (2010). “Online Social Network Member Attitude towards Online Advertising Formats.” Read More