New Media Communication - Essay Example

New Media Communication The Impact of Social Media on Stakeholder Communication and Traditional Marketing Social media is a fascinating emerging trend in communication everywhere today. The speed with which the social media has gained popularity and acceptance is rapid and the trend keeps growing. More marketers have embraced technology in marketing strategies and this has proven to have tremendous effects on the traditional way of doing business. With the emergence of social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, marketers have increased their reach in leaps and bounds to be able to reach millions of people at any one time. This has become achievable largely due to the rapid development in technology in the world today (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 12). The use of social media as a tool for marketing by tech savvy marketers has enabled them to connect with both their loyal customers and their prospective customers in a cheap, efficient way. This paper shall look at the impact that the use of the social media platform has had on traditional marketing, and how it has changed communication among stakeholders within an organization. The advent of social media has brought about a revolution in corporate communication. This has transformed the way organizations conduct their public relations methods in addition to bringing considerable change in these organizations’ interactions with their stakeholders. This avenue of communication continues to become popular among enthusiasts in all sectors, due to unlimited potential that it offers by its use. The use of social media has not reached its peak, especially in the business world. This is because business executives and employees in public relations departments in numerous organizations have been very slow in adapting this method of communication. The increased scepticism surrounding the use of social media in communication has been a major contributor to its slow growth in the business world. However, that phase of slow growth has since been passed, as more businesses take up social media as an essential part of their public relations and marketing tools (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 23). It has become easier for companies to reach all its stakeholders with the advent of the internet and the social media platform. For the first time, it is imprudent to fly around the world to attend meetings with stakeholders. There are social media sites that allow for live video communication between people. Social media sites such as Skype allow company executives to communicate via video link without having to be in the same location at once. In addition to that, companies have increasingly embraced the use of online platforms and social media sites to communicate to their customers, and inform them of their new products , offers among others. This has increased their reach to their potential customers as well as the loyal customers. In this regard, they have widened their reach and have become able to communicate with more people in an instant. Companies have also been able to share information with its shareholders through these social media sites (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 26). These companies have embraced the use of social networking sites to inform their shareholders of meetings and progress being made in the day to day running of their establishments. This has been effective for these companies, especially since the cost of communication is faster, cheaper and more efficient. Shareholders have become more informed of progress being made in regard to special projects. This has been important in the tracking of these companies’ expenditure, to ensure there is no embezzlement of funds put into the company by shareholders. The rate at which technology change takes place is dumbfounding. In recent history, the internet has been able to connect people in their billions in an instant. This development has led to numerous researches being undertaken to develop gadgets that will widen the accessibility of the internet by even more people. The production of gadgets like tablets, smart phones, laptops among others has been a major contributor to content being available online. Almost two decades ago, most of the content available online was only readily accessible by the mainstream media establishments such as radio, television and print media, which consists of newspapers, magazines, journals and periodicals (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 28). In turn, there was an increase in the consumption of online content, and more and more people joined the online community. As things stand, the online community is in its billions, and more people are joining in to become part of this evolution. Social media does not have a compact definition due to its constantly changing functionality and form. Other scholars have described social media as a shift in the way people discover information and content, read this information and share among them the news coming from the content. Further, social media has been known to transform communication from a monologue, which is one person addressing many individuals into dialogue, which is many people talking or communicating to many people. The nature that social media assumes is an interactive one, giving it the tag of a media that is generated by the consumer, citizen media or new media. The conventional media mainly comes off as a company-generated media, where the flow of information goes in one direction (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 33). The conventional media is characterised by the way information is disseminated to the people. The broadcasting house collects and compiles information and broadcasts the final product to their target audience. This is in contrast to the social media way of operation, where information flows everywhere in multiple directions, with information freely flowing among members of the web community in the form of interactions online. With much credit being given to the internet, social media has been able to transform the role of the public from readers of content to publishers of content. People have been empowered to be able to provide information for consumption by other people. Traditional media is defined as a method of publication or communication that was used in the distribution of information and news. The earliest forms include paintings, books among others. Traditional media came into existence prior to the advent of the web. This media adopted the use of platforms like magazines, newspapers, television, radio and books, both factual and fictional. Traditional media still has an enormous impact on communication today, with its ability to reach very wide audiences still intact. Many governments and businesses still employ the use of traditional media in the dissemination of influential and strong messages that have an impact on the society. Traditional media is still being used to spread information on very important events in the world today, such as the Olympics, elections around the world, and tragedies among other stories happening around the world. The influence on the lives of people that traditional forms of communication like the television and radio cannot be under estimated. The older generation grew up with these media, and as such they have become attached to these media. it has become increasingly difficult for this generation to adapt to the changes in technology thee way that young people have embraced technological advancement (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 33). The main roles of the traditional media over time have been to educate, to inform and to influence the opinion of the audience. Television stations and radio stations all over the world have used this as their main motivation, putting the three roles at the core of their operations. Despite the advent of the internet and the development of the gadgets manufactured to support te traditional media such as the LCDs and televisions that can access the internet, the influence of traditional media has not waned. In fact, more people watch television and more children listen to music and news over the radio. Interactive sessions being conducted on air during television and radio shows continue to attract a huge number of viewers and listeners who give their contributions on both media. The development of such gadgets as the internet television, digital television among other developments is evidence that technology has embraced the traditional media and developed it as technology advances instead of discarding it to pave way for more complex tools. Traditional media continues to offer better and improved coverage of global events like the royal weddings, the World up and so on, which traditional media helps deliver to people’s homes. Traditional media have the ability to starting up intense conversations on major topics (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 35). It is also important to note that technological advancement has aided in the traditional media being incorporated into the modern forms of communication. However, the establishment and existence of the social media platform has had tremendous effects on the traditional forms of communication in certain ways. First, it has exposed the weakness of the traditional media, which is the fact that it does not allow for direct interaction between the consumer and the source of the information. For instance, when a newspaper reader goes through the classifieds and reads about a business with offers on its products, there is no forum for interaction between the reader and the company to the level where the consumer can make enquiries instantly and get an instant feedback from the establishment. Communication flows in a single direction, from the newspaper to the reader(Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 53) . Another example is the news. When an announcement is made on the television, for instance, that there will be increases in taxes, the people can only be informed about it since there is no interaction between the audience and the government, where the people can ask questions in order to gain clarification. With the new media, it is possible to visit the company’s website and get all the information right there. In addition to that, businesses have engraved their presence online by setting up accounts on social networking sites where they have public relations personnel constantly posting news from the company on developments, offers among others. The internet has also made it possible for the people to access information on government, therefore being able to interact with government authorities and giving their input on sensitive matters. Traditional marketing is based on concepts and principles which are essential in the description of the nature of goods or services produced by companies, the competitive activities taking place in the market and the consumer behaviour. New products and brands along with plan product line re developed using these concepts and principles. Companies also use these concepts and principles to come up with designs of communication both within the company and outside. The company leadership has also been able to devise responding tactics to the competition that their companies are facing. Traditional marketing is any type of advertising, promotion or campaign which is used, or rather, has been used by companies with formidable success rates (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 56) . There are many methods of traditional marketing. Examples are print advertisements, which consist of billboards, flyers, newsletters and advertisements printed in the newspapers. Another example is the television advertising spots, better known as commercials. In addition to that are the radio spots offered by the radio stations, which have been used widely in advertising products, services or even businesses. In order to satisfy the objective of marketing, traditional marketing applies the use of mass advertising. Mass advertising is a technique where messages to market a product, service, brand, business or an event is sent to a mass audience that is huge in size. The concept of mass advertising finds its basis on the assumption that there is a high probability that a section of the mass audience will be transformed into consumers if the message is sent to the vast masses repeatedly. The establishment of social media networks have made traditional forms of communication to seem deficient in some areas. The desire of more consumers to access proper information on the products and services that they would desire to subscribe to has rendered the issue of acquiring information through televisions, radio and print media not as reliable as getting them online. The social media platform has enhanced interactions between the consumers and the producers and distributors of products, such that consumers can now access information they desire from the companies’ websites and their pages on social media platforms like on the Facebook pages, or through twitter. The consumer can get information as though they had made a physical visit to the establishment. In this regard, social networking sites have made people shift from the traditional media for information on products. Today, any marketing executive who does not employ the use of the social media restricts himself to a smaller number of consumers, who still use traditional means of communication as opposed to harnessing the potential availed by the use of the internet, in particular the social networking sites. The advent of social media as a marketing platform has led to the traditional forms of communication to transform in conformity with the times (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 68). For instance, more and more television companies are posting clips of their programs online to attract a wider audience. Some have even started live streaming of their programmes online, so that other people outside the country can also watch their station. In addition to that, these television stations have increased their appeal to international investors who are attracted to their vigorous advertising and marketing strategy and use these stations to advertise their products. The wider the reach of these television stations, the higher the prospects of attracting both local and international establishments to market their products, services and brands. The same thing applies to radio stations. Radio stations have particularly become more interactive, with some stations basing their programmes and marketing strategies on their interactions with the public on the social media platform. In this regard, it has become the norm to hear companies sponsoring radio shows to market themselves or their products or services throughout those shows. The more popular a show is the more the corporate sponsorship value and subsequently the more the revenue raised by the establishment. 2. Evaluation of emerging channels from consumer perspective. In a rapidly evolving world in the sense of technology, an increasing number of people are exploiting new ways of communicating with the rest of the world. In this regard, people are looking for alternative channels of communication that are convenient to them and fit in with their lifestyles, while being an effective channel. With technological advancement, numerous channels have emerged. This question shall pay more attention to two emerging channels and their impact on the consumers, in regard to the Integrated Marketing Communications Theory, which has largely guided their operations. One emerging channel is blogging. Blogging has particularly developed as a result of a combination of personal computing, digital convergence and global networking. These have worked together to offer a huge number of people an avenue through which they can communicate with people, sharing their thoughts and ideas on an array of issues. Blogs can be used to address any issue, both public and private matters. It is not very difficult to set up a blog, wither, and that has been a contributory factor to the increase of people, both young and old, using blogs in communication with other people (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 82). Blogs have become very common among young adults. This section of the population is constantly seeking information for many reasons. Apart from them being eager to learn, they are also eager to find out how other people view the issues that they may be going through. There is no lack of information among people. On the contrary, there is a lot of information that only requires a channel to be able to reach the target audience. Bloggers use their online presence to educate, enlighten, and share their experiences aside from making networks for business and other forms of social interactions. It is imperative to note that blogs are not just accounts here one writes anything and it is read by the public. On the contrary, blogs help to shape the society by offering a new channel of communication. Blogging has come to be an important tool of imparting knowledge which is good for the reasoning of man. There have been numerous criticisms of the other channels of communication such as televisions and radio. These media offer mainstream news and general information that is for the consumption of the general public. Such information is shared across the numerous stations that are in the business. However, blogs are an individual’s contribution to the literary society by inscribing content online for others to read. Most blogs are written in language that is easy to understand so that the reader does not experience difficulty in getting the message being communicated in the blog (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 83). Blogging has become a major tool for sharing information among people. The benefits that the society accrues from blogs cannot be understated. To begin with, blogging improves the writing skills of people. In the process of writing blogs, individuals fine-tune their abilities to write, such that one becomes able to write good grammar in addition to learning the different styles of writing. This has the effect of enhancing communication among people. In some circles, people have embraced blogging as a learning experience. The society is able to get more content to read when there are many people who can effectively communicate through writing. Secondly, blogging has been credited for widening the knowledge base of people. In order to write effectively, people research into different topics that they would like to communicate with the public. Blogs are informative pieces that give the audience additional knowledge on issues that they did not know of before. Even with prior knowledge, blogs offer a different perspective to the reader on topics of interest to them. As a result of this, people can acquire information to boost their knowledge on certain topics to their benefit. This is particularly important, considering the traffic of people going online everyday to gather information on different issues(Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 83). Blogging makes this easier, since the blogger has to research in order to post blogs that are reliable in content, in order to provide the internet audience with informed pieces. Blogs also have become effective networking avenues. By subscribing to a blog, individuals have become connected to other people who share the same interests thus widening the number of people who can offer a person the information they need in their topic or subject of interest. For instance, business blogs have subscribers who are interested in business. In th event that an individual is looking for people with whom they can share ideas on different business aspects and even trade, blogs can offer that opportunity. It becomes easier to connect with people with similar interests on a relevant blog site than having to search the whole web for the same (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 83). Through back links, blogs are able to connect business people so that they can engage in business. In addition to that, blogging has also become an income earner for many people. Good blog sites have been able to attract businesses that market their products on an individual’s blog site in order to reach the many followers on that blog. In order to earn from blogs, individuals have to ensure their blogs are of high quality and they can appeal to a huge audience. Once this is accomplished, one can begin to attract the interest of business that need space on the individual’s blog for advertising. This comes at a fee, therefore becoming a viable source of income. Blogs are a powerful vessel for real-time discussions with the readers. People are granted the ability to discuss issues affecting them before they go to the mainstream media. Aside from the readers becoming informed in good time, blogs ensure the information imparted to the audience is relevant and of concern enough to warrant a discussion (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 84). The writers of the blogs have the opportunity to answer questions from their audience in regard to the issue under discussion in real time. This is important and efficient in the dissemination of information to the public. Blogs have also become important in increasing the traffic of people online. Many people go to the internet in search of stories and other information that interest them. With blogs in place, more and more people have gone online to read. Many websites get their content from blogs, especially business sites. Search engines such as Google and Bing prefer to give users websites that regularly update their content to stay relevant to the times. With updated content, internet users can rely on a website for information that is still relevant to their areas of interest. Aside from that, blogs are a cheap marketing avenue (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 85). Businesses that operate blogs can update them regularly with information to their customers on their products, new arrivals, and offers on selected products among others. Such businesses always begin their marketing drives from their blogs, giving them the advantage of putting the product in the public domain before using the more expensive media channels. Benefits of blogs go beyond the ones discussed herein. The popularity of blogs is expected to increase significantly, with more people turning to blogs for information. Therefore, blogs are regarded as a fast emerging channel of communication to the public and to customers in the case of businesses. More businesses are adopting the use of blogs as a tool for networking, communication, marketing and advertising among other uses that are profitable both to them and to the consumers. The second emerging channel is e-commerce. Commerce has been defined simply as the exchange in a business set up of products, mainly goods and services, mostly for money (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 104). Commerce has been in place since time immemorial. People engage in commercial activities all over the world by buying things at stores for their consumption. Being employed is another form of commerce, since an individual trades his labour for an income. In commerce, there is always an exchange between buyers and sellers. Different people play different roles in commercial activities everyday all over the world. E-commerce is short for Electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is a type of a model in business or a section of a bigger business model which enable individuals or businesses to transact commercial activities over the internet. In undertaking e-commerce, there are benefits accrued from a business to another business through trade-offs and other exchanges, from a business to a consumer through provision of goods and services online and consumer to a business through payments for rendered services or delivered goods. In addition to that, there are benefits that a consumer can get from engaging in e-commerce with another consumer, such as exchange of business information and personal products E-commerce is an emerging channel of communication and trade. By engaging in e-commerce, people can be in contact with other people from other parts of the world without necessarily spending a lot of time and resources trying to be in the same physical location. With the internet being as vibrant as it is, almost anything can be acquired online through e-commerce, from financial consultancy to music, books, cars, pets, air tickets and almost anything an individual can think of. E-commerce is not just about buying and selling (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 104). Information is also accessed by participants, and has been touted as one in the midst of other important aspects to emerge from the internet. The internet has experienced a ballooning number of people visiting it every day. With this in view, internet developers came up with systems that allow consumers to effect payment online for products bought online. Businesses can market their products either on their websites or on trading websites such as e-bay and consumers can select the products they desire and effect payment from the comfort of their homes. With the increase in traffic of people visiting the internet on any given day, transacting business online has become increasingly popular among young people, especially among the youth. There are numerous advantages attached to e-commerce that have made it to become an emerging channel in marketing and trade. To begin with, e-commerce is convenient. Instead of people having to queue in long lines at the stores to purchase products, shoppers can get their purchases delivered to them wherever they are in the world (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 104). E-commerce saves people a lot of time, that they would have spent going to the stores to shop. In addition to that, e-commerce takes place 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That is to mean there is no inconvenience caused by the business closing down for the night. A consumer can purchase a product at any time of the day or night and the transaction will be complete by the time they finish giving their payment details. Further, e-commerce is convenient to the extent that one does not have to carry cash around with them. Payment is done online, so all one needs to do is to key in their payment and personal details and they will have bought the product they desire. Another advantage of e-commerce is that the consumer is offered an array of products to choose from. Most stores post more products online than they have in their stores, and so this widens the options for a consumer. This gives the consumer the option of selecting goods that others cannot access (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 105). On the same note, there are stores that only operate online. This is an advantage to a consumer since they can get a variety of products that they would not be able to access by going to the stores to shop. Organizations have taken advantage of e-commerce to spread their market base beyond their immediate surroundings to national and even international markets. This they have been able to achieve with very little capital investment. The expansion of businesses’ market base comes with numerous advantages such as increased revenues from increased sales volumes. Another benefit to businesses is that they can locate more customers, the best suppliers who can help distribute their products and business partners that suit their needs and ambition from all over the world with relative ease. Businesses also enjoy the benefits of reduced paper work. This in turn lowers the cost of doing business, as these companies reduce production costs, costs that come with distribution and costs that come with record keeping in regard to receipts and other financial documents used in transactions (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 105). In addition to that, e-commerce is important for the brand image of a company as the business comes off as a techno-savvy establishment which is efficient in its operations due to the digitalization of its transactions. To the consumers, e-commerce allows them to contribute their views on a product. It also allows them to see other people’s purchases and read about the products on the reviews before they decide to make a particular purchase. This is important because it allows consumers to make informed choices, as opposed to physical purchases where sales people would give you all the positive traits of a product, leaving out the demerits to ensure they make sales. Further, e-commerce is of benefit to the consumer when competition among online stores leads to discounts of substantial amounts on their products. Due to this advantage, consumers can access commodities cheaply while the online shops increase their effectiveness with the aim of retaining customers. E-commerce has also been advantageous to the society because it has enabled goods to reach even the most remote parts of the world where they were not available. In this light, people have been able to enjoy these products without having to travel miles to acquire them. Further, e-commerce has helped the government in delivery of public services such as social services, education, and healthcare in an improved manner and at lowered costs (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 106). With these advantages, more and more people have adopted e-commerce as a channel of communication and trade. The emergence of e-commerce has made the lives of many people easier due to its efficiency, thus increasing its acceptability among internet users. 3. The theory of Integrated Marketing Communications in context of the channels discussed above. Organizations use corporate and marketing communications as persuasive elements of their interactions with their markets. They communicate ideas while creating certain impressions of brands, services and goods to customers, stakeholders and consumers (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 4). Companies are able to send messages to their markets through the use of the wide variety of promotional and communication tools coupled with the modern day off line and online channels such as the ones discussed above. In this perspective, a relationship marketing model based on communication, as opposed to persuasion should form the foundation of efforts aimed at marketing to the consumers (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 9). In view of the channels above, namely blogging and e-commerce, the approach is not persuasion. Rather, the blog sites and the online shopping sites compete to be the best among the options available to attract more consumers. They strive to build reliable communication systems with which they communicate with their customers, consumers of their products and other stakeholders with the aim of maximizing the benefits that come with blogs and online shopping sites. According to the Integrated Marketing Communications theory, communication is an essential tool in marketing (Ho & Kwamena, 2009, pg 5). These channels have acknowledged that by enhancing their communication with clients and stakeholders and increased their interactions with the markets, giving them an advantage over the conventional methods of marketing. Blogs and online shopping sites have been able to build relationships with stakeholders and customers with their consideration of communication as a vital component in marketing. Work Cited Ho, Henry, and Kwamena Aidoo. Integrated marketing communications. Frenches Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Custom Publishers, 2009. Print. Read More