The influence of social media on relationship marketing


Bachelor Thesis, 2012

29 Pages, Grade: 2:1


Excerpt


Table of Contents

ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 STUDY RATIONALE
1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Social Media
2.1.1 Theories Related to Social Media
2.2 Evaluating the Social Media Impression
2.3 Relationship Marketing
2.4 Marketing and the Social Web

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4. FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
4.1 Survey Questionnaire

5. CONCLUSION

References

Appendix

ABSTRACT

Relationship and Social media are the two terms that coexist interdependently. Due to the trending power growth of social media, the power has practically gone with the customer side in business areas as social media has given customers convenient access to information. Over times, relationship marketing was only associated with the efforts pulled offline. So to prove the principle aim, three case studies would be considered that would relate the role of online medium that is Social media, in building Customer valued relationships. To examine the details of the provided case studies, exploratory approach is adopted by considering the role of social media used for the sake of marketing. By providing sufficient examples and instances, it will be delineated that customer’s trust and loyalty can be achieved by making use of the online media. The study would be concluded by generalizing the main aspects that determine the customer relationship and how they are influenced by social media.

1. INTRODUCTION

Social media is the latest state of the art in business world. This new paradigm has brought in a few exemplary changes in communication channel and thus called for a new marketing panorama (Tseng, 2007). Of the many fundamental changes in business world, ball being in the customer’s court is challenging. The social media vogue has called for company’s change in customer interaction section as the media has achieved an important position in marketing mix with the passage of time (Turban and King, 2012).

On the Globe, almost 1.5 billion clicks are received via social media platform on daily basis (Universal McCann, 2010). This trending growth of social media brings its own positives and negatives. It opens windows for more favorable circumstances as well as it brings challenges for the retailing vocations. The rapid development of technology has provided people with mobile gadgets and applications which in turn play a cogent role in determining the place of social media in everyday life. Therefore, due to significant phase shifts in consumer trends, relationship marketing has to readjust with time to meet its demand. The process of relationship marketing is to enhance the values between customer and markets through synergetic bustle (Watts, 2006).

1.1 STUDY RATIONALE

Vocational atmosphere is directly affected by technological progress. Social media holds great significance and it should be noticed that the framework of social media varies as per the changes in current technology (Wood, 2008). To emulate with the prevailing marketing techniques, marketers are required to remain on familiar grounds with technological advancements of Social media. Companies’ continuance is significantly affected by the transfer of power to clientele side. This in turn compels the marketers to switch from conventional methodologies to modern marketing strategies for the purpose of development of loyal customer relationships (Peppers, 2009).

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The principle focus of this study is to analyze the effects of Social media on relationship marketing. The research aims at studying the changes in trends of social media and how these causes effect the customer relations with business. To get a clear view of the frame, Starbucks Coffee has been taken up as a case study and the research will analyze the utility of social media adopted by the company in promotional strategies. Following objectives will be kept in mind while carrying out the research:

- Understanding the essence of Social media and relationship marketing
- Inspect the association of social media and relationship marketing
- Inspect the choices from the social media available to marketers
- Understanding the impact of technological advancements on social media

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

The aim of the researcher is by the conclusion of the report; following questions shall be fully addressed:

- What is the affinity between social media and relationship marketing?
- What significant role does a social medium play in relationship marketing?
- What different options do marketers have in relevance to social media?
- How does technological progress affect marketing strategies that take place via social media?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Social Media

Social media in essence is an integration of various activities that take place synchronically. For this very reason, academic content hasn’t been able to fully satisfy the explanation of the term ‘social media’. Indifferently, social media is a type of tool that can process various activities at the same time that take place over the internet (Egan, 2008). Social media is in fact an emulation of information that transforms content readers into publishers (Solis, 2010). Social media is responsible for change in broadcast model, conversion from one-to-many to many-to-many, which grants permission to channel conversations between different people, peers, readers, content publishers (individuals as well as companies), authors etc. Conventionally, one-to-many model has gained sufficient popularity over time but now it was being rendered feeble. Such models usually had the same basic ‘Buy! Buy! Buy!’ signature motto. Examples of such models include radio and television sets.

2.1.1 Theories Related to Social Media

Social media is classified with the aid of social media theories. The theories’ efficiency with respect to communication skills rely upon different characteristics of social media which are identified by these theories. Social presence, a theory by Danah and Nicole (2008) calibrates as per the level of affinity of a real life social interaction. Taking the example of people, who meet directly without the aid of an external medium are likely to use the maximum of their socially acceptable human senses which includes touch, sound, taste, sight and smell. Thus concluded, the closer the proximity is for any kind of human interaction, the more potentially rich the social influence would be on interacting individuals. Moreover, the quality of social media is analyzed by the media bounty. The richness theory of media by Kaplan (2010) has the principle aim to minimize the vague image of any message by embellishing the broadcast message as much as it could be. The following image makes this theory simpler to understand:

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure: Social Media Richness Theory

According to the figure, communication is directly proportional to social media. Richer the media, more effective the communication is. Face-to-face meeting or a real life interaction is by far the most effective means of communication. Video conferencing is the second most effective form of communication in which the parties involved interact with each other in real time but without being in close proximity. Senses involved in this scenario include sight & hearing. So it can be seen that as the communication becomes less effective, the more ambiguous it becomes and the existence of less social media can be determined between interacting people (Nielsen, 2010).

Depending on the core of these two theories, people can decide which type of social network they wish to opt. various networks offer variety of socially available factors and media enriched platform. Additionally, people involved in the affair should not only be bothered about the selection of social media but also about the way they represent themselves over the medium. Mitchell (2001) stated that it is usually observed that people wish to know how others accept them. Accordingly, to some limit, a person’s physical appearance (outfit and grooming) can play a significant role in forming a visual image in people’s mind. Furthermore, some qualities may also affect a person’s impression. These qualities are usually characterized by personal websites. Such websites help a lot in forming a perception about a certain person. These websites include personal info such as interests, biographies, education, religious views, and work experience, political views etc. (Peppers, 2009). The degree of revelation scopes according to the relationship with the other person involved. For this reason, a person is very likely to differ between the image formed as a result of the information available and the person’s actual personality.

2.2 Evaluating the Social Media Impression

Different categories of media come under classification of social media which contain various behaviors of masses relating to material which is available on World Wide Web. Scaling social media is thought to be a complex procedure as it is not possible to decide that which aspect of information will be given more attention (Solis, 2010). Marketer-consumer intimacy is reflected by social media as it acts as an indication of close relationship. This method calls for friendly ties between marketers and consumers. Thus, enabling them to embrace the brand message and help it advertise among their peers and friends. This type of media is referred to as ‘earned media’. It is the type of medium which gains popularity through word of mouth and the message is captivating enough to call for attention by general public and thus the brand comes into the limelight (OECD, 2007). Example can be considered as that of people on Facebook who like a certain brand and then share it with their friends on the same platform. In fact, the brand has not paid them to do this task. In other words it could be said that a particular brand got advertised without financing the campaign and got the admiration of people. A research has revealed that an unpaid ad would be considered more authentic and attractive than that of a paid one.

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Excerpt out of 29 pages

Details

Title
The influence of social media on relationship marketing
Grade
2:1
Author
Year
2012
Pages
29
Catalog Number
V272207
ISBN (eBook)
9783656644323
ISBN (Book)
9783656693895
File size
845 KB
Language
English
Quote paper
Doddie Eiee (Author), 2012, The influence of social media on relationship marketing, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/272207

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