Social Media And Its Impact On Branding

Social Media And Its Impact On scrapeing sn beSocial Media is a parvenue years conceit which has taken reality by storm companies be trying to promote harvest-feasts actively on affable media and move with customers. This re chase paper includes the findings of the explore based on the hypothesis that Social media selling has a exacting usurpation on gross gross revenue and provoker image. This research paper highlights the increasing trends of hearty media merchandising, how nocks ar beingness strickleed and what impact theses tactics produce on the gross revenue of the respected companies. A sample of 50 respondents was taken into consideration as primary research. It consisted of a well be boastd mix of people across gender, age groups and income demographics. The study aimed to analyze the aw are(p)ness and acceptability of hearty media trade by measuring the unalike cyphers that are associated with brand and PR and abstain whether fond merchand ising enhances sales or not.OBJECTIVEThe objective of this research is to generalise and come out the various methods of e-marketing with respect to mixer media. It is essential to identify the changing trends in branding with the advent of blogging sites, Twitter, Facebook and other networking options. With to a greater extent advancement in technology e genuinely angiotensin-converting enzyme uses this facility for multiple purposes, tho the concept of the online conjunction and interconnectivity has changed the counsel people share views. Therefore the prime purpose of my research synopsis is to facilitate the study of various favorable media trends that affect branding and online marketing. It has been analyze whether affable media is a spotless feedback facility or an actual revenue enhancement enhancing legal document.PROBLEM STATEMENTSocial media is a promotional materialal tool and connectivity fair for companies there is a neediness to de conditionine whet her it is effective in enhancing sales or not.HYPOTHESISH0 Social media marketing has a positive impact on sales and brand image.H1 Social media marketing does not affect sales, it enhances brand image.SAMPLE SIZEThe sample size of the research consists of a total of 50 individuals whose ages range between 15-25, 26-35 and 36 preceding(prenominal). All respondents belonged to siemens A+,A, A-, B+ and B with an educational level to understand the study. entropy COLLECTION PROCEDURESPrimary Research Questionnaire interviews.Secondary Research Literature analyseLiterature ReviewSocial marketing is the new age concept in the world of branding and military control. With advent of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc the track we communicate has changed. It has certainly evolved from being a teenagers space to a global phenomenon for fond interaction. loot Zukerberg has been named person of the year by Times for in muming unlimited possibilities in the world of communication.A national valuate of reporters and editors revealed that 89% use blogs for fable research, 65% turn to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and 52% use microblogging services such as Twitter (George-2010). While the use of social media sources by journalists is growing rapidly, the reliability of such information remains an issue, as the survey too made it clear that reporters and editors are acutely aware of the need to verify information they encounter from social mediaNearly one- half(a) of all Ameri laughingstocks are now members of at least one social network, double the proportion of sightly two years ago. While social network use is highest among the young, its not limited to this age bracket two-thirds of 25- to 34-year-olds and half of those aged 35 to 44 in any case now ease up personalised profile pages. Among the worlds 100 declamatoryst companies, two-thirds are using Twitter, 54% have a Facebook page, 50% manage at least one corporate YouTube hold and 3 3% have created company blogs. Overall, 79% of Fortune 100 companies are using at least one social media channel. (Pick-2010)Social media has enabled transaction occupyers to create marketing opportunities which were untapped before. PepsiCo uses social networks to reach jillions of entrepreneurs at the Superbowl. Whereas Leaders like IBMs Sam Palmisano, PepsiCos Indra Nooyi, Apples Steve Jobs, Microsofts Steve Ballmer, Carlsons Marilyn Nelson, and Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria (George-2010) are all active social network users. This transformation in trade is possible today because these social networks are a unique way of broadly communicating real-time messages to the audiences they want to reach. They freighter write a message anywhere, anytime, and share it with interested adjournies without any public relations meddling, address writers, airplane travel, providened videos, or sharemail messages people. The business area it has affected the to the highest d egree is marketing, a new promotional weapon adding new dimensions to consumer cognizance.Social media is an interactional forum to reach the consumer at a personal level. Consumer marketing companies are lining up to use these networks to reach their tailored demographics with exceedingly alter messages, social channels give a chance to the consumers to share feedback pronto approximately reapings and services. It is not just brand awareness unless a chance to build a strong relationship with the customer. A major contri exclusivelyion are the blogging sites, astonishingly the fate of leading brands whitethorn be reliant on comments of regular bloggers. This may be follow through and throughn as a positive by a plenitude of branding experts since it fire lead to endless business growth. Social media is user-controlled, which means that sociologic components play a large role in any companys social media business strategy. The limits of social media are only set by the limits of the technology of social media tools (Hobsbawm-2009). At one time, companies had a monologue with its customers. Companies put out television commercials or instill ads about its yields and waited to see whether the sales rolled in to pay back mastery rates. Now, social media renounces companies to have a dialogue with its customers and gain valuable feedback and stimulus as it creates the message. Information and messaging for a company was once controlled by its marketing and sales departments. Now, with the democratization of information, no one owns the message about a harvest or company. Every company must conk part of the conversation or risk letting users become the voice of the company.Customers are using social channels to instantly share positive and negative feedback about harvest-feasts and services, influencing countless other people. Word-of-mouth marketing has existed since the while away of man, provided today, it uses a massive megaphone to exte nd farther than ever. People exchanging feedback, ideas, recommendations and to a greater extent are changing the way customers shop and the way businesses produce. The study, carried out by the Economist In governigence Unit and sponsored by SAS, the software vendor, suggests that social media is make the relationship between companies and their customers much more transparent. In particular, customers are more likely to try to deal with C-level executives through social media than through other channels. Businesses should respond, the report suggests, by integrating the multichannel feedback from blogs, community sites and social networks with their conventional marketing and market research data.Social media movement is a fundamental today, ranging from business to fortune 500 corporations. nonetheless social media marketing is a savior for small businesses. Its cost effective and they evoke easily Tweet new offers or update Facebook fanpage for latest offers. that companie s like Dell have employ twitter to increase sales by $1 zillion in the past one year (Henry-2010). This whole social community allows your companys name and brand to be viewed by a significant sum up of people. Continuous use of social media over time creates brand awareness and thus helps to increase sales. Competitions on social networks and interactive sessions are a new promotional tool being used, for example Top bartender page on Facebook by Absolut Vodka or Apples blogging on ipods dirty poor secrets. What companies need is a financial justification, ROI on social media marketing has systematically been high, with Addidas having upto 70% returns.There are a total of 13 million meshwork users in Pakistan including Broadband, dial up, and mobile. Figures given by the PTA regarding internet users is that of 19 million from which face book consists of 2.2 million, (Pick- 2010) Yahoo virtually 4 million, MSN around 4 to 5 million and You Tube around 4.5 million. Based on th ese figures internet marketing is highly lucrative.Businesses in Pakistan have been marketing their products, brands and businesses using social media but still the industry has to come out. There are number of brands that have used such websites to promote their brands but still the results of such marketing tool in Pakistan are yet to achieve. Though, our beside country India has been using these websites as a marketing medium and they have been able to get positive results from using promotional campaigns. There are at least 500 companies with a Facebook presence. Brands like Ego, HSY, Gunsmoke etc rely on Facebook advertising. An average ad costing Rs. 10000 to Rs. 35000 on other mediums can only cost 3 to 10 cents on this site. (Syed-2010)Julie Roehm parses out the poem from the Pew Internet and American Life study that were mentioned in the revolutionary York Times article, finding that theres a great disparity in how different generations consume confine and that the olde r we get, the more likely we are to lapse time on longer form content. Where result this lead us? Are we doomed to sound bites, tweets and trite self-absorbed updates for the foreseeable future day?The viral effect that social media has in marketing is shaping a new face of branding. Moreover social media is the place people conceive for seeking information. Be it feedback, product information search or tackling PR disasters, social media has it all. Social media would evolve into a decision making tool in future when mashed with other online options making brand paleness highly vulnerable to social verdicts. What lies ahead is a fierce branding engagement which can be won with innovative social marketing solutions. The addictiveness can be cashed by generating a mix of the virtual monastic order and physical customer support banded together.Many of the people gnarled in this study believed that information they have seen on social networks didnt mold their purchasing decis ion. On the surface, we would agree with them because some information you see on social networks isnt shown to you when you are in the process of making a get decision. The real power of Social Media Marketing is the brand building and the higher rank of the content a company adds to a social community (Baekdal-2009). A statement made by a company and picked up by someone you Follow on Twitter can impact a purchase you make at a later point but you wouldnt inescapably jibe that with your buying decision. There may excessively be content that was created on a social network that gets displayed in the results of your Google search that may yield your decision to purchase a product but you also may not realize that the information is even access from Social Media Marketing.The lesson to be learned here is that marketing doesnt always correlate easily to direct sales. We have become too dependent on measuring your ROI from Internet Marketing. Marketers need to understand and re spect the long term value of building a brand through the web and just because you dont see instant revenue from a marketing campaign doesnt necessarily mean it wont be effective. (Pick-2010)Large companies and small businesses who have used social media to promote their products and services could attest that they have experienced curious increase in sales. Exposing your brand in social media can be an excellent way to make the existence of your business cognise to the public. It is a fact that members of social media are pouring in and is still continuously increasing. So, you can just imagine the number of potential views your business can get simply by being a part of these social networking sites (Gunelius-2009). Whether you are just starting out or your business is already a multinational corporation, there are many social marketing tools available to provide the needed marketing expo surely of your business. And another good thing is that most of these tools are for free th erefore giving you an bunt especially if your marketing budget is limited.If one is wondering how sales can be increased with social media, the answer is simple Social media can reach millions of people worldwide. Anyone with an internet access can view your advertisements online. With TV commercials, only those people watching at the time can see broadcasted advertisement and interaction is not possible. Social sites, on the other hand, allow you to post blogs or tweets about your product and surely your company will get noticed resulting to increased sales. At the same time, you can interact with customers and gather keennesss on what they call for from you and how you can improve your products and services to carry out the demands of your market. As observed by most companies that use social media for marketing purposes, the effect is truly viral. The case is especially true for Facebook and Twitter where friends tell each other about the products offered by small companies b y boy of mouth. With the tweets, recommendations and positive reviews, your company and your brand will be made known to a significant number of interested people. (Henry_2010)PRIMARY enquiry compend PROCEDUREGRAPHICAL ANALYSISEXPECTED RESULTSBefore conducting the research, I expect that my Null hypothesis that is Social media marketing has a positive impact on sales and brand image will prove to be true.RESULTS OBTAINED/DERIVEDSAMPLEThe above table shows the demographics of the survey that around 44% were male person candidates and 56% of them were female. This also shows that the sample size was ideal as the partings of twain male and female are taken in consideration for surveyThe above graph shows the Age demographics that from each age bracket what percentage of people were taken in consideration. 68% were young adults forming the largest system segment, followed by 22% of users between age of 26-35 years of age. The survey also include 10% of middle aged users.The above ch art shows daily online presence of respondents, whether they are active users or passive users.Reason for this question was to get the insight of the consumer that how much is the highest system of internet and to what extent internet usage effects their life.The result was 44 % of the sample use less than 1 hour a day, 36% use between 2 to 3 hours a day, 8% use between 3 to 4 hours a day and 12% use more than 4 hours a day. The results fork up that most of the users use internet up to 3 hours a day.RESEARCH FINDINGSThe above pie chart shows the number of people effected by product branding while making a buying decision. The results help to determine whether it is important for marketers to enhance brand image to effect sales or not. 54% of the respondents believe their buying decision is dependent on branding while 26% believe it is not. Whereas 20% are not sure if branding can impact purchase decision.The chart above shows the usage of social media sites by respondents. Out of the 50 most of the respondents are rescue on more than 1 site. Most of them are on Facebook followed by a heavy use of Youtube. Whereas presence on Twitter and blogging sites is nigh equal. This shows socializing and content viewing both are important aspects of social media experience.The above chart shows consumer insight on information search, which medium is most used for product information search. 56% relied on word-of-mouth which in turn highlights social media importance. Moreover 15% relied on TV, 11% on newspaper and magazines and 18% on internet.The above pie chart shows results on buying decision of a friends Facebook status update and Tweet. Whether, people consider this feedback or not. 42% said yes they did 36% said no however 22% were somewhat influenced.The above chart shows if people would purchase a product because of positive social media response. 43% said agree, that they would purchase a product. 28% disagree, they would not buy a product because of social m edia influence whereas 26% were neutral.The above pie chart shows if negative feedback through social media would affect respondentsBrand inscription. 58% said yes, 32% said no and 10% being affected to a limited extent. The results depict the dependence of brand allegiance on feedback.The above chart shows if people consider social media to be best source of promotion. 36% disagreed, 32% were neutral whereas 22% agreed. The results identify the importance of social media as promotion tool, which consort to the results is not very strong.The above pie chart shows which factor most influences sales, 32% said product features and 29% said price whereas only 6% said feedback. This shows that social media feedback may not directly influence sales of a product.The above analysis show the different factors influencing sales, brand image and consumer loyalty. Is can be depicted that sales is most affected by price and features and brand image is affected mostly by company PR and promotio n. Moreover consumer loyalty is also dependent mostly on PR and product features.CONCLUSIONThe conclusion derived from my research report is that my null hypothesis being Social media marketing has a positive impact on sales and brand image did not prove to be true. People elect word-of-mouth (56% respondents) as the best source of information search moreover feedback on social media may affect their purchase decision. But at the same time feedback was not rated as the most important factor in purchase decision, it is believed that sales are affected by product price and features (32% respondents). My research also depicted a key consumer insight which identifies brand presence on social media for image building and consumer loyalty is important. Consumers may not purchase anything because it is praised on social media but also be disoriented if a lot of negative feedback is received. Social media is also crucial for interacting with consumers, hence aiding the process of customer care. The research also examine that brands today need social media for promoting and reminding consumers about the product, but it is true that consumers do not rate social media as a major influence of purchase decision.Therefore, the inductive hypothesis of social media only affecting brand image and not sales stands to be true. Social media in todays internet age is online presence of a brand, just like any person. Brands need to intervene in feedback, captivate consumer preference and enhance brand image. However relying on social media for increasing sales is not viable.SUGGESTION/RECOMMENDATIONSE-marketing is a really effective mode of communication and advertisement which is overwhelming the handed-down means of promotion and PR. E-marketing is a very convenient way of promotion and conveying the message to the public. The rate of internet penetration has increased by more than 100% since the past few years resulting in more access to web by the new generation.The recommen dations brought forth by my research findings include that presence on social media is a must. Social media content may include pages on Facebook, regular tweets on Twitter by employees and content available on Youtube. Now a days companys readily upload latest advertisements on Youtube and at times their corporate documentaries. Blogging is also a very important mode for interactions, consumers turn to these sites for answers, regular blogging may enable marketers to attain consumer insight and simultaneously discuss product associate issues.It is recommended that social media marketing should be used as a supplementary medium of promotion following the conventional promotion mediums as primary. gross revenue may not be directly affected by social media presence however companies may cash on brand equity in the long term. Social marketing may prove to be ideal for small and medium sized businesses. Where spending a lot on promotion may not be feasible, social media may prove to b e a blessing. Today more than 500 businesses have a mere Facebook presence in Pakistan, it is also the cheapest and most interactive forum for such companies.FUTURE WORKSocial media is considered the next high-risk idea by some marketers whereas others consider it to be a mere fad. Now organizations need to analyze the fact that today social media marketing may prove to be beneficial for brand image but return on investment is a crucial factor to be considered. Investment in social media marketing has to be regulated according to future needs of the company and product itself. Internet usage is part of life but modes of interaction have dynamically changed, hence to conclude ideal scenario is to build a strong brand support through social media to have a long lasting impact on the future.