Strategic Social Media Marketing

Technological innovation has grown at an unprecedented rate over the past couple of decades, creating multiple opportunities for marketing in online settings. The proliferation of social media helps customers become more empowered and engaged in their brand interactions, while also providing them with new tools in their search, evaluation, choice and purchases of marketing offerings. Consequently, these developments are influencing marketing practices, both strategically, and tactically. Nowadays, social media has developed in an essential part of marketing strategy for its ability to generate co-created value, to interactively connect brands to consumers, to monitor brand-related discussions and sentiments, to guide consumers in the decision-making process, to instigate customer-to-customer interactions, and transform consumers into brand advocates. The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic opportunities of social media marketing for organizations. By providing a comprehensive conceptualization and definition of social media marketing, this research outlines its role in advertising, Customer Relationship Management, and e-Word-of-Mouth.