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Strategic Social Media Marketing

Discussion and Conclusion

Theoretical Contributions

By closer reviewing the main body of literature of the social media marketing, this paper was able to explore several marketing applications and themes covered. This study contributes to the existent literature on social media marketing (SMM) and increases the understanding of the strategic ramifications of this concept for organizations that aim to gain new brand awareness or new customers from online settings. The current study has addressed the differences between the concepts of social media and social media marketing. Moreover, the article provides a comprehensive foundation to extend the main opportunities for strategic social media marketing in online mediums.

For instance, there is a necessity to discover the impact of the kind and nature of social media platform (i.e. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram) on the effectiveness of promotional activities to reach the targeted customers. In the line with this, Filo et al. call for further interest to explain how customers' attitudes could be differently formed based on the kind of Facebook advertising. Moreover, Wang and Kim's results indicate that companies that are more active on social media can improve their value even more.

E-WOM and CRM have derived a significant amount of interest from a good number of social media marketing studies. This research interest provides clues on the relevancy of social media for marketing objectives, particularly those related to CRM, e-WOM and customer equity. Consequently, more research efforts are necessary to examine the online marketing framework and offer a better understanding of social media for these aims.

As observed from the definitions of social media marketing, as well as this concept's impact on CRM, eWOM and advertising, for organizations to success on these platforms it is necessary for them to allocate the necessary resources to create viral content, but also to monitor and share user generated content that was developed by loyal consumers. Especially in online frameworks, a type of content (video, photo, blog, meme, podcast, ebook, SlideShare, post) that was generated by a consumer will gain much more traction online than a similar type of content that was created by a company or organization. As a similarity to word-of-mouth, a type of recommendation or critique from someone relatable is more likely to get noticed and enhanced in online settings.

As companies observed this trend, they have allocated a part of their online marketing budget to influencers. As Morrison from Adweek proposed in early 2017, influencer marketing is becoming an integral part of social media marketing and it implies the promotion and selling products and services through people (influencers) who have a large base of followers. Further, the main purpose of influencer marketing it to determine certain behavioral results, in the form of purchases or intent to buy of their followers. Even if influencer marketing has similarities to celebrity marketing, its distinction is based on the fact that anyone who has a large following of different social media platforms can become an influencer for a brand or product.

Companies should also allocate resources to monitor social media discussions about their brands, and observe the general sentiment about their products, and examine which developed content (by the company or by other consumers) is generating positive word or mouth or has viral tendencies.

Therefore, this study provides strong evidence that social media and their application should be the focus of attention for both perspectives practitioners and researchers.


Managerial Implications

The current study provides an understanding of the research trends on the subject of social media marketing, with additional actionable tactics, practices and strategies for organizations that have an online presence on these platforms. Product and services purchases directly through social media platforms seem likely to increase over time, especially considering the increasing rates of both online shopping and social media use. It is essential to comprehend aspects that influence the online consumer decision process for a successful social media marketing plan. Based on their study on influences of social media purchasing, Lindsey-Mullikin and Borin propose the following strategies for successful social media sales: stimulatinh sales by signaling value, actively managing social media sites, encouraging communication amongst friends to increase customers.

Marketers should focus on developing marketing strategies that emphasizes customer relationship building on social media, which creates the premises for consumer engagement and co-creation. Various studies showed that investment in social media technology can grant firms substantial relationship management benefits.

Different types of communications created, developed and shared on social media by brand consumers can then be re-purposed and transformed in advertising campaigns, as stand-alone promotional tools for brand awareness. These tools can also be linked to discounts, special competitions, event marketing or other sales promotions to generate behavioral activities that go beyond the online environment. By pursuing such a tactic for brand awareness or sales stimulation, companies portray a more authentic and relateable image of thier brands to their main targets.

To achieve high levels of success, I propose that organizations also need to:

  • Create a personalized experiences for customers
  • Create an efficient content marketing strategy, regarding the consistent formula that will be used for different social media platforms, using different tools (videos, images, gifs, blog posts, podcasts, etc.)
  • Create a loyal community formed from a targeted audience to develop brand advocates and influencers
  • Repurpose content created and shared on social media platforms by brand consumers
  • Research, monitor and learn about customers based on conversations with them on social media, suggestions or feedback provided in online settings.


Limitations and Future Directions for Research

Several limitations to the current study suggest potentially valuable avenues for future research. First, this article is theoretical and conceptual, thus it lacks the empirical analysis of social media marketing and online consumer behavior.

Future research should focus on examining consumer behavior on social media marketing, by proposing and validating a scale that would explain this behavior. Moreover, researchers should investigate the differences of online consumer behavior based on different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat). Social media aspects are still in the early stage of research in examining their extent for digital marketing. As a result, Alalwan et al. note this might be the main obstacle in studying the attitudinal and behavioral responses of consumers toward digital marketing tactics on social media platforms.

As described above, a related area of social media marketing that has lacks academic perspectives is influencer marketing in online frameworks. Finding the premises that lead to influencers' role in SMM is a research path will multiple managerial and practical implications for marketing. Interactivity has been another imperative factor in consumer engagement on social media. Subsequently, future studies should aim to clarify how this factor could have an impact on the customers' responses for the advertising activities as part of social media marketing.