Abstract

People worldwide are largely engaged and

attached with the web 2.0 technology and
Social media platforms. By the same token,
businesses start looking at such technologies
as effective mechanisms to interact more with
their customers. Equally, the related issues of
social media marketing have been also the
focus of attention for academics and
researchers to expand the current
understanding about such phenomena over
the marketing area. Accordingly, the main aim
of this study is to systematically examine and
review the current studies that have conducted
over the related area of social media and
marketing. By reviewing approximately 144
articles, the researchers were able to provide
an overview of the main themes and trends
covered by the relevant literature such as the
role of social media on advertising, the
electronic word of mouth, customers’
relationship management, and firms’ brands
and performance. In this review, it has also
studied the most common research
approaches adopted to examine the related
issues of social media marketing. Further
discussion is also introduced followed by an
explanation of the current review limitations
and recommended directions to be examined
by future studies.
6|Page
 Literature Review
In a decade's time, the social media has not
only brought about drastic changes in the
mode of communication but has also become
an important marketing tool, making it an area
of eminent interest for the academicians as
well as the industrialists. This study provides a
taxonomic classification of the social media
research articles published in the marketing
journals listed on the website of the Academy
of Marketing Science, from 2004 to March
2015. In addition to it a framework depicting
various antecedents, mediators, moderators
and consequences has been developed. This
is presumably the first exhaustive review of the
literature on the social media for the period
2004-March 2015, comprising both
classification of the literature and various
constructs adopted in the social media
research. It contributes to the existing body of
literature by providing more comprehensive
knowledge of the trends in, and the cause-
and-effect relationship between the constructs
used in the social media research.

7|Page
Conceptual Background
The concept of social media has grown rapidly
in the last years. This can be attributed to the
rate of adoption and the penetration of social
media around the world. Currently, there is an
estimate of over two billion people that are
actively using social media. The increased
usage of social media has changed the way
people interact and communicate. Literature
suggests that Internet-enabled social networks
(relationship between or among individuals
and groups) are developing faster than offline
relationships. Previous studies have linked
social media to the social network theories that
define social relationships based on the
actors, the ties that exist and the flow of
resources among them. This is made possible
by social networking sites and other Internet
enabled services that allow friends to meet,
connect and interact. Social media allow for
individuals, groups or organisations to build
their social network of friends and followers. It
also facilitates the formation of communities
with common interest. Social media facilitate
the creation and exchange of content such as
8|Page
text messages, images, audio and video
formats among individuals or communities that
share a common interest or belong to the
same social network. Social capital theorists
suggest that the ties that exist in social
interaction like on social media have the ability
to create benefit for the actors in the networks.
This provides the foundation to study the
benefits that individuals and organization can
obtain from social media. The opportunity to
target and communicate directly with the target
market and potential customer qualifies social
media as a valuable marketing tool and an
important component of the integrated
marketing communication. As a marketing
communication tool, social media introduces a
completely new paradigm into marketing
communications. Therefore marketing
professionals and academics are continuously
seeking how to take advantage of social media
for different industries. In the field of politics,
the use of marketing concepts to engage
voters and drive collective participation in
political processes has become critical due to
stiff competition.

9|Page
Role of Social Media in
Digital Marketing

Social media strengthens the

relationship between you and your
existing customers and opens a door for
attracting new customers. Social media
is basically a term given to a series of
the web or online channels such as
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and many
more. These channels serve as a
pathway to make your brand stand out
in the market. You can easily reach your
audience and understand where you
stand in the market. The following points
elaborate the role of social media in
digital marketing.

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Mentioned below is the role of
Social Media in Digital
Marketing:-
1. MARKETING STRATEGIES

Ever since social media has become a tight

necessity for the crowd these days, we can
easily have a sneak peek into everybody’s
lives. This sneak peak is highly beneficial
for the purpose of marketing. You can
easily get to know about the updates
people make on daily basis and plan
accordingly. You can categorize them on
0the basis of their interests and have high
probability of meeting the right customers.

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2. QUICK PROBLEM RESOLVEMENT

Social media provides an opportunity to

quickly react to the feedback. Either the
outcome is positive or negative, you have
got the way to respond within seconds. A
research has found that customers are
more likely to remain consistent to those
firms who respond to their queries and
feedback. Tweets and statuses depict if
any issue has been arrived from the side of
customer and you can take the appropriate
steps to resolve it, this will help in
customer retention.

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3. MORE SALES

When you always remain in front of the

customers, they are more likely to buy
items frequently from your store or connect
with your services. Social media helps to
present your firm repeatedly in front of the
customers. In some amount of time, their
attention is most likely to drawn towards
your business which might eventually leads
to sales increment. Also you can provide
incentives to your customers.

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4. FREE

Unlike most of the online digital marketing

tools, social media is free to use and
promote stuff. You can create a page of
your business without spending a single
penny on it. Target your audience, achieve
reports, connect with customers, learn their
interests, approach them, solve their
queries, reply on their feedback, make
improvements, do daily updates and a lot
more without worrying about the money.

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5. BRANDING

Trust is the key towards success. You read

it right, customers tend to rely on the bands
which has already built trust in the industry.
All of the famous brands which have been
in the market for a while now are reliable.
No matter if you are about to earn your
voice in the market or you have been
struggling for some time, social media
promises to get your voice real soon
considering your services to be at par.
People tend to recognize the brand more
once they start noticing the stuff over
social media. Don’t take social media for
granted in terms of voice and powers.
Using social media for branding is a most
promising technique.
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6. LEADS TO CONVERSION

Every post your share, post, update,

comment has a higher probability of turning
leads to conversions. For each reaction
you receive over the image probably leads
to your conversion. Not all reactions
contribute to the conversions but those
with positive interactions. So, the more
attractive you represent your site in terms
of info graphics and content, the bold your
hold becomes in the industry. This will be
extremely helpful in increasing
the conversion rate.

7. IMPROVED INSIGHTS
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It has been observed and concluded that
knowing your customers is vital for
success. By knowing them, you can build
up more précised list of targeted
customers. You can even learn their
interests and traits and get to know how
to approach them in a way that they
cannot resist themselves from
connecting you. Even you can observe
the comments being made on your
business page to learn and how can you
make it better.

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8. SOCIAL MEDIA – PLATFORM TO
RESEARCH

Researches have proved the fact that

people rely on the brands who have
enhanced and better version of their
presence on the social media sites. This
is because social media marketing
addresses the customers well and in
return customers learn a lot about their
brands. An active social networking
account adds value to your business. A
socially active brand makes to the top of
the industry. It is easy to define you and
your brand through social ecosystem. As
soon as you understand the value of it,
start working without wasting time.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of
Social Media Marketingbrand
awareness
When social media first came into being,
no one knew the impact it would create
on the society. It was originally
developed as a tool for interaction
among people but as it grew, businesses
began gaining interest in using it to
advertise their goods and services.
Given how these public networking took
the globe by storm, no business, small
or large, local or international could
afford to turn a blind eye on it
The fact that it is a platform of
conversation and sharing of information,
it can be used to market brands through
services offered by Facebook, Google+,
Twitter, LinkedIn among other websites
services rendered. However, given its
positive impact on business activities, it
still has some cons which need to be
scrutinized before venturing into online
.marketing
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Advantages
Increased brand awareness
Given in the current world almost every
person owns a smartphone, desktop or a
laptop, and they spend a lot of time in
social media sites, implementing social
media marketing strategy greatly
improves product recognition since you
will be interacting with a broad
audience. To get started one can request
employees, instagram followers and
friends to like and share your post or
page. Getting people to interact with
your product creates awareness among
the public, hence they may end up being
.potential customers

Better customer satisfaction

It is the human nature to attract
attention. Establishing social media
marketing allows one to respond to
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specific customer at a time. Customers
do really appreciate when they know
they will get personalized response when
they post comments on your page rather
than get automated message response.
It shows that you are attentive and
caring. This puts you as a marketer at
an advantage position since more
.customers will be attracted

Cost effective
Social media marketing is possibly the
most cost-effective mode of advertising
any product. Creating a new profile and
signing in is free for almost every social
media. Those that usually charge, the
amount is minute compared to the
overall returns. Saving on advertisement
expenses ensure greater returns and
investments
.

Increased inbound traffic

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Introducing social media marketing
platform increases inbound traffic, that
is, people are able to find your product
with ease. Without it, people will go
searching your product by name or
website address. This is very limiting
especially to persons who have yet to
.discover your brand.

Gain market insight

For any business to succeed, the owner
must know the customers need, opinions
and interests. There is no better method
to collect such data apart from social
media platforms. Gaining this
information gives you an opportunity to
know areas which you can improve in
order to get ahead of competitors and
improve turnouts.
.

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Disadvantages
Exposure to competitors
Social media marketing enables you to
study your competitors strategy.
However, they can still study your
business methods through your social
media platform. This puts your business
.at the risk of being outdone.

Needs qualified personnel

In order to focus on core business
issues, you will have to employ a
qualified personnel to manage your
account and have the traffic under
control. This implies that you have to
invest both in apparatus and salary for
quality outcome.

Slow returns on investments

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Social media marketing is a long term
investment and one cannot expect
returns in an overnight. For companies
looking for quick results, implementing
traditional methods like word of mouth
.would be appropriate.

Tarnish brand name

In the event that a negative information
finds its way onto social media platform,
the public will have the chance to
express their dissatisfaction. This will
tarnish your product name and deter
potential customers from establishing
relationships and doing business with
the brand.

Time consuming
People may deliberately ignore your
page because they may be interested in
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other sites. To get them to appreciate
and share your posts may take time. For
this reason resources in terms of money
and time must be allocated to ensure
.frequent publishing of aesthetic posts

In summary, before you invest in social

media marketing strategy, strongly
consider the effect of the system on
your business. Having a social account
to advertise your product is good idea
that can help boost your business while
spreading your products information
over a large geographical area.
However, if negative impact resulting
from the platform outdo the advantages,
you should consider trying another
method.

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Social media marketing is
important
since it can boost your traffic
exponentially. The results are not
temporary especially if you comment on
viral posts on various social media sites.
If your content is really good, full of
ideas and are clickable enough, traffic
will just flow automatically cyclically. I
Listed below 5 of the most used social
media sites in digital advertising.
1. Facebook
The most popular of the social media
sites, created and still controlled by Mark
Zuckerburg, is essentially the most
powerful tool you can utilize in your
digital advertising campaign for select
products, services and special offers.
According to recent reports, there are at
least 1.3 billion people that are active
Facebook users every month – that’s a
HUGE market. That’s a huge amount of
audience you can potentially reach for
your business. We advise you to create
[a] professional Facebook page(s) for
your business and, thus, use said
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platform to advertise your business. This
is an opportunity you should not miss as
this tool is offered for free; albeit, to
effectively use Facebook, it is wise to
develop a paid advertising strategy for
lead generation, to administer top-of-
mind-awareness (TOMA), and to build
custom audiences and lists to market to
in the future. It is a very powerful tool to
take advantage of to increase your
revenue and boost your company’s
visibility online to a wide and targeted
customer base.

2. Twitter
According to HubSpot, there are 302
million active users of Twitter and there
are approximately 500 million tweets
sent each day on the platform. It is clear
by the numbers and statistics that this
social media site can be an effective
medium for your digital marketing
campaign(s). According to the published
case studies, users of this particular site
spend an average of 3 hours per month
in reading and posting content online.
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We suggest tweeting one to three times
per day, testing advertising investment
dollars to build your audience, and
promoting the messaging that defines
your corporate culture, vis-à-vis product
and/or service offerings, ultimately
closes the loop for users that prefer this
social media network. These users are
searching Twitter for their research
validation to spend money with your
company so make it count.

3. LinkedIn
This tool is very effective for attracting
and finding successful sales leads.
LinkedIn does not only serve as a social
media platform, but lets you connect to
individual people, potential customers
and clients in order to grow your
professional network. Further, the
platform is excellent for optimizing
profiles, content and published articles
for ranking in the search engines for
target keyword groups. This is a more
secure way of dealing with people in the
field of business, also, as you can vet
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people rather quickly given the
intelligence provided from connections,
organizations and similar attributes
through LinkedIn. According to
Mashable, there are over 300 million
active users on the platform as of May
2014; and, it is estimated that 100
million LinkedIn accounts are owned by
people living within the United States.
Unofficial research reports also reveal
that as of July this year, site
membership increased by 21% reaching
to 380 million. We suggest your
business creates a professional page,
posts on the page two to seven times
per week and to establish a brand
influencer to publish articles directly on
the LinkedIn platform.

4. Google My Business
According to Forbes Magazine, Google
My Business (GMB) is a very handy tool
you can use in order to increase your
presence online. It basically lets you list
not only your contact information, but
also allows users to post their business

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hours, along with locations, through
Google Maps and Google directions. We
suggest you create your account, claim
your GMB at your location via their
postcard mailing system, and drive
customers to your page(s) to leave
reviews and create feedback citations to
your business. GMB is great for local
SEO optimization, brand exposure, and
to funnel traffic to your website(s).

5. Yelp
According to a Local SEO Company in
Washington, DC, creating a Yelp account
can help you increase awareness for
your business. This advertising tool lets
customers post their comments, reviews
and suggestions for your business. Very
much like GMB, it is critical to claim your
Yelp listing, lead customers to post
reviews and to create engagement about
your culture, value proposition and to
communicate the intangible about what
makes your business special.
Digital Marketing Questionnaire

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The purpose of this questionnaire is to give us
a complete understanding of your organisation
so we can deliver the best solution for your
xmuch detail as possible, skipping any that
don’t apply.
1.Organisation name: What is the full name
of your organisation?
2.Website address: What is the primary
domain name you are looking to improve and
do you have any other relevant domains
and/or websites? Is this a new website or
existing site?
3. Organisation purpose: What is the main
purpose of your organisation including what
products/services you provide?

4. Customers: Who are your target

customers?
5. Geographical Markets: What geographical
areas does your business cater for? E.g. local,
UK, international

6. Marketing mix: What other methods of

marketing do you use at the moment? E.g.
PR, TV, Press, Direct Mail, Email Marketing,
Events
31 | P a g e
7. Competitors: Who are your key
competitors?
8. Unique benefits: Why do your customers
choose you?
9. Objectives: What are the key objectives
and goals of the website/campaign? E.g.
Traffic, lead generation, sales, reputation.
10. Website measurement: Which web
analytics package(s) do you use? E.g. Google
Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools
11. Offline measurement: How do you
measure the source of offline enquiries/sales?
E.g. Phone calls
12.Current results: What traffic, leads and
sales revenue is your site currently generating
each month? Do you find there are seasonal
or monthly peaks such as Christmas/summer
or when you send email marketing
campaigns? Are there traffic/conversion
slumps throughout the year?

13. Website changes: How easily can you

make technical and content updates to your
website including (a) modifying website code,
32 | P a g e
(b) changing title tags, (c) amending page
copy and (d) adding new pages? E.g. Content
management system, in-house developer, web
agency.
14. Content: What existing content assets do
you have? E.g. Press releases, blogs,
brochures, email newsletters, articles, videos,
images, photography, case studies,
presentations, social media profiles, adverts.
15. Results: What results do you want to see
and by when? What specific traffic, new
customers, sales revenue targets would make
you really happy if these were able to be
achieved within 12 months?
16. Return on Investment: To help us work
out your return on investment, please let us
know what an average order of a new
customer is worth and how often they are
likely to re-order? We will then be able to see
what investment would be able to achieve your
goals.

17. Services: Which services would you like

further information on? E.g. Digital Strategy,
SEO, PPC (Google AdWords, Bing adCenter),
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Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Google+, Pinterest), Conversion Rate
Optimisation, Display Advertising (Google
Display Network, Facebook Ads, Linkedin
Ads), Content Creation, Affiliate Marketing,
Email Marketing, Website Development,
Mobile Marketing (Apps, Mobile Websites),
Creative (Photography, Video, Illustration),
User Experience, Analytics.
18. Implementation: How would you like to
work with an agency? E.g. Consultancy
(where we advise your team), Management
(where we become your team) or Training
(where we give your team the tools to do it
themselves)
19. Further information: Is there anything
else we should be aware of? E.g. Are you
already working with another agency, do you
need to get results for a specific deadline.

34 | P a g e
 Questionnaire
Name of the

1. Do you think Social Media Marketing can help in the success of a

company?

a) Yes b) No.

2. Which Social media site do you find most effective?

koobecaf(a

b) Twitter

c) Linked In

d)CorporateBlogs.

35 | P a g e
 a) Facebook

3. On a grade of (1-5) 1 being the least & 5 be the highest how would you rate the
following sites?

1 2 3 4 5

Facebook
Twitter
Linked in
Orkut
Flickr
Google+

4. When did your company started using Social Media Marketing?

a) Before 1 year. c) 2-3 year

b) 1-2 year. d) More than 3 year.

5. How will you rate Social Media marketing in your business application?

a) Excellent c) Average.

b) Good. d) Poor.

6. Does your organization have any a) Networking. b) Visibility.

dedicated department for Social Media
c) Branding.
marketing?
d) Communication.
a) Yes b) No.
8. Please indicate with whom you
7. How will you rate Social Media interact mostly while using Social
Marketing (1-5) where 1-being the least Networking Sites?
& 5-being highest on the following
People Nearl Fairl Rarel Nev
parameters?
y y y er

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 Alwa often
ys
Co-
workers
Close
friends
Families

People
who live
far away
People
whom you
don’t
know
Competito
rs

9. What metrics you want to achieve

through Social Media Marketing?

a) E- commerce Sale

b) Lead generation.

c) Reputation management.

d) Promote an event.

e) Build Brand Image

37 | P a g e
10. What benefits are you getting through Social media Marketing?

a) Brand Awareness.

b) Bring attention to your products.

c) Better Customer Loyalty & trust.

d) Strengthen Customer Service.

11. Which target market does Social Media enable you to reach?

a) Businesses

b) Youths.

c) Families.

d) Prospect Clients.

12. Can Social media helps to improve the communication in internal

organization?

a) Yes

b) No.

13. How do you rate your employees on basis of involvement in Social

Media Marketing?

a) Excellent.

b) Good

c) Average

d) Poor.

14. How Social Media helps your organization in HR practices?

a) Employee Engagement.

b) Recruitment.

c) Organizational Development.

d) Creative Solutions.

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 15. Do you have set a certain Promotional budget for Social Media
Marketing?

a) Yes

b) No.

If yes, then how much percentage

i. 1-2%
ii. 2-4%
iii. 4-7%
iv. More than 7%

16. Which tools are you using to select your target audience through Social
Media Marketing?

a) Blogs.

b) Tweets

c) RSS feeds

d) Communities

e) Buzz

f) Others

17. What do you think Social Media Marketing should be?

a) Company specific.

b) Brand specific.

18. Have you identified any business advantage of Social Media over
Traditional Media?

a) Yes.

b) No.

If yes please specify,

i. Quick updates
ii. Creating community
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iii. Fan pages
iv. Popularity with in short span of time

19. How do you show your promotional activities through Social Media
Marketing?

a) By Photos.

b) By Videos.

c) By Updates.

d) All the above.

20. How do you response towards your audience comments?

a) Response Immediately.

b) Take views of people & implement.

c) Response after a period of time.

d) Ignore.

21. What changes the industry has seen due to Social Media Marketing?

a) Industry Growth.

b) More competitors.

c) More challenging environments.

d) Chances of global expansion.

22. Why have you chosen Social Media Marketing?

a) Better customer reach

b) Lesser price

c) Global expansion

d) Research & learning

23. What are the don’ts of Social Media Marketing?

a) Never lie

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b) Never Spam

c) Never too promotion.

d) Never forget online reputation Management.

24. What do you think Social Media Marketing of your company is?

a) One way communication.

b) Two way communication.

c) Interactive.

25. What sales promotion tools do you use in Social Media to generate
traffic?

a) Discounts.

b) Coupons.

c) Contests.

d) Instructional Videos.

26. On a scale of (1-5) where 1 being the least & 5 being the highest, how
would you rate the other sources apart from Social Media Marketing?

a) Newspapers.

b) Hoardings.

c) Pamphlets

d) Banners

e) Magazines

27. What major challenges will Social Media face in near future?

41 | P a g e
 a) Culture.

b) Governance

c) Measurement & ROI

d) Human Resources.

e) Privacy.

28. What new things emerged out after using Social Media Marketing?

a) Online communication is important.

b) Content really is king.

c) Things are growing.

d) Need to be Consistent.

29. How would you rate the similarities Social Media Marketing & SEO?

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree
Both revolve
around
quality
content.
Long term
success in
merit based
Each involve
trust
Both build
onsite &
offsite efforts.
Both needed
to start small
business.

30. Are you satisfied with your current Social Media Marketing Strategies?

a) Yes

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b) No.

31. Any suggestion would you like to give for the better use of Social
Media?

………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………
…..

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 CONCLUSION
You can easily get the interests of the people;
it helps to find the target customers of your
services or products.
Social media create a great opportunity to
react quickly to customers feedback, request
or queries related to your field or services.
People will like to get a quick response if you
help them to resolve their queries surely it will
help in customer retention.

If you give recent updates in social media,

surely people will visit your business page or
business accounts regularly. So that social
media also helps to present your page or
updates to the users frequently. It leads to
customers attention and improves the
branding, sales leads, and the main thing is to
improve your brand trust if some follow or likes
your page then social media channels are
considered as the authorized account it
improves your credit in social media channels.
Finally, there are many ways to improve sales
and branding of our business, but choose the
right way so that you will not lose your
customers and reputation at any point in
time. Social media channels are the best
way to reach your customers and attract
towards to take your services or buy products.
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