Traditional Marketing to Online Marketing with Social Media. Meghan Quint. English 2000, Section 15. Issue Argument.

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1 Traditional Marketing to Online Marketing with Social Media Meghan Quint English 2000, Section 15 Issue Argument 29 October 2014 Word Count: 1,516 All the writing in this paper is my own except for material from sources that I have appropriately documented.

2 The world is becoming more and more complex as it progresses throughout the years. The more experience and knowledge being known in modern times makes technology advance and escalate rather quickly when compared to the previous era. Technology has become one of the biggest factors in human life and has made certain tasks simpler such as taking notes in class, expressing thoughts to thousands of people, or even making a payment at a grocery store. For example, perhaps a marketing executive wanted to have a successful advertisement. He or she would not hand out flyers at the corner of a street, but would rather use some form of technology instead. Without the use of technology in marketing approaches, marketing would not be close to what it has become today. Furthermore, if traditional marketing were still in use, such as passing out flyers or using door hangers to advertise, the message being advertised would not spread near as far as it could with the help of technology in online marketing. Being that technology has become extremely influential in our world today, it is most definitely the first source that comes to mind when trying to get a certain message advertised worldwide. Technology also holds a valuable and crucial concept referred to as social media. Social media is an efficient and effective way to get your messages across the world quickly. Christina Chung, a marketing professor at Anisfield School of Business in New Jersey, and Kristine Austria, former student at Ramapo College of New Jersey, worked together on an article describing an experimental study on social media and marketing. Chung and Austria state, Social media provide a virtual network place where people can enjoy expressing their opinions, exchange opinions, disseminate and control messages anywhere anytime. The results showed how positive marketing attempts increase online shopping and in turn are more successful. It further explains that using traditional marketing is not as successful as using online marketing in

3 today s world, simply because of the technological advances and how social media is providing a very fast and easy way to be up-to-date with new products and promotions (Chung 585). Businesses believe the viral attribute of social media helps in marketing specific merchandise, and marketers are now leaning more towards social media marketing instead of traditional marketing (Steinman 1). All in all, social media is opening a door to a huge amount of potential success in businesses and is becoming the main form of technology in marketing used today. To begin, the largest social media source, dominating social media with 160 million U.S. visitors each month, that is used today is an Internet website called Facebook that can generate numerous amounts of users who, in turn, generate a number of friends as well (Lipsman 40). This form of social media is providing people with relationships among each other using social interaction (Chung 583). When an advertisement is placed on the side of the screen while a user navigates through Facebook, it is almost guaranteed that a countless amount of others are looking at that same advertisement as well. An example of this comes from an article by Stuart Elliot when he proceeds to talk about a company called Perfetti Van Melle that plans to introduce Mentos UP2U by using technology and social media to help spread the word about its new line of stick gum. They planned on using digital media, in particular Facebook, as part of their main pitch for the new UP2U brand. By giving away free samples through Facebook, the company was able to get their new name brand of gum out and in the open much faster than a traditional marketing method (Elliott). Facebook is becoming the most dominant social-networking site (Lipsman 40). Andrew Lipsman, Graham Mudd, and Mike Rich correlate the Facebook users and the specific brand content that is marketed through Facebook in an article called, The Power of Like. They describe two potential audiences on Facebook as being the fans of the brands and the friends of the fans of the brands. The article goes even further by mentioning

4 how marketers gain credible advice on how to create an effective strategy in reaching out to a specific audience using Facebook (Lipsman 40). Social media is key to both advertising and marketing not only through Facebook, but through several other sources of social media as well. In addition to Facebook being an explicit example of social media usage, another source of technology being used in social media is an Internet radio application commonly known as Pandora. Pandora is a free Internet radio station that plays a variety of songs based on the quality and emotional content of different songs (Szymanski 21). Advertisements are placed in between individual songs that force the listener to listen to the advertisement before advancing to the next song. I know from personal experience that I can repeat a prior advertisement recently used by Pandora word for word, verbatim, only because I have no choice but to listen to the advertisement before I can proceed to my next song choice. Marketing executives believe that using this form of social media for advertisements will advance their successes to a whole new level than before when they were using traditional marketing instead. Susan McPartlin, a retail and consumer industry leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, is referenced in Stuart Elliot s Building a Buzz in Social Media Ahead of Traditional Marketing article saying that marketing executives, in the past, had a defensive approach in thinking technology would be considered a risk. She adds that nowadays, marketing executives have a more offensive outlook towards technology by allowing all of their information to be known, as well as their information being open to critics. Information can be dispersed to millions of people throughout the world by a simple touch of a button (Jennings 96). Being able to use social media technology to portray a message in an instant to thousands and thousands of people was completely unheard of in the past and has now become a common notion. It is nearly impossible for a generalized message to be able to get across the world that quickly by simply passing out flyers or placing signs along

5 the sides of the road. Granted it does help in advertisement on a smaller scale when trying to reach out to individuals just around the corner. However, it is not as effective on a larger scale in trying to reach out to individuals around the world, which is best accomplished using the social media form of technology. As usual, there is always an opposing view to every opinion and argument. Exchanging and communicating through social media has become a part of today s human culture. Susan Evans Jennings, Justin R. Blount, and M. Gail Weatherly s article describes how some employers may think of social media as a virtual Pandora s Box. The authors further explain how social media seems to be a wonderful tool in marketing, but can also unleash a firestorm of unforeseen challenges and consequences ranging from financial, to legal, to ethical (Jennings 96). Social media opens the pathway for individuals to share their thoughts and personal experiences, which can be beneficial to a business but also risky at the same time. The authors state, It only takes one ill-worded or ill-timed post to create a company nightmare (Jennings 102). Social media is highly unpredictable and could turn out to be good or bad, which is the primary reason for most company s creating social media policies for their employers to strictly follow. Businesses should continuously remain informed of the pertinent legal issues when using social media in order to protect themselves from liability risks (Steinman 1). Some individuals may not be properly trained on using this social media since it is relatively new (last ten or so years) to businesses in their utilization for marketing purposes (Jennings 97). This new era of technology could be more costly in having to continuously pay for the training of these uninformed employees to remain up-to-date with the constant changes in social media. All in all, in addition to the legal liabilities of social media usage in businesses and companies, social media can also be a major cost concern as well. Some businesses may prefer to use traditional

6 marketing rather than evolving with the new technologies of online marketing in order to save them from the headache of legality issues. In conclusion, social media and technology are the new hit for marketing strategies and advertisement advances and is redefining how people communicate. Even though social media outlets create instantaneous interactions, education, and conversation, they also present enormous challenges as well. Technology may be disruptive, but it allows businesses to quickly deliver and receive messages, along with being able to captivate and engage customers. Without technology in the world today, marketing would be extremely far behind and would become too big of a hassle for the average businessperson to handle. Technology will continue to progress and improve as time goes on and keeping up with these technological advancements will only help a business to succeed in their marketing strategies.

7 Works Cited Chung, Christina, and Kristine Austria. "Social Media Gratification And Attitude Toward Social Media Marketing Messages: A Study Of The Effect Of Social Media Marketing Messages On Online Shopping Value." Proceedings Of The Northeast Business & Economics Association (2010): Business Source Complete. Web. 9 Oct < 76b9-4d89-8af4-9aa58374c85e%40sessionmgr198&vid=4&hid=119> Elliott, Stuart. "Building a Buzz in Social Media Ahead of Traditional Marketing." New York Times 22 June Print. Jennings, Susan Evans, Justin R. Blount, and M. Gail Weatherly. "Social Media A Virtual Pandora s Box: Prevalence, Possible Legal Liabilities, And Policies." Business Communication Quarterly 77.1 (2014): Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Oct < Lipsman, Andrew, et al. "The Power Of "Like": How Brands Reach (And Influence) Fans Through Social-Media Marketing." Journal Of Advertising Research 52.1 (2012): Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Oct < dc d0d-695d538adc67%40sessionmgr114&vid=2&hid=119> Steinman, Melissa Landau, and Mikhia Hawkins. "When Marketing Through Social Media, Legal Risks Can Go Viral." Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal 22.8 (2010): 1-9. Business Source Complete. Web. 28 Oct

8 < Szymanski, Gerry, (Author). "Pandora, Or, A Never-Ending Box Of Musical Delights." Music Reference Services Quarterly (2009): RILM Abstracts of Music Literature. Web. 28 Oct <