Marketing

Use of social media in business

Introduction

Social media is an integral part of the online activities which is different from the traditional media and it provides a scope to the small and medium sized firms as well as the multinational corporations to establish their business sustainably. There is different use of social media where the business firms try to achieve success and meet their aims and objectives in long run. The organisations in the recent years face the issue of high competition in the market and it is difficult for them to gain high market share and improve their competitive advantage. The corporate firms try to improve their brand image in the market and make the business reputed across the international nations.

Through social media, the managers can expand the business and retain more clients for the organisational products and services. The organisations mainly aim to utilise the social platform as it acts as a source to develop two way communications between the customers and the organisational representatives. Hereby, social media is on type of interactive platform where both the parties can communicate with each other. Social media is also useful for the small and medium sized firms or multinational corporations to attract the audience and provide effective information to them regarding variety of products, innovative technology, price of the products and other service related information.

Advantages of social network

These are effective and important for the organisations to attract the customers and retain them for their quality products, social media advertisement in this regard is beneficial to build strong corporate relationship with the customers and improve engagement with them for long run. Conversation and sharing view with the organisational representatives also provides a scope to the managers to acknowledge the market trend and needs of the consumers and they try to develop effective strategic planning to satisfy the customers and create values for them. Social media is therefore beneficial for the organisations in the recent years to gain competitive advantage and improve market share across the globe.

Moreover, the brand image and identity of the organisation can also be improved through social media. Strengthening the customer’s base as well as improving the sales volume of the organisations can also be easy through social media as it helps to improve brand visibility in the market. Social media advertising is advantageous for improving trust and customer loyalty where the companies can retain the consumers or long run. Hereby, social media platform plays a significant role in developing effective marketing strategy of the companies through which the organisations can expand their branches and run the business operational activities strategically.

There are several activities in the social media platform through which the business firms can manage their operational activities in the market. The social network is effective to connect the people across the globe. The social network is effective to improve engagement with all the people where one post can attract more audiences. In the recent years, people prefer social media for gathering new update news and information and it is helpful for the corporate firms to upload attractive informative post in social media which can engage more customers across the globe. In addition to these, media sharing network is also another cause for using social where people orb organisations can share photos, videos etc. to attract the audiences. This is also beneficial where the organisations can establish the business through uploading effective photos that can improve customer’s trust and loyalty. This is also effective for successful branding where the customers can identify the brand in the market.

Discussion forum is another advantage of social media where the individuals can share news and ideas, and this is effective for the corporate firms to share their news related to organisational resources, turnover and investment in public forums. This information is beneficial for the management team to attract more investors as well as retain more corporate clients for the business expansion. In addition to these, social media can be used as customer review network where the consumers provide proper feedback after using the organisational products and services. This is also advantageous where the customers can understand the brand reputation, quality of the products and price. The other people also can review the customer’s feedback and it further influence the purchase intention of the customers. The customer’s review is also beneficial where the managers can take it as the feedback and improve the organisational products and services. This further provides a scope to improve organisational creativity and innovation to serve the customers in better way.

Ways to use social network

Social network can be utilised in various ways where the organisations can use social media campaigning for promoting the products in the market. It is effective to connect all the social communities and retain among the societies for them for long run. Through social campaign, it is easy to improve brand visibility and raise awareness regarding utilisation of the products and services. Hereby, the customers can gather knowledge and understand the utilities of the organisational products and services through attending the social campaign. In addition to these, using social blogs is useful where the organisational representatives, CEO or directors and shareholders can review bout the brand which has crucial impacts on the brand value and image in the society. This is effective for improving trust and loyalty among the social communities where the individuals sometime follow daily blogs of the branch head of the corporate firms.

Additionally, the corporate firms as well as small and medium sized firms in the recent years prefer social media as a platform to launch their products where it is easy to improve engagement with the social communities and it further helps to attract the customers and influence their purchase intention of the people. In addition to these, the companies try to create short videos about the use of products and launch it in YouTube. For example, Lakme promote their Lakme CC cream as instant make up cream for party look or office purpose where the video informs the audiences about the products, suitability, price and availability of the products in the market. This is an effective video for attracting new customers as well as retains old as well as new people for the products. YouTube is an appropriate strategic planning through which the brands can promote their products in a broader way where all the population across the globe can access the information regarding suitability of the products.

On the other hand, Facebook is another platform where the organisations can promote their products, the company develops own Facebook page where they can manage the customers and promote new short live videos, information with simple content and clipart. For example, Nike has Facebook page where they are efficient in managing the customers and provide updated information to the customers. Inspiring message to the customers and quality of the products further attract the audiences in the market worldwide. Nike is successful in strengthening through Facebook and it is an effective platform where the customers can interact with the brand and make effective purchase decision. Moreover, Nike also invests in social campaign for inspiring the athletes which further helps them to utilise social media and promote their organisational quality products across the globe.

Customer discussion forum is another effective social media platform where people worldwide can provide their views and ideas as well as feedback over particular product or service. The public discussion forum is effective as it helps the people to get proper information and it further motivates the person to make effective purchase decision. Hereby, social media plays an influential role for the small and medium sized firms as well as the multinational corporate firms to operate in the market by improving brand image and visibility as well as strengthen customer’s base. Through social media it is possible to attract more audiences and promote the organisational products or services an effective market across the globe where it is easy to improve engagement with the customers.

Price:

Price is another factor to attract more audiences in the market and in this regard, Red Bull focuses on premium pricing strategy to retain the customers for their quality products. Through premium pricing tactics, the company set the price comparatively high in order to acknowledge the perception of the buyers and increase the sales volume of the products.

Place:

Placing the products is another effective marketing tool through which the company can enhance their sale volume. In this regard, Red Bull targets the shopping malls, retail stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, clubs, pubs, bars, social events, sports, campus and festivals.

Promotion:

In order to promote the products across the international places, Red Bull utilises the strategy of advertisement and athlete endorser which are effective tactics for improving brand image and retaining long term customers. In addition to these, word of mouth, point of purchase and event sponsorship is other strategies of Red Bull through which the organisation tries to target more customers across the global markets (Red Bull, 2018).

STP analysis for Red Bull

The company needs to segment the customer’s group by their age and profession. The company Red Bull likes to sponsor in events for expanding their brand across the globe. In this regard, the main segmentation that will be helpful for the company to promote the brand is age and profession. The company needs to target the people aged between 18 years to 45 years where they are engaged with their profession. It is an energy drink and targeting the sport persons and athletes will be beneficial for the company to promote the products successfully. In this regard, the company needs to target both male and female in the society. Apart from that, targeting the people in sport events and college campus are effective and beneficial for Red Bull where the purchase intention of the athletes and students in the college campus is high. For successful positioning of the product, the company needs to focus on advertisement through animation cartoon as well as social media advertisement. Social media advertisement including promotional pictures, clipart and cartoon are helpful to attract the audiences. Apart from that, the company also can create small video clips and promote the product though YouTube.

Risk management practice for marketing events

Additionally, Red Bull needs to train the employees in social media as well as improve their knowledge and understanding regarding the latest updated technology so that they can manage the marketing planning successfully in long run. Patent protection and proper trademark as well as cooperation with the event managers are also helpful to arrange the event and implement effective marketing strategies so that there will be no such serious risk of promotion error, technology infringement and budget cuts.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, Red Bull is successful in developing effective market strategic planning through which it can expand their business across the world. The main target customers of the company is the students and athletes and the company tries to increase physical availability of the product by distributing Red Bull in college campuses, social events, sport seminars and festivals. Social media advertisement, cartoon and animation, athlete sponsorship and arranging events are effective promotional tactics of Red Bull for strengthening their customer’s base and successful promotion of the Red Bull.

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