We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem
Section snippets
Marketing myths revealed
Consumers are no longer merely passive recipients in the marketing exchange process. Today, they are taking an increasingly active role in co-creating everything from product design to promotional messages (Berthon, Pitt, McCarthy, & Kates, 2007). The rise in interactive digital media has catapulted company and consumer contact from the traditional Web 1.0 model to the highly interactive Web 2.0 world, where consumers are dictating the nature, extent, and context of marketing exchanges. As
Platforms for influence
According to Hansen, Shneiderman, and Smith (2011), social media technologies have engendered radically new ways of interacting. To this end, Harris (2009) notes that there are literally hundreds of different social media platforms (e.g., social networking, text messaging, shared photos, podcasts, streaming videos, wikis, blogs, discussion groups), and Anderson and Wolff (2010) highlight the importance of mobile devices for accessing these platforms. Interestingly—and, possibly, confusingly—it
Spheres of influence
Recently, the Economist's Intelligence Unit examined how technology would empower individual customers in the next 5 years (Garretson, 2008). Referring to this empowerment as ‘bottom-up marketing,’ Karpinski (2005) describes consumers of media and marketing messages as intelligent, organizing, and more trusting of their own opinions and the opinions of their peers. This bottom-up marketing occurs because “billions of people create trillions of connections through social media each day” (Hansen
The social media marketing ecosystem
As a sphere of influence, the social media ecosystem centers on the consumer experience. As stated by Mike DiLorenzo, director of social media marketing and strategy for the NHL, “Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences” (Wyshynski, 2009). These experiences arise when marketers are able to incorporate reach, intimacy, and engagement into the company's overall integrated marketing communications strategy through the interconnectedness of online social media combined
The 2010 Grammy Awards: Engaging fans
An illustrative composite of how the social media ecosystem was utilized successfully by the music/recording industry is provided here as a case in point to portray how attention to reach, intimacy, and engagement can generate long-term rewards. This case study (Wesley & Rohm, 2010) provides vivid detail regarding how a social media campaign was formulated and implemented with little to no budget, in a very short time frame.
The Recording Academy is the premier organization for honoring
Lessons learned and implications for practice
Technology has transformed the traditional model of marketing communications. The rise in interactive digital media has catapulted company and consumer contact from a Web 1.0 passive model, to a Web 2.0 interactive model where consumers are simultaneously the initiators and recipients of information exchanges. The combination of both traditional and social mediums allows companies to develop integrated communication strategies to reach consumers on a myriad of platforms, enabling a wide sphere
Conclusion
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, SCVNGR, YouTube, and numerous others have begun to revolutionize the state of marketing, advertising, and promotions. These social media have transformed the Internet from a platform for information, to a platform for influence. Because of the dramatic and global growth of social media such as Facebook (550 million users) and Twitter (100+ million users), companies of all sizes from different industries now view social media marketing as a
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