Instagram And Twitter As Marketing Tools
Introduction
Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are a marvel that have turned into an essential component in the marketing mix and reformed the way organizations interact with their clients. Social media marketing is a new field anda briskliterature reviewuncovers that very few studies exist. Nevertheless, these limited existing studies without anyempirical evidence coupled with industry information, have raced to infer that the development of online marketing has prompted the downfall of the customary promoting standard media. Though that may be considered true, there is a lot that need to be understood about social media marketing before making such conclusion. This essay thus presents how companies who advertise on Twitter and Instagram, two of the most popular social networking websites, have led to either their success or failure.
Background of the study-The Use of Twitter and Instagram for Marketing
The rational for this research was roused by a personal enthusiasm for the online marketingFurthermore the longing to explore the effect and the relationship between social networking and brand mindfulness from a business point of view. A quick audit of the literature on social media marketing uncovers that the processes of conducting online marketing have been exhaustively researched. However,the effect of running marketing campaigns on these platforms has not been explored. Researchers have not identified the success of these platforms when it comes to advertising. They have not established the link between these campaigns and the brand awareness by the market, the profitability of the business and competitive advantage. Be that as it may, the work of Harris and Rae titled, “Building a Personal Brand through Social Networking” came close to establishing these links. All things considered, Harris and Rae’swork purely centered onbuilding individual picture (brand) utilizing informal communities on social media. Howard, Mangold and Johnston, 660 took an analysis on the effect of online networking of brands from an individual perspective in isolation of other factors in his Harvard business review article. Furthermore, consequently, since there is little information concerning the effect of online networking on mindfulness from a business level, this study is to explore the effects of the online marketing on the profitability and competitive advantage of a company. This study will prove to be important because, companies need to know whether the money they spend on the online marketing strategies are a good investment and establish whether they add value to the business. Do the campaigns used online actually drive the sales up? Do they give the company a competitive advantage against its rivals?
Companies across different commercial ventures, for example, travel and tourism, agriculture, infrastructure, retail and financial and banking sectors are seeking for ways through which online networking can be used in statistical surveying. They likewise take a look at brand creation, product marketing, product improvement, client administration, coordinated effort with partners, worker engagement, and recruitment and so forth. For example, an expanding number of American companies are migrating to online networking trying to interface directly with their consumers in the wake of marketingbudget cuts. These American companies are not foreign to the internet world, but with the emergence of social platforms, their online presence has continued to be felt more than ever. Using the hashtag feature on Twitter, most companies use it to interact directly to their clients, and address any client concerns. Online networking has turned into an important apparatus for any marketing undertakings around the globe. Enterprises that forcefully hold onto online networking as a major tool of their marketing strategies are the most fiscally effective.Business endeavors are using internet marketing as a part of various down to earth scopes of the business and are getting favorable circumstances and competitive advantage, for instance, growing brand awareness, bargains, website improvement (SEO), web development, customer devotion, and increased income. Moreover, quick feedback and comprehension from purchasers gives an instrument to executives to assess customer supposition and use this information to upgrade products, customer segmentation and perception. Business have establish that they can screen the market, their competitors and their customers through this social networking sites. This licenses associated with dares to be on top of any movements that may be required and to proactively roll out fitting improvements as per systems, items or organizations. The ability to search for and talk with potential agents is another zone using Twitter and Instagram that has seen fantastic overhaul in the manner through which global business is conducted. Given its comfort and estimation and its ability to accomplish boundless peoples rapidly, web systems administration is transforming into a competent force in the way associations achieve, attract and interface with their customers, specialists and diverse accomplices.
Theoretical Foundation- Twitter and Instagram Case Studies
Oreo, the cookie-making company, has become synonymous with social media advertising and efficient use of Facebook as a marketing tool. The company boasts of a vibrant marketing team that customizes its adverts to resonate with whatever event is happening around. One of the most memorable advertising strategies that Oreo used is during a black out of a Super Bowl game. Oreo tweeted and posted a photo on Facebook and Instagram captioned “You can still dunk in the dark”. The photo generated much talk on the social media platforms being lauded as an ingenious idea. The photo was retweeted more than 16,000 times. Oreo, compared to other companies in its industry and other industries, utilizes its Twitter and Instagram page more efficiently. With more than 32 million likes, this is a testament that the strategies Oreo uses resonate with the market and the market cannot get enough of them. Back in 2012, the company ran an advertisement dubbed “Daily Twist” which it tweeted and posted photos of cookies, on Twitter and Instagram respectively, designed to commemorate that particular day. Some of the events that were commemorated included gay pride on June 25th and Mars Rover landing on August 5th (Ramsaran-Fowdar and Fowdar 75).
Marketing on Twitter is not always a bed of roses. Some companies have poorly managed their Twitter pages and ran ads which led to their downfall. An example is when JP Morgan decided to hold a Q&A session with its clients whereby the clients would get to ask any relevant questions. The clients, however, had a different meaning of the word ‘relevant’ and begun tweeting questions such as when is the company’s top executives going to prison and how it feels to interact with Mexican drug lords. The company had to suspend the Q&A session and go back to its drawing board and evaluate how it is going to improve its corporate image.
From the strategies that Oreo uses, a few points can be established. The adverts are timely and topical early the label ‘news jacking’. They are posted frequently and consistently, using simple graphics and concepts that are easy to comprehend. Above all, the ads are fun and interact with the target clientele. The company has enjoyed increased sales revenue after the revamping of its marketing strategies. It has received notoriety as a leading social marketer, with its marketing campaigns being a point of interest for Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. It is therefore important that the company first understands which advertising appeal will work for the business. Though the advert needs to be fun and interactive, this may not be true for every business sector. The healthcare sector which usually deals with serious matters such as disasters, diseases, outbreaks may make fun about something in a tweet which may not resonate well with the public leading the whole strategy to backfire. It is therefore paramount to understand your market’s interests and incorporate such interests to the marketing strategy to ensure its success and the overall of the company.
Research Methods
Quantitative analysis is the deliberate observation and examination of data usingmeasurable or numerical techniques. The target of quantitative exploration is to create and utilize scientific models, speculations and/or theories relating to data. The process of estimation is vital to quantitative examination since it gives the central link between experimental perception and numerical articulation of quantitative connections. Quantitative data is any information that is in numerical form, for example, measurements, percentages, etc. The researcher investigates the information with the aid of his/her insights. The researcher is trusting that the numbers will yield an impartial result that can be summed up to some bigger populace. The specialist searches for topics and depicts the data in subjects and examples restrictive to that arrangement of members i.e. the researcher hunts down themes and delineates the information in subjects and illustrations prohibitive to that course of action of individuals
Regression examination incorporates recognizing the relationship between a reliant variable and one or more autonomous variables. A model of the relationship is speculated, and gages of the parameter qualities are used to develop a normal relapse condition. Diverse tests are then used to make sense of whether the model is worthy. If the model is viewed as alluring, the assessed regression condition can be used to expect the estimation of the dependent variable given qualities for the free variables.
In linear regression, for example, the model used to depict the relationship between a dependent variable y and an independent variable x is y = a0 +a1x + k. a0 and a1 are suggested as the model parameters, and k is a probabilistic mistake term that records for the variability in y that can't be cleared up by the straight relationship with x. If the mix-up term were not present, the model would be deterministic; things being what they are, data of the estimation of x would be satisfactory to choose the estimation of y. In other words, it describes in quantitative terms the level to which variables are linked to one another. It analyzesthe relationships between variables and tries to forecast a subject’s performance or yield on one variable given his or her yield on another variable.
