Week 1 Reflection: Social What？


Before I take this class, I knew what is social media and I often use them every day. Social media is any web presence where users can add their own content and have interaction with other users, including Wikipedia, Facebook, WeChat, Instagram, etc. However, I was wondering that how to use social media to do marketing for a business.

In week one, I learned about the definition of social media marketing. With the development of technologies, social media has been widely used. The key elements of social media marketing are interactivity and engagement. For instance, businesses use YouTube to do advertisements and use Facebook to solve customers' problems or give feedback to them. There are four main social media channels , which are social networking, content sharing, bookmarking and aggregating and location-based media. When a business uses social media tools, it is important to consider how to do marketing and which channel to use in order to attract huge audience. The challenge for marketers, is finding the best match of solutions to suit purpose, budgets, customers, clients, and our own business needs. In my opinion, the combination of multiple channels and interaction with customers can maximize the marketing profits. However, businesses should be aware of that everything they post online has footprints and can be traced. Businesses have responsibility to make sure everything they post is correct. According to Justine Sacco, a woman whose life is ruined by an AIDS joke she made on twitter, it can be seen that businesses should be careful to use social media tools when they do marketing.

For me, I used social media platforms a lot every day, such as WeChat, Facebook and LinkedIn. Although blog is famous, this is the first time I use “blogger” to write my reflective journals for my course. I choose blogger because I already has a Google account and blogger is convenient to write, collect and share my stories with only one link. Besides, blogger has different backgrounds and templates which look beautiful.

Question 1: If social media is a continuum what are its characteristics? What is and what is not social media, and how does it relate to other terms like web 2.0, eMarketing, or word of mouth marketing? What are some of the examples of social media used for marketing and how does their use differ?


Social media is like a virtual society which allows users to share information, ideas, through various channels based on network.
Social media is continuum because it needs connections with the reality. It has following 5 characteristics (Tesorero, 2013):
Openness
Social media is open to people from all over the world to use and participate. People can make comments, share or edit information.
Conversation
Social media has two-way conversation.
Community
Social media allows communities to form and communicate quickly and effectively. People in the same community can meet new friends, share common interests or organize events.
Connection
Social media connects people at anytime from anywhere. People from different backgrounds can be connected. This virtual connection can still lead to the connection in reality.

In my opinion, Web 1.0 is not social media. In other words, static content and information which does not allow interactions. For instance, a webpage people can only view but cannot make a comments or do interactive things.

The main feature of web 2.0 is interactive. Social media must use web 2.0 if they are accessed by users on the website. E-marketing, is also called Internet Marketing, Web Marketing, Digital Marketing, or Online Marketing, is the process of marketing a product or service via the Internet. E-marketing includes not only marketing on the Internet, but also marketing done via e-mail and wireless media. It uses a range of technologies to connect businesses to their customers (Marketing and Strategy Terms, 2017). If a business uses social media to do marketing online, which means this business uses e-marketing. As for the connection between social media and word of mouth marketing, for instance, an employee in a business records a video about its word of mouth marketing content and publish on YouTube.

There are some of the examples of social media used for marketing I found on Facebook and YouTube:

Sovereign Hill:

https://www.facebook.com/sovereignhill/?fref=ts

Federation University Australia : https://www.youtube.com/watchv=vitwEsNX9Yg&index=46&list=PLLq7Q3HwAKOE-SW1R02QV4-lXvTHtRooz

The difference between using social media and other ways to do marketing for a business is that social media marketing is more attractive and widespread. People from around the world can see the advertisements and give feedback to the firm.

Question 2: Read Chialdini (Chapter 7 Scarcity) and share your opinion on parental control for Social Media. Is it a good idea? Will it work?


In my view, I do not think parental control for social media is a good idea. According to the book, I think human especially young generations prefer to have rebellious attitude to things they are not allowed to do. For example, some students have their secret boyfriend or girlfriend very early if their parents do not allow them to have in China. Similarly, if parents give their children strict rules on social media, children will be more curious and eager to use it.

Question 3: How can reactance theory be used to advantage by marketers? Can you think of a few real life examples?


Reactance theory describes the pattern of behaviors that happen in a person when they feel their freedoms are being taken away or limited. To begin with presented by Brehm, this theory states that people believe they have certain freedoms and choices. When their beliefs are threatened, people will have negative reactions and try to recapture their freedoms (Study.com, 2017). This theory can be used that markets let social media has some interesting functions which need to be paid to use. As an example, if people want their Facebook webpage looks more beautiful they have to buy some unique backgrounds. Some of people feel curious and may pay for it. In reality, people who want to go to Gold Class and get better service to see a film need to pay more. Another example is that some special dishes only serve on Wednesday in a restaurant.

Question 4: Visit your Facebook page (or any other SM presence you frequent) and share an example of each of the factors/forces above. i.e. a comment that shows authority, charisma, expertise ect.
Authority
Charisma
Emotions

Groupthink

Trends

Expertise

References


Marketing and Strategy Terms. (2017). Definition: E-Marketing. Retrieved August 4, 2017，from http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/marketing-and-strategy-terms/1679-e-marketing.html 

Study.com. (2017). Brehm's Reactance Theory: Definition & Overview. Retrieved August 4, 2017，from http://study.com/academy/lesson/brehms-reactance-theory-definition-lesson-quiz.html

Tesorero, A. (2013, April 13). The Characteristics of Social Media. Retrieved from http://homeofservice.com/blogs/21/the-characteristics-of-social-media/#.WYkY6lGg82w

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