SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: B2C IMPACT

Katelyn Rowley
Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact
State University of New York at College of Oswego
Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction2
2.0 Advertising Impact..2
2.1 Advertising Options3
2.2 Effective Campaigns3

3.0 Purchase Decision Influence4

3.1 Social Contagion/WOM Influence5

3.2 Advertising Influence.5

4.0 Loyalty and Trust6

5.0 Customer Satisfaction..6

5.1 Response Speed.6

5.2 Customer Comments/Reviews...7

6.0 Brand Perception.7

6.1 Negative Impact on Brand Perceptions..8

6.2 Turning Bad Into Good..9

6.3 Time and Effort costs...10

7.0 Conclusion..10

8.0 References12

1.0 Introduction

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

Social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn can be defined as, the

forms of electronic communication (as web sites for social networking and microblogging)

through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages,

and others (e.g. videos) (Rauniar, Rawski, Yang, & Johnson, 2014). Social media has become

an increasingly popular form of communication that businesses are starting invest their

marketing efforts heavily into. In fact, the number of worldwide social media users is expected to

reach approximately 2.95 billion by 2020, around a third of Earths entire population

(statista.com, 2017). Social media is changing so much in the business world and redefining

how businesses communicate across their channels of distribution and with their customers. A

recent survey of European and U.S. firms indicated that 88.2% of the firms had begun to

undertake social media initiatives (Rapp & Grewal & Hughes, 2013). It provides an

inexpensive and effective way to communicate to thousands of people in an instant. Although

there can be some negative impacts associated with it, businesses have switched their focus over

from traditional marketing to social media because of the positive impacts it has on the business

to consumer connection and relationship.

2.0 Advertising Impact

Social media has become one of the primary ways for brands to advertise to their

prospective and existing customers (Lee, 2010). Most businesses look to social media to be

successful and communicate their products and services to consumers by updating their various

social media pages, such as Instagram and Twitter frequently with general information,

promotions, or things of this nature. This helps to keep the consumers involved and loyal (Lee,

2010). Social media is available all over the world, and therefore also makes it an ideal medium

for advertising, because it reaches billions of users at once. Benefits of social media advertising

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

include enhanced brand awareness, breaking into new markets, and doing it all at a reduced cost

due to control of e-word of mouth (Gholston & Kuofie & Hakim, 2016).

2.1 Advertising Options

There are two ways in which social media can be used to advertise: "organic" and "paid

(Fulgoni, 2015). Organic social media includes brand communications that are created by the

advertiser on a social platform. The advertiser/sponsor does not pay for the advertisements, but

rather, they must earn the customers attention. Their content must get consumers interested in

their social media pages, and then the consumers can decide whether or not they want to see the

posts by following the account. The goal is for the consumer to share the communication with

others, whether that is online or via word of mouth. The fact that brands can now advertise for

completely no charge has been a game changer for several companies. "Paid" means that the

advertiser does not need to get consumers to follow/fan/like them on a social media website, but

they actually pay for the advertisement to pop up regardless if the consumer wants to see it or

not.

Research published by Facebook in late 2014 revealed that consumers cared to see more

stories from friends and from the Facebook brand pages they cared about, rather than random

brands that popped up. They also desired less promotional material. This means consumers

would rather see advertisements from brands they specifically follow, and that they should be

about something of value, which is important for businesses to understand (Fulgoni, 2015).

2.2 Effective Campaigns

Social media has literally saved companies from going under because of the

communication and advertising opportunities it provides (Fulgoni, 2015). Specifically, Chobani

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

yogurt had an extremely low budget for marketing/advertising and was beginning to struggle in

the competitive yogurt field. They turned to social media and introduced a campaign that

promoted yogurt-eating occasions besides just at breakfast time and the brand was able to grow

its sales significantly while maintaining its premium-price position. Oscar Myer is another good

example of a business that was beginning to lose customers interest. They created a video and

posted it to social media to promote a sweepstakes they were doing. The campaign, "Wake Up

and Smell the Bacon" became a viral sensation and also even earned television coverage. This

completely focused social media effort rendered outstanding results, with U.S. sales increasing

by 11 percent compared to the year before. This is why social media has become the main focus

to the marketing efforts of several brands and organizations. If a brand can create intriguing

content and get consumers talking, they will see significant success (Fulgoni, 2015).

3.0 Purchase Decision Influence

The goal of social media marketing is to influence the consumer to want to purchase their

product/service. A global survey of sales people reported that nearly 50% buyers witnessed an

increase in the buying process through the role of social media (Singh & Singhai, 2015).

Social media provides a platform where existing and prospective customers can

publically voice their opinions and access product information which facilitates their purchase

decisions. These opinions based off of peoples experiences help others in associating value with

brand/product/organization and greatly influences them in making purchase decisions, whether it

may be positive or negative (Singh & Singhai, 2015).

3.1 Social Contagion/WOM Influence

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

Social contagion is when people alter their behavior after an interaction with another

person or group, because of the fact that they have increased awareness, social learning, and/or

the desire to follow to perceived norms (Liang & Li & Chen, 2016). This is seen with social

media marketing because it is a primary channel contagion, specifically word of mouth (WOM).

One main goal of social media marketing is to gain WOM attention and get people talking about

their brand. Marketers use communication through social networks to accelerate product

adoption and contagion. For example, if a campaign captures consumers attention and gets them

talking about a brand, or if someone likes their product/service and shares that with others, that

will positively influence consumers to purchase the brands product over anothers.

Research has shown that customers value a friends referral whether online or offline. A

study reported that there is an increase of 38% in online shopping volume after engaging in

social networks. This goes to show the true influence that social networks really do have on

consumers purchase decisions. The real influence comes from the knowledgeable and

experienced customers who have shared their information (Liang, et. al., 2016).

3.2 Advertising Influence

A study investigated attitude towards online advertising on social media (Sumathy &

Vipin, 2016). The results shows that consumers feel as though online advertising helps in

purchase decision and results in lower price. Consumers like the fact that there is guidance in

their purchasing decision. Therefore, frequent users report to have a strong positive attitude

towards advertisements seen on social media and that they trust it. The study found specifically

that Facebook users are highly aware about online advertisements and they believe that these

advertisements are beneficial to them (Sumathy & Vipin, 2016).

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

4.0 Loyalty and Trust

Social media marketing has led to great success with increasing customer loyalty to a

brand (Liang, et. al., 2016). Social media applications make it possible for firms to provide real-

time updates and information regarding products and promotions. This not only is just

advertising for the firm but also helps maintain interest, interaction, and awareness of the firm in

the consumers mind and can lead to greater loyalty. Through social media, people also can

connect with others across the supply chain. This aspect makes social media seem like an

immediate extension of the firm and therefore, online interactions increase, and all of this

communication increases loyalty.

Studies suggest that an information provider's (firm) response speed directly impacts

what the consumer thinks of their information value, which is directly related to how much the

consumer trusts the brand. The quicker and more accurate a consumers question/concern is

answered, the more they will think highly of the brand and become loyal (Liang, et. al., 2016).

5.0 Customer Satisfaction

Studies have proved that for social media, the higher degree of social presence and

interactivity that the users perceive to occur between them and the firm, the more likely they tend

to be satisfied (Liang, et. al., 2016). If brands effectively and frequently communicate with

consumers and establish a relationship with them, they will be satisfied.

5.1 Response Speed

If the service providers response to the customer does not answer/fix their

question/concern, or is not quick enough, that will most likely cause dissatisfaction. Multiple

studies found that a salesperson responsiveness is found to have a positive relationship with

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

customer satisfaction. In order to have satisfied customers, not only does the response need to be

quick, but also helpful and accurate. Managers should take advantage of the access to product

reviews and public conversations that customers put on social media so that they know how to

properly respond (Liang, et. al., 2016).

5.2 Customer Comments/Reviews

Social media has opened up a whole new door that allows companies to have easy and

quick access to what customers want, and being able to deliver on that as fast as possible. It

provides brands with the ability to listen to feedback and responses, and then create their content

based off of customers comments, which improves brand relationships and enhances the

customer experience (Ramanathan & Subramanian, 2017). This is important because the use of

customer reviews online give the brand an opportunity to design a model with unique service

procedures and marketing approaches that increases loyalty and adds values to the customers.

This also gives them the opportunity to create a personality and relate to the consumers on a

whole new level. Listening to customers needs and wants through either engaging with them

first hand, or reading product reviews, and adjusting the strategy accordingly will lead to high

customer satisfaction. (Gu & Ye, 2014). Overall, customers are more satisfied if the brand keeps

an updated social media account, communicates with the consumer, and provides them value

(promotions, deals, entertainment, etc.). Online channels can have just as much, if not more

customer satisfaction than in-person stores.

6.0 Brand Perception

Not only is social media just used for advertising, but it actually has a huge impact on the

business to customer relationship and what they think of the brand. The clear messages from

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

our study are that social media marketing matters and that managers should embrace it to

communicate and nurture relationships with customers. We find that investing in developing a

social media community with a dedicated fan base (e.g., a Facebook page) can significantly

strengthen customer-firm relationships and can lead to a definitive impact on the firms revenues

and profits (Kumar, Bezawada, Rishika, Janakiraman, & Kannan, 2016). By connecting with

customers, satisfaction and interest raises, which results in more success and therefore, revenue.

It is important for businesses to stay on top of their social media and really invest time into it to

connect on a personal level with their customers and maintain the positive image of the brand

(Kumar, et. al., 2016).

Social media deeply impacts brand perceptions because it gives people all over the world

the opportunity to seek and provide opinions about products and services of various brands

(Singh & Singhai, 2015). This capability causes an increase in customer engagement, which in

turn, creates value by providing knowledge for existing and prospective customers. This process

also leads to an increase in buyer involvement and trust. A brand has the opportunity for potential

customers to already have a favorable image of a brand/company by reading posts from others

and can then use this for information in their purchase decision (Singh & Singhai, 2015).

6.1 Negative Impacts on Brand Perception

Social media allows for the public to express their opinions and experiences with others,

which can be detrimental for a brands image. Negative information available in social media

postings can have substantial impact on customers' attitudes, but it is up to the brand to save its

reputation when the word of mouth is negative (Singh & Singhai, 2015).

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

Social media provides customers with easy access to posts regarding brand interactions,

which can be spread universally and instantly. This is not good when consumers are speaking

negatively about a brand, especially because it is advised to not delete comments. Deleting

negative posts on social media causes the risk of turning away customers because they perceive

the removal of the posts as an attempt to hide shortcomings in the brand/organization.

One bad story could be around forever, and negative posts will always be discoverable by

consumers. This is why brands need to have a strategy on how to deal with a situation like this

put into place before engaging in social media, or it could be damaging to their image and overall

success. Almost half of the brands on social media do not have strategies in place to manage

potential damage due to negative posts. Reputations of 26.1% of brands have been tarnished as

a result of negative social expressions. 15.2% of the brands have lost customers and 11.4% of the

brands have lost revenue (Singh & Singhai, 2015).

6.2 Turning Bad Into Good

It is impossible to avoid negative word of mouth, but the brand can help itself. Dealing

with complaints/negative comments effectively will cause dissatisfied customers to potentially

even promote the brand/organization among their peers online. A research revealed 68% of

customers posting negative comments on the social media received replies from the sellers. As a

result, 18% of these customers became loyal buyers and indulged in more purchases. Another

33% customers posted a positive and 34% deleted the originally posted negative comments

(Singh & Singhai, 2015). Usually customers do not have the intention of harming the brand, but

just want to make sure that they are heard so that the brand will address the issue and fix it. If

organizations/brands pay attention to this concept, they can create base of loyal and repeat

customers by listening to them and fixing their problem. When consumers observe that a brand is

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

taking negative comments of existing customers seriously, they have positive reinforcement

regarding the image of the brand and that usually leads to higher value associations (Singh &

Singhai, 2015).

6.3 Time and Effort Costs

There is also the non-monetary cost to social media. It takes a lot of time and effort in

order to be remotely successful (Tuten & Angermeier, 2013). This is because accounts must be

updated very frequently, and with meaningful information. They also take a lot of organization

because specific people must be assigned to do specific tasks, which can get tricky. Everything

needs to be done perfectly because if a brand accidently writes a post that can be misinterpreted

or that has misspellings, then consumers may judge a brand based off of that. There is also the

threat of hijacks. Somebody could hack into a brands social media account and post things that

are not favorable to the brands image. This could be a security threat because some consumers

provide their information to companies online, which makes some consumers not trust social

networks (Tuten & Angermeier, 2013). Brands must do all they can to take all of these aspects

into account and try their best to create a strategy that protects them from these potential threats.

7.0 Conclusion
Social media marketing is a whole new way to connect with consumers, and there is still

so much to learn. What is known is that brands must create important and creative content that

will appeal to the target market. Consumers are blocking out paid advertising and only really

care to see marketing efforts from brands that actually earn their attention and that they choose to

follow, fan, friend, like, and so on. Brands should aim to make their content go viral and increase

word of mouth in order to reach as many consumers as possible. It is inexpensive and very

effective to spread a marketing message on social media and has been proven to save companies

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

from going under. Frequent updates, promotional offers, direct communication with consumers,

and quick answers to questions/problems will ensure that a brands social media page will

increase customer satisfaction. The relationships that can be built through social media also can

improve upon a brands image, provide value and trust to the consumer. Because of the speedy

spread of content through social media, it can have a negative impact on a brand if consumers are

posting image-tarnishing comments, but if the brand deals with it in the proper way, it does not

need to be detrimental. Brands can even make their perceived image more favorable by

consumers by dealing with crises in a respectable manner. Overall, social media has helped

brands to grow their businesses greatly through enhanced customer relationships, increased

positive brand awareness, and inexpensive advertising.

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

8.0 References

Fulgoni, G. M. (2015). How brands using social media ignite marketing and drive growth.

Journal of Advertising Research, 55(3), 232-236.

Gholston, K., Kuofie, M., & Hakim, A. C. (2016). Social media for marketing by small

businesses. Journal of Marketing & Management, 7(1), 24-39.

Gu, B., & Ye, Q. (2014). First step in social media: measuring the influence of online

management responses on customer satisfaction. Production & Operations Management,

23(4), 570-582.

Kumar, A., Bezawada, R., Rishika, R., Janakiraman, R., & Kannan, P. K. (2016). From social to

sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on customer behavior.

Journal Of Marketing, 80(1), 7-25.

Lee, D. (2010). Growing popularity of social media and business strategy. SERI Quarterly,

3(4), 112-117.

Liang, H., Li, W., Chen, H. (27 June 2016). Impact of social media on customer satisfaction: a

perspective of social capital. PACIS 2016 Proceedings. 362.

Ramanathan, U., Subramanian, N., & Parrott, G. (2017). Role of social media in retail network

operations and marketing to enhance customer satisfaction. Journal of

Operations & Production Management, 37(1), 105-123.

Rapp, A., Beitelspacher, L. S., Grewal, D., & Hughes, D. E. (2013). Understanding social media

effects across seller, retailer, and consumer interactions. Academy of Marketing

Science.Journal, 41(5), 547-566.

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Social Media Marketing: B2C Impact

Singh, A. K., & Singhai, T. K. (2015). Impact of social media expressions on value perceptions

and purchase intentions. Amity Business Review, 16(12), 32-40.

Statistics and facts about social media usage. (2017). Retrieved March 21, 2017 from

https://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/.

Sumathy, M., & Vipin, K. P. (2016). A study on consumers attitude towards advertisements

through social media with special reference to facebook. International Journal of

Research In Commerce & Management, 7(12), 24-27.

Tuten, T., & Angermeier, W. (2013). Before and beyond the social moment of engagement:

perspectives on the negative utilities of social media marketing. Gestion 2000, 30(3), 69-

76.

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