Social networks and viral marketing

Thèmes abordés

réseaux sociaux, marketing viral, Robert Hof, Brown B. C., Thorne L., Facebook, Viadeo, Linkedin, Badoo

Résumé du document

As the Internet is growing faster every day, this tool allows consumers to use it as not only an information tool but also for interaction and buying process reasons. Indeed with emergence of online social media, social network is becoming place to be for users and companies too. Facebook has now more than 800 million users and is becoming a new way for marketers to recruit consumers, reinforce loyalty and reputation. New ways for online advertising are now possible and newly marketing techniques are being developed (Montgomery, 2001). The traditional online advertising processes such as pop up and advertising on websites (banners) are not the only ways to attract people connected on the Internet.

With social networks, companies can develop direct interaction with their customers and above all they can create online word of mouth with the tools providing by social networks. In this context I find it quite interesting to research on the possibilities offered by this new way to advertise. My research question is therefore: What are the benefits of viral marketing on social networks for companies? This research is important because studies are focusing only on some aspects of the question: online word of mouth, online brand reputation or the way to maximize customers on social networks.

Extraits

[...] http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.sg/highered/catalog/assets/HED%202007%20E-Commerce.pdf Steinman, M. L. & Hawkins, M. (2010).When marketing through social media, legal risks can go viral, Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal. Thorne, L. (2008). Word of mouth advertising online and off: How to spark buzz, excitement, and free publicity for your business or organization—with little or no money. Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. [...]

[...] Firms which are doing viral marketing on social networks are decreasing their advertising costs because they need less stores and salespeople to sell their product (Thorne 2008). A recent study conducted by Brown showed that the Internet is a more attractive market to sell products than traditional media (radio, TV, billboard) for several reasons but the saving costs reason being the strongest among others (Brown 2006) 2.6 ) Benefits: targeting and reaching new customers Social networks allow firms to reach more adequately the right customers which responds to given characteristics. [...]

[...] So using the social network tool allows users to express their feeling to millions of people across the world. The company will benefit from viral marketing because it will significantly increase its online customer's base (Thorne 2008) and more and more consumers will be aware of the brand and will follow it for quite some time changing the brand awareness to a brand reputation. People who will participate in an online marketing campaign by sharing link or promotions to other people will surely develop a strong attachment to the brand (Steinman & Hawkins, 2010) 2.4 ) Benefits: building brand trust The next step after increasing brand awareness is building brand trust. [...]

[...] We didn't talk about offline viral marketing but studies are analyzing that this advertising branch has still some possibilities to improve but the best way is to not only remain offline but support the campaign with an online impact. Bibliography Bart, Al (2005), Are the drivers and role of online trust the same for all web sites and consumers? a large-scale exploratory empirical study, Journal of Marketing, Oct2005, Vol Issue p133-152 Brown, B. C. (2006). How to use the Internet to advertise, promote, and market your business or web site—with little or no money. Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. Datta, P. [...]

[...] Hof Robert (2011), Forbes, Facebook's new ad model: you 12/5/2011, Vol Issue 10, p106-110 Keller, K.L.(2009), Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment, Journal of Marketing Communications,Vol Nos. April–July 2009, 155, EBSCO database [accessed: February 2012] Montgomery A.L. (2001), Applying quantitative marketing techniques to the Internet, Interfaces, 90-108. Marken, G.A. (2008), Death of the handler in a strategic, viral environment, online public relations, 13-15 Rayport, J. F., Jaworski, B. J. (2004), Introduction to e-commerce, McGraw-Hill Irwin MarketspaceU. [...]