A critical review of literature on the importance of social media in branding

1.0 IntroductionThe aim of this chapter is to abide a broad overview of both literary works in aff up to(p) media and the intended query. It offers a plan that would change the reader extrapolate the motivating for this question and excessively give ups a load about recent developments both in the application and in seek circles with honour to friendly media sending. The rapid development of technology and the decease of such technologies at afford equal to(p) costs deem revolutionized the air business organisationes operate. The initiation Wide Web and the Internet atomic number 18 being exercisingd by millions of lot today. These technologies have led to a range of a function slip of opus in the way parley happens and most business reputation and front end in a market is to a greater extent driven by amic adapted media. (Tuten, 2008) It apprize alike be noned that the shift and think on hearty media has been drastic and many a(prenominal) busi nesses were caught off-guard. However, the subprogram of favor adapted media has created opportunities for online marketers to be able to eng come on with customers that they wouldnt other than be able to employ traditional manners. This reach though has posed many challenges to businesses that started looking at tender media manage other traditional media like cartridge or television thus do to a greater extent(prenominal)(prenominal) gaps rather than bringing them contiguous to the customers (Qualman, 2012). On the contrary it sewer be said that more and more retailers and business be becoming increasingly awake(predicate) of the favorable media and atomic number 18 waiting to campaign the potential that accessible market offers (Olivas-lujan, 2013)1.1 reasonSpend on affable media by the businesses be on the rise. Recent theater of operations by the IAB (Internet advert Bureau) shows that in the maiden half of 2014 in the UK alone, in that location has been a rise of 53% in the pass on on mixer media by businesses with a total contribution of ?242.5 million (Somerville, 2014). other teaching by IAB on FMGC orbit consisting of more than 4500 survey responses and 800 interviews showed that 90% of the customers would economic consumption brotherly media to refer the brands to peers, 4 in 5 customers would buy products that have great hearty media coverage and 83% would be ordaining to try products that are best-selling(predicate) in social media (Anon, 2013). as well, a look into conducted by Mass Relevance that provides social media curation platform to clients found that 59% of the consumers will more likely trust a brand that has bearing in the social media and 64% of the consumers interviewed have already do purchases based on social media presence and polishs (Chaney, 2012). Appendix 1 shows the social media advertize raises on consumers (Source Neilsen Survey Anon, 2012)1.2 motivationFrom the above, it bungh ole be understood that social media has a profound squeeze on the consumers choice of brands and that it is bring out to engage efficaciously with customers. There is a lot of lit that discusses about the social media impact on consumers, why businesses should engage with customers, exploiting social media to provide value add and so forth The chief(prenominal) aim of this seek is to look into miscellaneous key researches in this area and to provide a critical freshen on the literature. The critical review aims to see if The puzzles are place all the way The literature provides a balanced view There are gaps in the literature1.3 Research cropThe achievement of the research is admittedly stubborn by measuring the extent to which each of the research objectives is met. The future(a) steps are followed during this research to hold in its success. These steps are as follows Firstly, a scene into the research and its motivations is given. Following this, the key literat ure in this area is thoroughly investigated. This is intended to ensure that all aspects of the research are identified and that the challenges or gaps in the current literature are clearly understood. Next, the literature is critically analysed to see if the problems are identified and if it provides a balanced view of the topic. It alike looks into the research method actingology to see if the methods employ are consistent with the qualitative and quantitative methods and also checks for what has not been provided. Finally, this research concludes by providing a conclusion that is supported by proof presented in the literature. It also makes recommendations where appropriate. In summary, this chapter has provided a brief overview of the research, address the key challenges or gaps in the literature and justified the shoot to conduct this research. This chapter has also set the background and motivations for the research in order to enable the reader to emend understand the accompanying chapters. The central question for the research has addressed here, and the reader now also understands the problem statements that have led to this research.2.0 Literature brush upThis research discusses about social media and its effect on branding and consumers. But what is social mediaThe term social media can be particularised as Many online tools that abandon people with similar interests to share training, bring out from others, or network in an lax process. The information found on these sites is ordinarily referred to as user-generated content, which means anyone is able to post with minimal restrictions or oversight.(Wilson, 2010) Drury (2007) discusses how marketers of different businesses can efficaciously engage in social media merchandise. The paper gives a jolly cosmopolitan view on what social media is and the role of marketing in social media. It discusses about how social media can be monetised by the marketers. The paper lists out opportuni ties that can be tapped for commercial benefits and also speech patternes on the fluid marketing strategy and describes the success criteria for measuring success. The paper however has the following drawbacks It is very much general and has no qualitative or quantitative measures to define the success criteria. It gives a dandy boilers suit picture but it would have been better if the context of the paper was more towards assessing the impact or the Return on enthronisation (ROI) of a particularized sector or business. It lacks specific examples and also does not honorable mention any strategy for writ of execution or even list challenges that organisations face plot of ground implementing good strategies for social media marketing. Michaelidou et al (2011) in their research discuss about social media marketings impact on sensitive and culture medium B2B brands. They discuss in detail the adaption of social media networking as a marketing platform to be able to achieve t he brand objectives and also the perceptions approximately the barriers of using social marketing networks. The research paper makes use of email surveys to understand the usage of social media by fine and medium scale businesses that operate in the UK and the main drivers that motivate SMEs to adapt to the sensitive channel of marketing. It clearly states the motivation of the research, expectant appropriate background to the research and the method utilise for the research is depicted concisely. The research analyses the findings from the email survey and discusses the methods used for analysis. It provides a broad range of information and also clearly identifies the shortcomings in the business implementation of social media networking practices. It discusses how these pitfalls can be smite and provides dilate for further improvement areas and celestial orbit for additional research in the future. The drawbacks of the paper are hear sizing The strain size of the survey could have been more and also various other methods for obtaining the review could have been used. This would have ensured that the B2B base was thoroughly covered. Focus The focus is on B2B businesses alone. It would have been interesting to see the results if the research was all-encompassing to B2C as well for small and medium scale enterprises. Some researches focus specifically on sciences gap in digital marketing within specific industries. whizz such research concentrates on the intercourses industry (Royle and Laing, 2014). The research discusses the need for having the prerequisite skills in digital marketing pipe bowl and stresses on the growth and popularity of digital/social media marketing. The research explores the various gaps in the industry for digital marketing with a specific emphasis to communications sector and provides a best practice guide for the industry. It details the challenges that organisations face magical spell implementing social media marketin g and discusses the need to have evaluation criteria and prosody to critically analyse the success of social marketing strategies and campaigns within organisations. The paper dialogue about the key challenges that businesses face while trying to merge traditional marketing practices with that of social marketing. The rationale for the research is clearly mentioned and the literature review is comprehensive. The conceptual framework is clearly slender and the methodology used for developing the framework is precise. The research makes use of focus groups and interviews to be able to calculate the skill gap in the industry. The drawbacks of this research are Limited sample size The research could have used more samples to be able to analyse effectively the findings. habituated that the research has already contract down by industry, it would have been good to get a more detailed view of the industry and a bigger sample would have facilitated this. A study by Harvard demarcatio n come off (Edelman, 2010) discusses how the mesh and the social marketing has changed not completely the way businesses operate but also how consumers choose their products. It takes the reader do the funnel shape metaphor which was earlier being used by marketers to understand how consumers choose their products and how this has go to a more open-ended admission whereby consumers no longer follow a methodical approach of selecting products. It stresses how important it is for brands to be able to connect with the consumers and studied the consumers decisions crosswise five different industries namely automobiles, skincare, insurance, mobile telecommunications and electronics in three different continents. ground on the results of the study, it proposed a four-stage model that focuses on todays consumers using social media for advocating products and also purchasing based on the reviews and advocacy received. The research takes the reader through the entire customer journey and tells the businesses what it should not focus its energy and resources on. Providing statistical information about various surveys enables the businesses to identify the key areas that it should concentrate on to be able to build a good brand image online. Though the research is comprehensive it lacks in the following Framework It does not suggest what needs to be do and a framework for implementing those. The key focus is on what not to be done and it leaves it to the businesses to work on the best strategy. Sample size and analysis The research does not disclose the sample size or indicate clearly the analysis method used to come to the conclusion. This section worked on identifying key research in the literature and also provided a critical review of each of the researches identified.3.0 ConclusionThough thither is a lot of literature on various aspects including but not exceptional to effects of social media on small and medium scale enterprises, identification of skill g aps in social media with specific emphasis to certain industries, general study on implementation challenges, perception of social media on businesses, barriers to adaptation of social media by businesses etc. it can be found that there is not much literature that specifically talks about a habitual framework for adapting to social media marketing along with the challenges that businesses might face and the evaluation criteria. Similarly while most of these researches make use of one or more methods for selective information collection, it is not very comprehensive. There is a gap in the current literature in terms of data collect from a wide range of sources using a bigger sample set. Given that technology has enabled a higher reach to customers, it would be good to get a larger sample to be able to effectively analyse the results. In many cases, the limitations of the research stove could be worked on to be able to get more information on the above mentioned areas. In short, it can be said that the social media marketing and the research around it are yet to attain the maturity train and there is a lot of scope for research that would aid businesses to effectively comprehend and manage social media marketing concerns and get the hang challenges in a seamless and stress-free manner.4.0 ReferencesTuten, 2008 Advertising 2.0 friendly Media market in a Web 2.0 world, Greenwood publish group. Qualman, 2012 Socialnomics How social media transforms the way we live and do business, John Wiley & Sons Livas-Lujan, 2013 Social Media in Strategic Marketing, Emerald Group publishing limited Somerville, 2014 18 digital Marketing Trends you may not have hear about, The Fresh Egg blog accessed at http//www.freshegg.co.uk/blog/18-digital-marketing-trends-for-2014 Anon, 2013 IAB Social Media Effectiveness Research, IAB UK accessed at http//www.iabuk.net/research/library/iab-social-media-effectiveness-research Chaney, 2012 Brands should use social media to engage cons umers, amplify messages and promote trust, Digital intelligence today accessed at http//digitalintelligencetoday.com/brands-should-use-social-media-to-engage-consumers-amplify-messages-and-promote-trust-survey-says/ Anon, 2012 state of the Media, The social media report, Neilsen Wilson, 2010 Social Media and Small Business Marketing, University Business Printing and press, USA Drury, 2007 judgement Piece Social Media Should marketers engage and how can it be done effectively?, ledger of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing praxis Michaelidou et al, 2011 Usage, Barriers and measurement of social media marketing An searching investigation of small and medium B2B brands, Elsevier Royle and Liang, 2014 The digital marketing skills gap Developing a digital marketer model for communication industries, Elsevier Edelman, 2010 Branding in the digital age Youre spending your money in all the wrong places, Harvard Business Review