The promotional phase of marketing defines the ultimate earning and achievement of any company. Different companies make use of different medium/ mediums to achieve the target of effective marketing. In the modern world, although traditional media such as television and radio is still significant, new marketing strategies have highlighted the significance of interactive advertising through new media. Customers are engaged through interactive marketing strategies such as digitalized programs and online activities.
Media today is largely defined by simplicity, rapidness and effectiveness. These new mediums of advertising have one basic feature in common and that is the interaction that they offer. The gap between the providers and consumers has nearly been eliminated. The low cost advertising and low cost or even the non-existent costs of interaction make these mediums ideal for all kinds of businesses.
The e-media or digital media which comprises the internet, e-mail and mobile emerged with the web in the 90s. It formed the basis of the fast growing advertising industry that encompasses small to medium to large businesses today. The newest addition to the mediums of marketing is the social media that has evolved dramatically in the 21st century.
Now days, people share information about products and brand through social networking such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn where they can easily do mass marketing easily. Other than this there are various multimedia sharing sites (e.g., Flickr and YouTube), rating sites and bookmarking sites which help organizations to convey their message and ask concerns of customer directly. For speedy sales advertisers look for location-based services which help them to track customer’s easily. Advertisers also view customers influence through Social Gaming along with social couponing to sell their products.
Social media has played a vital role in making advertising an interactive phenomenon. Recent surveys and reports suggest that social media marketing is an essential tool for businesses to market their products efficiently and effectively. Hubs opt review of 2014 is that more than 92% of marketers viewed social media marketing reliable source for businesses. The recent
approaches of communication reflects on the media features of social networking which help to develop social connections into personal channels for brand communication. Social media has provided an appropriate medium for businesses conducting viral advertisement, marketing and electronic word of mouth. It has permitted marketing at negligible costs. It has allowed mass messaging as well as response directly to individual comments and discussion. Company announcements, question and answer posts as well as other ongoing interaction with customers are crucial in the rapid-paced, tech led marketplace of today. Phrases such as “buy now”, “add to cart”, etc. inspire potential customers to proceed with purchase. This kind of marketing helps companies identify their true target potential with ease and more effectively, cost effectiveness.
With recent technological developments marketers can search and analyze online conversations about their brand or interesting topics by using several social media monitoring tools. These are beneficial tools for measuring return on investment, competitor-auditing and general public engagement. Social media marketing offers great opportunities for marketers to strengthen brand loyalty and increase brand recognition. This has certainly helped organizations in decreasing marketing cost and on other hand improved customers’ insight regarding marketing trend.
Name: Muhammad Zeeshan Mirza
University: NU-FAST, Islamabad
