Pros and Cons of Social Media for Promotion - Essay Example

The emergence of social media has led to its extensive utilization in marketing promotion as well as other areas. Consistent promotion is one of the crucial ways marketers use to appeal to customers. Extensive communication makes customers aware of the new brands and, to a great extent, convinces them to try out the new or existing products based on the information given about the product. Promotions can be done through Ambassador Programs, blogging, trade fairs, and social media. With the advancement in technology, social media can be a handy tool for doing promotions through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn among others Like a coin every strategy has both good and bad sides and this paper seeks to show you the advantages and disadvantages of using social media to do promotions.

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Pros of using social media in promotion

1) Interaction with a large audience

Social media allows marketers to reach a large audience, both locally and internationally. As a marketer, it is pivotal to understand the needs of the target audience and align these needs with the nature of products offered (Chaffey 23). For example, communication with adults online is not the same as communicating with children hence the needed to master the targeted audience. Moreover, it allows a marketer to establish their business as a thought leader, especially when using the LinkedIn platform.

2) The use of social media for promotion is fast and efficient

The use of social media is one of the quickest ways of reaching customers fast. It provides a platform where the marketer can create awareness of the brand, demonstrate expertise, and distinguish services offered from those of the competitors. For example, when firms like hair companies post new hairstyles on either Pinterest or Facebook, people will see and instantly some will like and give their comments about the brand. Interestingly, responding to the customers accords an opportunity to the marketer to interact with the customers on a personal level. Some might even ask for directions to have a direct feel of the services offered. Most people link their Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest with their website. This, therefore, means that the new posts are consequently published on their other social media platforms. This way, information moves faster to the target audience.

3) Diversity of content

Social media gives marketers different options when evaluating the best channel to sell their brands. For example, Facebook allows users to post, like, and share content. If a marketer is promoting their favorite recipes, Facebook will be the best option .most ladies love cooking, and once they read the new recipes, they will be eager to try out. This way, marketers will have reached a considerable audience. Twitter also gives marketers to sell their brands. Its messages are straight companies that can tweet and retweet content, capturing the attention of their followers who may favor the content making it more public. Marketers can also use Pinterest to sell their new products. For example, videos on flattening the tummy may be pinned on many audience boards.

4) The use of social media is cheap

Social media promotion is very cheap. Some platforms allow people to register even business accounts for free. For example, auto marketers do not require a couple of trucks to move around the country, showing the audience the new car models (Kim & Park 25). All you have to do is just create a profile and share their product by clicking the Facebook share button for all to see the brand. Social media is beneficial in promotion in that it not only creates a cheaper way to market products but also provides values such as confidence and high self-esteem. Promotion through social media platforms can be essential in building brand loyalty.

5) Easy to monitor progress

Social medial allows marketers to take selfies, share images, and videos of their products. Consequently, their followers either like, comment, or share the posts. These statistics help marketers to reevaluate their business goals, whether they are attaining them or not. Marketers make informed decisions based on the content they find most engaging. If a company is selling both dresses and trench coats online, the product with many likes and requests will inform the company on what products to invest in heavily.

Cons of Social Media in Promotions

1) It is not business-oriented

This is the main limitation of using social media for promotion. The primary purpose of social media is connecting people from all walks of life in an informal way. Even though Instagram and Facebook support business promotions, this does not mean that number of likes and comments guarantees sales (Tuten and Solomon 84). Customers may comment positively about a brand that gives false million likes, but only a few customers buy the product.

2) Negative feedback

Social media exposes marketers to all kinds of people. Some of the customers may not be genuine and may negatively comment on a brand to tarnish the brand name. For example, if a firm is selling pizza online, and a customer may comment on how the pizza is substandard and not tasty. This negative comment may go viral in social media hence stopping potential customers from buying the product. This may also tarnish the brand name.

3) Low return investment

Promotions on social media are a long-term investment hence require a long time to register positive results unless they are popular. Social media is not an excellent platform for small businesses. This is because big businesses make money through advertisements and keep on luring people to use their ads. This makes a small business register low return investments if they have invested in the use of social media for marketing.

4) Time-consuming

Promotions through social media take much time. Even after inviting friends to like the promotion page on Facebook, it may take some months before they either like or share posts, and it is not guaranteed that the target customer will purchase the product. It also takes much time to study competitor’s strategies and customers to satisfy their needs (Mahoney and Tang 36). If a firm is selling mobile phones in the Instagram platform, it is supposed to keep on updating the followers every time on the new model and its unique features failure to which followers will unfollow firm on their page.

5) Security threat

For a marketer to register their business online, they must share all their personal information to the public to boost their audience trust. This exposes the companies to unethical people who may hack their account. Many cases of leaked information have been reported, especially on Facebook breach news application hence ruining the company’s reputation (Whiting & Deshpande 86). Most artists who market their songs online safer the same fate since instead audience subscribing, they pirate the song and sell it cheaply, leaving the artiste with absolutely no proceeds. Social media strategy for marketing poses both privacy and a security threat.

Conclusion

The use of social media for promotional services is an innovative idea. However, there are benefits and limitations to the use of these strategies for marketing. It is imperative to do research on your targeted audience and set smart goals before investing in social media marketing strategy. Know the purpose of social media, have a good strategy of monitoring progress, determining preferred social media platform to build brand image

Works Cited

Chaffey, Dave. Digital marketing. Pearson UK, 2019..Kim, Woo Gon, and Seo Ah Park. "Social media review rating versus traditional customer satisfaction." International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (2017).

Mahoney, L. Meghan, and Tang Tang. Strategic social media: From marketing to social change. John Wiley & Sons, 2016.

Tuten, Tracy L., and Michael R. Solomon. Social media marketing. Sage, 2017.

Whiting, Anne, and Anant Deshpande. "Towards greater understanding of social media marketing: A review." Journal of Applied Business and Economics 18.4 (2016): 82-91.