Marketing in the Web 2.0 : the importance of social media

Abstract

During the past two decades the internet has developed from an academic, textbased network to a social meeting-place that allows individuals to come together in a virtual way and discuss like they would do in real life. This new social aspect helped the so-called "online social media" to develop. From a marketing perspective, social media are a great place to meet with the customer due to cost-efficiency and ease of practical implementation. In order to cover this new field for marketing activities the marketing mix has been extended to new possibilities that arose with these social media possibilities. For a detailed analysis of this new phenomenon, three popular characteristics, namely social media activities, viral marketing and blogging as well as micro-blogging are discussed from a theoretical point of view. Focus is put on the question, whether social media marketing can exist without conventional advertising or not, which means if it is an additional marketing tool or not. The relevance for real life is demonstrated in an analysis where well-established brands are reviewed and the pros and cons of their marketing strategies are highlighted. The differences between conventional marketing strategies and the new online marketing strategy are discussed, as well as their impact on the marketing mix. These brands are further analyzed with respect to social media, viral marketing and (micro)-blogging, which are analyzed in a qualitative way and compared to best practice guidelines stated in the theory section. In this respect attention was set on the selection of good, as well as bad examples in order to emphasize the differences and to give the possibility to compare relevant aspects. Finally an outlook for social media marketing is given that discusses possible further developments.