Introduction
Our living and working environments have seen significant transformation in recent years. The development of the internet revolutionized how people interact and gather information, but today's accessibility and mobility of technologies has an impact on customer behavior and aids in the evolution of traditional business models (Dwivediet al., 2021). Businesses need to modify themselves to interact with their customers through the channels they utilize in order to maintain their market positions and draw in new clients (Karunakaran, 2021).1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Utilizing the internet to market and sell products or services is known as internet marketing. Internet marketing makes use of the potential of digital trade to market and sell goods (Zahay, 2021). Any market on the internet is referred to as electronic commerce. Electronic commerce enables online purchasing, selling, and trading of goods and services. Electronic commerce is a subcategory of internet marketing. Internet marketing has started to get a lot of traction as a result of the explosion in internet usage (Karunakaran and Linda Jacob, 2020). It is stated that text-only websites that provided product information were the first to offer internet marketing services in the start of 1990 (Ranaet al., 2020). With the expansion of the internet, there is now more to it than only the sale of goods; there is now information about goods, advertising space, software, auctions, stock trading, and matchmaking. A few businesses, including Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Alibaba, and Youtube, have transformed how the internet may be utilized for marketing.7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Digital transformation
It is the process of utilizing digital technology to develop new or adapt current company practices, culture, and customer experiences in order to satisfy shifting consumer and market demands (Salesforce, 2018). The integration of digital technology across all company functions, which significantly alters how it operates and provides value to consumers (The Enterprises Project, 2018). The ability of customers and people to adapt to technologies could be summed up as digital transformation. It not only relates to digital technologies; also refers to the incorporation of digital technologies into all facets of entrepreneurship, which has a substantial impact on how businesses operate and adds value for customers. The creation and use of digital marketing tools are impacted by digital transformation as well. Businesses are investing more in digital marketing as they become more aware of its importance and the demands that come with it (Zalane, 2017).15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Advantages
With the quickening pace of technology advancement, digital marketing has altered consumer purchasing patterns. It has provided with a the consumers number of benefits, including the following:-
Keep up with products or services: Digital marketing tools enable customers to keep up with corporate news.
Higher commitment: Through digital marketing, customers can participate in the business's many initiatives.
Concise knowledge about the goods or services: Consumers can obtain clear information about goods or services through digital marketing.
Simple comparability with others: As more businesses attempt to sell their goods or services through digital marketing, this is turning out to be the biggest benefit for the client in terms of the ease and speed with which they may compare goods and services from various providers.
24/7 shopping: Since the internet is accessible around-the-clock, customers may shop online whenever they want.
Distribute product or service material with others: Digital marketing allows consumers the opportunity to spread information about the items or services they are interested in.
Fair/precise pricing: With apparent pricing, a business makes its prices for goods and services explicit and transparent for customers by displaying them through digital marketing channels.
Permits prompt purchase: In conventional marketing, consumers must first watch the commercial before finding a nearby physical store to make a purchase. However, clients can instantaneously buy the goods or services through digital marketing.
Disadvantages
Internet communication does not actually include face-to-face interaction. Internet marketing might be less appropriate for items like life insurance that rely significantly on establishing personal relationships between customers and sellers and products like those that need to be physically examined.22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 It is revealed that email marketing can be used to entice a consumer to visit a store to sample a product or to speak with sales personnel, even if internet marketing cannot allow potential customers to touch, smell, taste, or "try on" the products (Bae and Zamrudi, 2018). The dependence on technology, security and privacy concerns, maintenance expenses brought on by an environment that is continuously changing, increased price rivalry and pricing transparency, and global competition are some drawbacks of e-marketing.
Social Media Marketing
Use of social media websites and platforms for product or service promotion is known as social media marketing (Dwivedi, et al., 2021; Li et al., 2021). Social media marketing is growing in popularity among both practitioners and researchers, despite the fact that e-marketing and digital marketing are still the most used terminology in academia. The majority of social media networks include data analytics tools that let businesses monitor the development, success, and engagement of marketing efforts (Iankova, et al., 2019). Through social media marketing, businesses communicate with a variety of stakeholders, such as present and potential customers, current and potential workers, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. Strategically speaking, social media marketing entails managing a marketing campaign, governance, determining the scope (for example, more active or passive use), and establishing the intended social media "culture" and "tone" of a company (Sharma and Verma, 2018). When employing social media marketing, businesses can use user-generated material, often known as "earned media," rather than pre-written advertising copy (Zhang and Du, 2020). Examples of this type of content include online comments, product reviews, and more.
Empirical information on social media marketing
Social media use has significantly expanded in recent years (Thota, 2018), and the COVID-19 epidemic has accelerated this trend among adults in the United States (Samet, 2020). Additionally, the expansion of social media platforms has changed the dynamics of the online market by fostering social networks for customers, opinion leaders, and subject-matter experts. When Kumar, et al. (2020) discovered that integrated marketing promotional messages can be successful in influencing customers' views about product image and result in consumption habits, they provided an example of the significance of social media marketing.
People are drawn to social media for a variety of reasons. Malik, et al. (2016) as reviewed by Mason, et al. (2021) studied the advantages that Facebook users obtained from social media participation based on the Uses and Gratification Theory. They specifically identified six different forms of satisfactions from sharing images in their online study of 368 Facebook users. They discovered that attachment, attention seeking, habit, knowledge sharing, disclosure, and social influence can all lead to user delight.
Mason, et al. (2021) has discovered that consumers enter a state of cognitive absorption when they are intensely engaged with information technology (CA). According to Malesev and Cherry (2021), there are many reasons why CA encourages users to use social media. Social media, for example, allows for temporal dissociation, which reduces the user's awareness of the passage of time. Additionally, social media offers users a targeted immersion experience that enables them to escape the unpleasant realities of life. Third, successful interactions between a user and the software through social media can increase enjoyment. Finally, social media can satiate users' curiosity by offering novelty and wonder. Social media gives users a sense of control.
Despite the fact that many people find social media appealing, it can have a detrimental impact on people's mental health. For instance, Dhir, et al.(2018); Aydin (2020)discovered that social media fatigue may be brought on by unrestrained usage of such platforms and that social media fatigue may increase levels of anxiety and depression among adolescents in India. However, according to Knowles, et al. (2020), social media is rapidly being utilized to help businesses and customers communicate. When Kumar, et al. (2020) discovered that integrated marketing promotional messages can be successful in influencing consumer perceptions about product image and result in consumption habits, they provided an example of the significance of social media in marketing.
The Platform of Social Marketing
Social networking sites: Social networking sites enable online interactions between people, companies, and other organizations, as well as the development of communities and relationships. When businesses join these social media platforms, customers can communicate with them directly. Users may find that relationship more intimate than more conventional outbound marketing and advertising strategies. Social networking sites serve as electronic word of mouth, or e-word of mouth. The Internet's ability to connect with billions of people worldwide has given online word of mouth a strong voice and a wide audience. An influence network is described as having the capacity to quickly alter the behavior of a rising number of consumers in terms of their purchasing habits, selection of products, and use of services. It is common practice on some social media platforms for followers to "retreat" or "repost" comments made by others about a product that is being advertised on social networking sites and blogs. By repeating the message, the user's connections will be able to see it, expanding its audience. More traffic is delivered to the product/company as a result of the information about it being shared and repeated. The foundation of social networking sites is the creation of online communities that let users expresses their needs, wants, and ideals. Afterward, social media marketing links these customers and viewers with companies that have similar requirements, interests, and beliefs. Social networking websites allow businesses to communicate with their fans on an individual basis. Followers and potential consumers may feel more loyal as a result of this personal engagement. Additionally, by carefully selecting who to follow on these networks, businesses can reach a highly specific target market. Social networking sites also offer a wealth of details about the goods and services that potential customers would find interesting. Marketers can identify buying signals by utilizing new semantic analysis technologies, such as information shared online and online queries. Understanding buying signals can assist in running micro-targeted marketing and helping salespeople target the right prospects. In 2014, more than 80% of corporate executives said social media was a crucial component of their operations. Social media marketing has helped business retailers raise their revenues by 133%.
Wireless phones: The Internet is used by more than three billion people worldwide. The number of people using the Internet has increased steadily over time, rising from 738 million in 2000 to 3.2 billion in 2015. Approximately 81 percent of Americans as of right now have a social media presence they regularly interact with. Because mobile phones contain social networking features that enable instant web browsing and access to social networking sites, they are useful for social media marketing. Mobile devices have expanded quickly, radically changing the path-to-purchase process by making it simple for customers to get pricing and product information in real time and for businesses to constantly remind and update their followers. Today, many businesses include QR (Quick Response) codes with their goods so that customers may use their smartphones to access the company website or online services. By linking the QR code to brand websites, promotions, product details, or any other mobile-enabled content, retailers can make it easier for customers to interact with brands. Real-time bidding is becoming increasingly popular in the mobile advertising sector due to its benefits for mobile web browsing. Nexage, a company that offers real-time bidding for mobile advertising, claimed a monthly revenue increase of 37% in 2012. Another mobile ad publishing company, Adfonic, claimed a 22 billion rise in ad requests in the same year. With 5.7 billion users globally, mobile devices are becoming more and more common. This has had an impact on how consumers interact with media and has many further consequences for TV ratings, advertising, mobile commerce, and more. In the US, it is expected that over 100 million people will utilize mobile devices to access internet video content. Mobile media consumption, such as mobile audio streaming or mobile video, is growing. Pay-per-view downloads, advertising, and subscriptions make up mobile video revenue. 73.4 percent of people globally used mobile phones to access the Internet as of 2013. More than 90% of Internet users are predicted to access online material through mobile phones in 2017, according to statistics.
Integration of social media into the consumer decision-making model
a. Social media's function in determining product demands: Realizing a product need is the first step in the decision-making process for consumers. When a consumer's actual state and intended state of being diverge, a product need is triggered (Prasath and Yoganathen, 2018). According to the S-O-R Theory, when a consumer notices external stimuli like advertising, other customers, a product's packaging, etc., they may feel as though they have an unmet need and be encouraged to look for more information to fill that perceived need. Consider a case where a health-conscious female customer learns from online health information that many Americans don't get enough vitamins and minerals in their diet. The consumer can feel that her desired condition (healthy enough) and her perceived state (insufficient health) are at odds with one another as a result of this knowledge (improved health). As a result, the customer could experience a felt need (also known as problem recognition) that is strong enough to prompt her to look for a product solution.
According to Thota (2018), companies can utilize social media to pique consumers' interest in their products by starting brand-related dialogues that enhance favorable opinions of their goods, services, or concepts. Think of Starbucks as an illustration. Starbucks maintains customer brand awareness while maintaining its global brand presence in order to produce felt demands (i.e., problem recognition) in the marketplace. Additionally, Starbucks regularly uses virtual messaging to encourage customers to choose their brand over rivals' in the marketplace.
Social media is an effective instrument for spreading messages. Thota (2018) discovered that 93% of American firms use Facebook as well as additional channels like Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media offers companies digital channels to raise consumer awareness of their products and brands. Social media platforms are also utilized by consumers to communicate with one another and share their brand or product experiences (Thota, 2018). Social media thus provides a way for companies to build brand recognition for their goods or services. Businesses can, for instance, post brand information about their goods and services utilizing owned media. Paid media, like Facebook postings that have been promoted, can also be used to raise awareness and interest in companies and prompt people to see a need or issue that the company can help them with. In addition, brand-influencing stimuli can be found in the posts of opinion leaders and peers of consumers. For instance, according to Jashari and Rrustemi (2017), "every photo, video, comment, review, and other content uploaded on social media that consumers are exposed to plays the role of stimulation (incentives) in recognizing a new demand”. In order to activate the stage of product demand in consumers, businesses may therefore encourage customers to make post-product purchases. Businesses that want to establish their brands on social media frequently use macro-influencers to spread product awareness. Businesses can pay top influencers (such as famous people and athletes) to post positive things about their goods (Wertz, 2019). This method is successful because millions of people follow the highly compensated macro-influencers (also known as opinion leaders) on social media. The decision-making process of consumers may be influenced by any content that these opinion leaders present.
b. The function of social media in searches for product details: When a consumer searches for product information, the second stage of the decision-making process begins. In other words, the customer is compelled to learn more about a solution to the need when a perceived need is activated. Consumers learn about the comparative aspects of rival brands or goods during this process. Customers will occasionally start their information search by requesting recommendations from influencers (also known as opinion leaders) in their network. A business's creation of positive brand content may be viewed with suspicion. Peer product reviews, however, are valued more highly since they are thought to be more reliable than information provided by marketers (Alghizzawi, 2019). The degree of a consumer's participation with a product is referred to as the consumer's importance level toward the product. The degree to which a consumer uses a particular product influences how they interpret the data in a consumer review. In an experiment with 278 participants, Sher and Lee (2009) as reviewed by Mason, et al. (2021) discovered that highly interested consumers conduct formal, in-depth analyses of product information.
When searching for information, a consumer who has little need for involvement willmake minimal effort. More specifically, when participation is limited, the customer is more likely to process information by side pathways and rely on cues rather than looking into more in-depth product-specific information (Mothersbaugh, et al., 2020). When consumers are in low involvement situations, the usage of cues like colors, visuals, and noises is crucial for attracting their attention.
However, customers who are very interested in a certain product or purchasing activity are driven to conduct in-depth information searches. In other words, the consumer is more likely to look for in-depth information from a variety of sources and get information through product trial experiences (Ziyadin, et al., 2019). Customers are more likely to interact directly with prospective influencers in situations where there is strong involvement (e.g., opinion leaders, friends, sales staff, other consumers, etc.). Higher levels of customer interaction are required to increase communications impact. High-quality, innovative, or enjoyable contact between buyers and sellers via various social media channels can increase consumer interest (Rambe and Retumetse, 2017).
c. How social media can be used to compare different product options: Consumers analyze product and brand choices at stage three of the decision-making process from a set of options that have been taken into consideration, also known as the evoked set. In other words, after doing their information search, customers develop a mental conceptual map of potential substitutes for their identified need (Leung, et al., 2017). Consumers analyze the available product options using a variety of decision heuristics, or general rules of thumb, in order to arrive at an evoked set (Jashari and Rrustemi, 2017). The lexicographic rule, conjunctive rule, and compensating rule are examples of possible heuristics (Cole, et al., 2017). Using the lexicographic rule, customers search for the product that excels in the area they think is most crucial. Consumers may use price as an example when seeking for alternatives that are less expensive. To exclude product possibilities that are thought to perform poorly on a prominent attribute, a consumer employs a conjunctive heuristic. When looking for the product that performs the best "all around," consumers employ the compensating rule. With the compensating rule, the consumer will take into account a variety of product characteristics, including cost, toughness, and style. The consumer then formulates an internal weighted average performance rating for each item in the evoked set based on the set of criteria. Social media tactics can be used by businesses to generate positive information and address issues pertinent to consumers' decision-making criteria. A company can converse with customers in both directions via social media. To learn more about the products being offered, prospective customers can leave comments on articles about the brand or product or contact the company directly through direct message. For instance, customers can express inquiries about products on social media. On the same post, the company can then directly address the queries or concerns of the customers.
d. Social media's influence on buying decisions: The customer makes a purchasing decision at the fourth stage of the consumer decision-making model. While social media's main advantage is raising brand awareness for goods and services, several sites also let users make cash purchases. Conversely, the volume of consumer purchases from such platforms has disappointed many firms. For instance, Halzack (2016) showed that during the 2015 holiday shopping season, social media platforms accounted for just 1.8% of online U.S. purchases. But it seems sense that as social media platforms develops and gain more features, people would use them more and more to make purchases.
The perception of risk by the consumer that a certain product won't fulfill their expectations is a significant component in the purchasing decision. Prior to COVID-19, customers often sought product validation from family, friends, considered experts and opinion leaders in order to reduce their perceived risk (Root, 2020). Meanwhile, customers' access to their social influencers has been limited as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Samet, 2020). By eliminating the requirement for direct physical touch, social media platforms fortunately enable consumers to communicate with a larger number of customers. Social media may therefore become more important in the COVID-19 pandemic setting as consumers engage with influencers to lower their perceived risk (Laato, et al., 2020). In other words, social media will probably play a bigger part in how people make decisions about what to buy.
e. Social media's impact on post-purchase actions: The consumer engages in post-buy activities, such as forming purchase contentment or dissatisfaction feelings, in the final stage of the consumer decision-making model (Stephen, 2016). Customer loyalty, sometimes referred to as consumer connections and repeat purchasing behavior, is mostly influenced by the degree of client happiness (Emmons, 2019). When customers are unhappy with a purchase, they frequently do not explain why they are unhappy. Instead, they switch to different possibilities for their future shopping and/or purchasing habits. Customers can communicate their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their shopping and purchases through social media. Therefore, social media gives businesses a way to immediately address customer complaints by providing a quick, effective, and generally cost way to obtain customer input.Consumers might use social media to flaunt and/or talk about their new purchases after making a purchase. When satisfied, a customer could use social media to support or recommend the business. If the good is a luxury brand, for instance, the buyer might post to show off their ownership of it to elevate their standing among peers. Customers can, however, also express their discontent with a product or a shopping trip.
Direct social interaction is made more challenging by the COVID-19 epidemic and related government mitigation measures, which impedes enterprises' efforts to provide services. Customer dissatisfaction will probably rise with weaker customer service, which will hurt a company's efforts to build customer loyalty (Mason, 2020; Mason, et al., 2020). According to Athwal, et al. (2019), social media marketing can reduce discontent by satisfying the emotional and cognitive demands of customers. More specifically, it has been discovered that using social media as a source of information satisfies consumers' emotional demands for entertainment (such as joy, comedy, and excitement) as well as their cognitive needs (Athwal, et al., 2019).
Social Media Marketing Trends and Their Effects on Digital Marketing
Building social signals, which are crucial for any SEO digital marketing effort, has been greatly aided by the development of social media marketing platforms. Building organic website traffic with the integration of social media marketing and SEO techniques is successful. This year, many social media marketing trends will influence how digital marketers will approach their SEO campaigns to increase their lead generation and website conversion rates. Here are some social media marketing trends that can affect the development and success of your digital marketing and search engine optimization initiatives, according to the insights of digital marketing experts.
Need rather than a want: investing in social media marketing
A new perspective has emerged for online marketers regarding the usefulness of social media marketing for their company. Utilizing social media to find the goods and services they require has seen a considerable increase in usage among customers. Prestigious social consumer studies show that:
76 percent of businesses use social networking to further their marketing goals.
After promoting the importance of social media marketing for their company through mobile marketing, business retailers saw a rise in revenues of roughly 133%.
Approximately 40% of US online buyers use their smart phones for in-store purchases.
Approximately 71% of consumers react to social media users' reviews and recommendations of a particular brand.
Customers see customer reviews as more reliable than marketing promotions that originate from the brand website.
The majority of popular firms have a social media presence to increase their marketing exposure and make their brand more approachable to users of social media.
Benefits of Using Social Media Platforms for Brand Promotion
Increasing social signals: Your search engine optimization efforts can benefit greatly from growing social signals. The search engine finds the website more relevant the more people share, like, suggest, and discuss about the company on social media, which increases the likelihood that the web pages will appear higher on the search engine results page.
Increase brand recognition and customer awareness: Social media users can constantly propose the noteworthy qualities of brand to their social media networks. This may serve as a useful marketing tool for enhancing brand's reputation and increasing the number of individuals who are willing to support it.
The power of word-of-mouth marketing: Consumers are more likely to trust word-of-mouth marketing than product descriptions that business offers on its website (Maria, et al., 2019). The more likes and shares website receives from the social media community, the greater impact and reaches it have on target audience. Therefore, incorporating social media into digital marketing strategy is essential to achieving marketing objectives. Social media marketing has evolved from a just opulent method of online business promotion to a crucial component of SEO as a result of the requirement to incorporate it into digital marketing in an effort to keep small and medium-sized businesses competitive with their rivals.
The Social Advertising Trend Transforming Into an Essential Component of Digital Marketing
Due to the shift in customers' shopping behavior, digital marketers are being drawn to social media advertising. From social media polls, a significant portion of consumers spend an average of 37 minutes a day on well-known social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and 10% of internet users spend time on social media websites. Just think about the potential market expansion that social media could provide for internet marketers. About 53% of digital marketers were already using social media to position their brands in 2013, and by 2014, social advertising spending will increase. Competitors are likely moving ahead with more sophisticated stages and a bigger and better market opportunity to play with if company hasn't already implemented this marketing strategy to increase market coverage.
Implementing the following strategies is crucial if want to use social media advertising to company's advantage:
Establish quantifiable objectives for company.
To maximize marketing efforts and outcomes, incorporate social advertising into SEO approach.
Using SEO analytics, pinpoint the habits, requirements, and pursuits of ideal clientele. This will make it easier to assess the possible efficacy of the social media advertising strategy can employ to engage target market.
Improve website's landing pages by fusing SEO and social media marketing techniques. Don't undervalue the role that social networking buttons play in increasing user engagement on landing pages.
Content Focused on Images for Social Media Marketing
Users of social media are spending more time liking and sharing photographs. This is an excellent chance for online marketers to increase the social signals that will help their business rank higher in search results. For social media users, image material may be incredibly alluring and provide a brand with good online visibility. Because images are proven to increase a brand's visibility to search engine users, image-centric content has become one of the social media marketing trends adopted by Atlanta's social media marketing companies. These companies also incorporate image-centric content into their SEO campaigns.
Email marketing with social media integration
One of the foundations for a good lead conversion, in the eyes of digital marketers, is email marketing. Despite the most recent development in digital marketing, email marketing is still widely used. Additionally, marketers are incorporating social media marketing to increase the effectiveness of their lead generation efforts. If your brand appears in their friends' social feeds, leads will be more likely to purchase from you through social media. Social media marketers frequently update their email marketing material in their status updates on social media, which is an efficient way to promote brand marketing updates.
Conclusion
Through the development of a wide range of digital marketing strategies, the internet wrought disruptive change upon the commercial landscape. The accessibility and portability of technologies have an impact on customer behavior and help to change traditional company structures. As users publish product reviews, customer service stories, and/or product usage advice on social media, it becomes a significant source for influencing consumers' browsing and purchasing patterns. As a result, any company's marketing strategy should include successful social media use. Organizations must deliberately employ social media marketing to appeal to their target audiences as more customers use social media daily for activities like reading the news, researching products, and finding entertainment.
