Integrated Social Media Marketing

A key marketing decision, given the multitude of techniques available, is the choice of promotional blend needed to communicate with the target audience. For the marketer, a careful approach is needed when deciding how to communicate and how to showcase your company. Social media might prove powerful, but so far, advertising in traditional media has been the first choice. However, things are changing rapidly; for example foods giant Unilever have spent 7.3 billion Euros on marketing, with just half of it being spent on actual traditional media advertising.

For an easy overview of the promotional tools you might use, there are some considerations worthy of a lengthier look:

• Resource availability and the cost of promotion is most often what is considered first in a campaign. To conduct an advertising campaign that will bear impact, vast sums needs to be available. Earlier on, this was the most expensive part of the promotional blend. These days, with endless possibilities with the realm of social media, companies are saving in on their dollars at the same time as customer communication is improved.

• Market size and concentration always matters; if a market is small and confined, personal selling may in some cases be relevant. Most of the time however, this is a waste of time concerning the actual amounts of hours needed and the costs included. This is also a great opportunity to see if various social media tools might be as usual, or even more effective.

• To communicate a brand image, social media is effective. But without a basic understanding of what you want to communicate, your customers might find themselves at loss. If what you need is a brand-image, traditional advertising might actually be a good choice.

It is always a good idea to think twice about the character of what you are marketing. Many of those who have failed in their social media campaigns did so because their product or service was not perceived by the audience as suitable in a social media setting. This is mostly true in regard to medical services and safety devices. But old products with a long history does not always fare well in the new social media world. In case you are doubtful, one strategy tried by Bertolli, an Italian foods company, would be to approach social media by focusing on something connected with your product rather than the product itself. Bertolli was concerned that it’s well known products would not be suitable for a social media launch and opted to instead establish a discussion forum on the internet. From there, they took it gradually and soon developed their strategies to include social media.

A vast number of marketing executives are basing their marketing efforts on Push/Pull strategies. Many marketing scholars debate whether Push/Pull strategies actually can be connected with a social media effort. A number of views exists about this but basically, as Phillip Kotler believes, push strategies involves an attempt to sell into channel intermediaries and is dependent on personal selling and trade promotions. Pull strategies are known for side-stepping intermediary efforts to communicate with customers and hence offers better opportunities for a social media effort. However, as the push/pull strategies very much concern themselves with making intermediaries stock up on a product, traditional advertising will probably be used in most companies. It is quite clear that the social media potential has not been released in regard to this strategy.

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