Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P.,

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[edit] Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media

Technology has shaped the way businesses work from the way they distribute their content to the way that consumers access the business. The Internet has expanded the way they provide content through different platforms are extended to have websites, blogs, social media and wikis. These are part of the way in which businesses can share content to the consumer. The journal takes on a framework in which an analysis on social media will be broken down into seven separate functions which will look at identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputations, and groups. Some of the implications are focused on how businesses can use some, all or combination of these different function and how social media can affect the consumer experience. In the rise of social media, a lot of businesses do not have the tools that help make cooperation’s present on social media platforms. The consumers are given the power through online platforms which strengthen the brand identity but does take away some of the authority that the marketing and public relations teams have. But being able to create, share and distribute information through social media with strengthen the marketing departments and allow the campaign to have a huge impact on the consumers.

Having an established identity is an important aspect of social media within a business. The presence of a user’s identity is important because it provides the ability to disclose information specific to the consumer. This provides valuable information to the business regarding their likes and dislikes. Not always reliable, with social media there are nicknames and usernames which may deter the business to go in another direction of what the consumer is looking for. However, there are different resources like Facebook Analytics that help track information because platforms and websites like Facebook require some information to be inputted to create an account. Not completely reliable, but still provides information which would be beneficial for the company.

Conversations are also beneficial because they provide a way to which the consumer is communicated. There are many platforms which help facilitate conversations within the individuals regarding exchanging information. Beginning the conversation regarding a specific campaign like the Dove Campaign can help begin conversations to which the consumer will continue their own personal accounts. Along with conversation, sharing is another part to where engagement is beneficial for the business. Sharing refers to the user and how they exchange, distribute, and receive the content they come across on social media. Especially if there is a benefit for the consumer if they share, the user is more likely to share which increases the exposure of the business. Groups are another block to which users can form communities. Within a social media account individuals can place people they know into the self-created groups. Another form would be through joining groups based on hobbies and interests to anyone around the world. This provides the ability for a business to gain exposure from multiple locations around the world.

Once the exposure is there, the presence of the business on the different social media platforms becomes more important. For a business, having the ability to check-in so that users can observe and keep track of who is online. For the value of relationships, the structure and flow is very important for the social media integration. With social media industry, relationships are crucial for the business. The websites want businesses and companies to engage with the consumers as this will strengthen the relationship between each other. A positive relationship will benefit for both the company as well as the user. Therefore, reputation is also important. Reputation for a business is valuable because now someone’s opinion of a good or service can be extended fast through number of views, followers and mentions coming from a social platform. The firm identifies even from rating systems and so many other ways to which would have an influence on a company’s reputation.

Each of these will help examine how to concentrate a certain aspect of social media to a specific group. From these groups, strong implications on the impact social media campaigns have on the industry can then be determined. It is very clear that social media is not going anywhere, it is a powerful tool which businesses can use to engage the consumers with the business. Using the tools laid out the departments can use technology and marketing to positively benefit the social media use which will attract more traffic to the business. (Jennifer R)

Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons, 54(3), 241-251.

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