Introduction
Marketing and communication require the ability to overcome the challenges posed by physical barriers in communication. The barriers affect the access and consumption of a given message. Without a communication technology, it would be impossible to reach millions of people and pass a given message. The mass media technologies offer the best approaches to dealing with the limitations of physical communication. The mass media play a critical role in information the public through creation and satisfaction of curiosity and generation of understandable content. The mass media allows the audience to interpret messages, cultivation of knowledge ethically, and bringing the audience together and closer through shared values and interests.
Over time, several theories of mass communication have emerged and dramatically changed because of the changing technologies, dynamic academic researchers and changing consumer behaviors. The evolving state of the media between 1900s and 2000s demonstrate the changing aspects of Mass communication theories. The Social marketing theory is one form of the mass communication theories. The social marketing theory draws its concepts from the fields of sociology, psychology and commercial marketing. The hybrid of various disciplines led to the creation of a marketing concept where the consumer’s mind-set is analyzed within socially cognizant demographic compositions. While the focus is the sale of products or services, the marketer must put more emphasis on the social benefits of the products, their ownership, and uses. Emphasis is placed on the 4ps aspects of marketing, the place, position, product and publicity.
Analysis
The origin, development and application of the Social Marketing Theory can be traced to Kotler. According to the authors, Social Marketing Theory was “coined by Kotler and Zaltman in 1971 to refer to the application of marketing to the solution of social and health problems”. The article concluded that Social Marketing Theory entails a conceptual that draws its concepts from other bodies of knowledge such as “psychology, sociology, and anthropology and communications theory to understand how to influence people’s behaviors”. The focus of social marketing, therefore, is to promote social good and not necessarily gain for the marketer. For example, the New York Times on October 25, 2014 carried out an article to educate the public on the dangers and causes of Ebola. Through the page and link to social media, the audience can engage the experts who can respond to issues using rose through the social media platforms.
Under the social marketing theory, when designing a social marketing campaign, certain issues must be taken into account. The theory requires that the issues relating to consumer, ensuring that an exchange exist in terms of value or motivation, long-term planning and focus on the mass market not an individual consumer. All these elements are present in the New York Times where there is engagement of the audience and their education on the deadly Ebola.
Social marketers exploit the modern tools such as the internet to ensure visibility and message positioning. In the article, Using Media to Advance Public Health Agendas, Wendel, Kate and Julie focused on how the social media can be fused in social marketing to promote certain health programs. Based on the example of Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS), the authors argued that social media can be deliberately used in social Marketing. Based on the social marketing theory concepts; an appropriate use of the social media “complements and supports the traditional spectrum of public health approaches ranging from individual education to effecting policy change”. These social marketing tenets are present in the strategies adopted by the Spanish authorities to promote public awareness on Ebola and counter the online rumors (Roman 1). The process encourages connectivity and transformation of the interactions with the audience and health officers.
Wendel, Kate and Julie define social Marketing as a concept that “takes a cue from the effectiveness of commercial advertising, with public health professionals hoping to “market” positive health behavior choices through messaging in media outlets including radio, television and billboards” . In the news item carried by WSJ, the Spanish police used the twitter handle @policia, to defuse any fears about Ebola. These sentiments were established by Brown, Broderick and Lee that looked at the role of social media in social marketing. In the article, the authors analyzed the factors that make social networking better or worse than the traditional word of mouth in product recommendation. According to Brown, Broderick and Lee (4) social networks have been praised for the ability to reach a larger size, number, and wider character of consumers. A word of mouth recommendation from a trusted party can convince a consumer to buy a product. The influence of word of mouth is growing. The digital revolution has magnified and accelerated its reach to the verge where word of mouth is not only the traditional act of intimate one-on-one communication. Nowadays, it operates on a one-to-many basis through online communication. For example, the Spanish police account used in social marketing has over 1.3 million followers. The social marketing theory premises that, through social media, product reviews are shared online and opinions dispersed through social networks such as YouTube, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, and Facebook. Some consumers even create blogs or websites to praise or rant about certain products. However, Brown, Broderick and Lee cautioned that managing the flow of this information is not easy as it seems and in some cases can prove to be disastrous to the product.
Mobile technology has been tapped in social marketing. In their study, Tsang, M., Shu-Chun and Ting-Peng Liang looked the place of mobile technology in mass marketing with the focus on mobile apps that target the social media platform users. The authors concluded that the mobile technology is currently the best platform in marketing. That is, and marketing agencies use short messaging services to get a close contact with potential customers. In addition, the internet services present in the mobile phones allow one-to-one marketing, hence accessing a large market. Credibility of the research paper occurs from an extensive research investigation on consumer attitudes towards mobile advertising. However, the results may not be pleasing on the ears of the marketing agencies because consumers are not happy on the mobile advertising unless consumers have prior permission on receiving the adverts. The results show that, the advertising sector should vary the styles of making the adverts in order to suit the mobile user needs. In the case of the use of Twitter in Spain, Roman observed that these issues were taken into account. While Twitter can be accessed through a mobile phone, a message posted also warned the public only to trust the information given by the government agencies. The information from the paper is relevant since mobile adverting changes the consumer relationship, attitude and behavior towards the advertising agencies and how Twitter can be used to issue trusted information.
In their research, Dooley, Jones, and Iverson sought to establish the evolution of social marketing and application of modern technologies. The study recognized in that social marketing has been applied in several health promotion campaigns. However, with time, the internet has changed social marketing where the flow of the marketing message has been affected. Conventionally, “television, radio, newspaper, and Web 1.0” have been used in marketing. However, the results have been passive reactions from the targeted audiences. The through the web 2.0, the audiences have become active contributors and actors in the process of development and reception of the specific marketing messages. For example, the Twitter message posted by the Spanish police was shared multiple times across the internet until it went viral. The authors suggested that the Web 2.0 technologies be used in the campaigns to come up with best healthy behaviors, distribution of health information, and promote online. This has been the case of the news items by NYT and WSJ, where the public is cautioned about Ebola and how to access factual information. Through the Web 2.0 technologies, the authors concluded that the target audiences can take part in both multidirectional and active processes in health information processing through contribution in contents creation and online/social interactions. For example, in the past, the Spanish government could have used the traditional models for social marketing. The authorities sought to twitter to get maximum impact and instant marketing results.
Conclusion
The success of social marketing depends on the diversity of strategies used and the ability to reach many people with information. Since the Internet advent, the influence of online recommendations on consumer decision-making has captivated great attention about brands and products. For example, the NYT article by Grynbaumoct shows that there have been changes in social marketing that have led to a push in new approaches in marketing in which social networking plays a huge role. During social marketing, social media provide a platform for viral marketing in which information about products, and, or services can reach a wider population within a shorter period. This notion has also been identified by Brown et al who assert that independent of interpersonal factors, and the Web is a primary actor from which information is sought and shared by users. Social marketers must note the increasing numbers of consumers are using Web 2.0 tools, for example, social network sites, consumer review sites, weblogs, and online discussion forums to exchange product information. Social media can be used to enhance products’ observability in social marketing. Social media and online marketing are thriving today globally. Social marketing theory suggests that marketers can use this opportunity to create a social media account that allows inviting people to see the new product or development in their markets.
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