How Social Media Campaigns Can Change Consumer Behaviour
Social media websites have revolutionised how we communicate with people across the world. No longer do we need to run up expensive phone bills contacting a family member in America or a friend in Australia, we can now contact them for free at the click of a button and they will receive the message instantly.
As well as changing the way we communicate with each other, social networking has also changed the way politicians communicate their campaign strategies and can help them to effectively reach a demographic that might not care about their political party. For instance, Barack Obama continually posts up statuses regarding information that will affect American citizens and their country.
Social media websites have also changed the way we receive information such as local news, entertainment gossip and other current affairs; example, when the news of Michael Jackson’s death hit the headlines, it was all over Facebook in an instant and a large majority of people found out through this global community – and this website gave people the space to express an emotional loss.
It appears that the whole world is online with over 800 million active users – 50% of which log on every day. The success of Facebook has ultimately led to both small and high profile brands identifying the potential value of advertising on the social media website. Brands can now market new and existing products to their demographic to great effect and help them to compete in the competitive market place.
In order for a company to be successful in the market, they have to provide their customers with the products or services that they want or need – so it is essential that they understand what it is their potential customers want from them in order to stay ahead of the competition. However, gathering customer feedback can be difficult by post or email, and that is where Facebook comes in.
Consumers are seemingly smarter than ever before due to the rise of the internet, and people want to be active in their shopping experience – so it is important that brands give them an outlet instead of creating a divide between them and their potential clientele. Companies can now start social media campaigns which can find out what their customers want from them and allows them to contact them directly. It ultimately gives their clientele an arena to air their views or share their love for company’s products or services. While it might be impossible for organisations to contact their customers individually, it does demonstrate to them that they are a hands-on company that cares about their opinions.
Therefore, if a company is not operating online then they may as well shut down operations and close the doors on their company – because consumers want to be heard, they want their opinions to matter and they want a forward-thinking company who they believe will deliver the products or services that they desire.
