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CHAPTER 16
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND COMMUNICATION
Chapter Outline
A. Social Networks: Key to Online Relationships
B. The Rise of Social Media
1. Forms of Social Media
C. Marketing Dimensions of Social Media
1. Generate Exposure for the Firm and its Products
2. Build Brand Equity
3. Drive Traffic to Corporate Websites
4. Link with Other Sites across the Internet
E. Challenges of Social Media
1. Send the Wrong Message
2. Resource Intensive
F. Social Media and International Communications
1. Advertising
2. Sales
G. Social Media around the World
H. Social Media Success Strategies in International Marketing
1. Understand the Difference between Traditional Approaches and Social Media
2. Communicate Your Expertise
7. Manage Information about Your Company and Brands
Chapter Objectives
The chapter starts with an understanding of the nature of social networks and social media. It
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then comprehends the marketing dimensions of social media. Next, it discusses the
Suggestions for Teaching
Students can be asked to write about their experiences with online shopping. The product
purchased can vary; it can either be a convenience purchase or a complex industrial product. They
can be asked to describe about the ads seen in the social media and their impact on a particular
purchase decision.
Chapter Summary
A social network is a communal structure consisting of individuals or organizations connected
with each other through friendship, common interest, commercial transactions, information
exchange, or other types of relationships. When a social network converges around shared
A. Social Networks: Key To Online Relationships
The effectiveness of social media derives from the power of social networks. A social
network is a collection of people and organizations, often termed actors, and the ties or
Marketers also note the tendency of consumers to imitate the buying habits of those whom
they know or respect. In this way, consumer preferences often depend on social contagion,
which connotes the extent to which people are exposed to, and influenced by, the
knowledge, attitude, or behavior of others, particularly those in their peer group.
Social media have gained popularity for several reasons:
B. The Rise of Social Media
Social media are an Internet-based communication medium in which extensive
conversations and interactions take place among people online. Social media allow people
to share and feel connected with each other via brands and organizations they like and
1. Forms of Social Media
Social media can take various forms, including blogs, wikis, forums, and podcasts. A
blog (short for “web log”) is a website on which individuals make regular entries of
commentary or descriptions of events. Companies launch blogs to foster discussion,
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2. Why do Social Media work?
Social media succeed largely due to three major aspects:
• Opinion seeking
3. Creating Content via Social Media
Social media marketing emphasizes promotional content that consumers share with
their social networks. Sharing implies that members provide content to the community
that they themselves have created or co–created with other members.
Companies try to stimulate users to post content that supports their brands. Some
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effective social media to achieve marketing goals.
As the Internet gains momentum worldwide, firms are using social media to undertake
international marketing campaigns. Because social media are cost-effective, even
small firms can market offerings to market niches around the world. The media are an
important means for establishing product interest in markets where consumers may
have little prior experience with the brand. Leveraging social networks can be
especially effective in emerging markets and developing economies, where consumers
may be less receptive to traditional Western forms of marketing communications, such
as TV and print advertising.
Social media are particularly useful to small– and medium-sized firms, which typically
lack substantial resources to launch websites and develop customers around the world.
The media are used even by government agencies and NGOs.
Marketing communications using social media represent the new frontier in
international marketing. Social networks are considered increasingly critical to any
interactive marketing communications program. While much online marketing aims to
drive consumers to specific websites where they can obtain product information and
C. Marketing Dimensions of Social Media
1. Generate Exposure for the Firm and Its Products
Social media has the ability to draw attention to the firm’s products and services. A
good website and skillful use of social media lay the foundation for selling products
2. Build Brand Equity
3. Drive Traffic to Corporate Websites
The best social media sites include links to company websites that provide a range of
useful information regarding the firm’s brands. Marketers employ various methods to
4. Link with Other Sites across the Internet
Unlike traditional marketing communications, social media provide the means to
5. Leverage Social Networks
Social media can quickly tap into consumers’ social networks, producing word-of–
6. Generate Buzz and Spread Specific Messages Virally
Viral marketing implies a marketing message that is passed rapidly from person to
7. Generate Product Sales
Generating product sales is the ultimate goal of most firms’ marketing activities.
8. Conduct Market Research
Environmental scanning, data mining, and other forms of research are facilitated by
the wealth of information that participants provide about themselves on social sites.
9. Develop Ideas for New Products and Marketing Approaches
Marketers employ social media to develop new products, improve existing ones, and
10. Garner Publicity from News Media
Today, Internet users consider nontargeted, broadcast sales pitches to be spam.
11. Improve Search Engine Rankings
Search engine marketing is a form of e-commerce that seeks to promote products or
12. Achieve Cost Effectiveness
Cost efficiency is a significant rationale for using social media. The firm takes
1. Send the Wrong Message
Social media are a double-edged sword. Just as firms leverage the technology to
2. Resource Intensive
Online marketing entails a substantial commitment of time and resources, which may
be particularly taxing on smaller firms with extensive international activities across
3. Results Are Difficult to Measure
Measuring the effectiveness of social media is often difficult because measures used
4. Lack of Access
Internationally, many people and organizations do not have ready access to computer
E. Social Media And International Communications
Social media require an approach to marketing communications that is more sophisticated
than ever before. In an online environment, consumers widely disseminate their views and
brand experiences via e-mail and blogs. In the contemporary online environment,
marketers must provide relevant, interesting messages when and where consumers want
them and engage users by enticing them to create content and comments that support the
marketing goals of the firm. Categories of Internet-based communications include online
advertising, banner ads, search ads, classifieds, rich media, e-mail with embedded ads,
sponsorships, and of course, social media.
1. Advertising
Early attempts at Internet-based communications featured static display advertising
and pop-up ads. There were even traditional ads on trucks and sandwich boards
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2. Sales
Personal selling typically is most effective when the salesperson visits a prospect
directly or by telephone. However, social media are an important adjunct to sales
activities. Initially, social media are useful for finding, connecting with, and engaging
3. Public Relations
PR, or publicity, consists of nonpaid news or editorial commentary intended to
generate goodwill and a positive image for the firm or its products. Historically, PR
managers worked closely with journalists in traditional media to generate publicity
4. Promotional Activities
Sales promotion refers to short-term inducements that provide extra value and
5. Integrating Social Media with Traditional Marketing Communications
In terms of the traditional AIDA model of marketing communications, the firm seeks
to create Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action among consumers. Social media are
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F. Social Media Around The World
Social media take on various forms in nations and regions around the world. Differences in
culture, economic conditions, technology diffusion, and other factors drive differences in
the way social media are used, or whether they are used, around the world.
Europe is characterized by substantial differences in culture, income, and other factors
across countries. Consequently, there is much variation in the use of social media across
the continent. European consumers spend more hours surfing the Internet than they do
reading newspapers and magazines. More than 80 percent of web surfers in the European
Union use the Internet to obtain information about products and services.
Most of the world’s top 10 blogging nations are in Asia. Korea is the leader with 77
percent of Internet users reading blogs every week.
G. Social Media Success Strategies in International Marketing
In business, successful communities are developed through the use of skillful marketing
research, planning, and strategy making. Social-media based marketing succeeds best when
the firm offers products and services relevant to customer, incorporating substantial value,
and provided by an organization deemed trustworthy and reliable.
1. Understand the Difference between Traditional Approaches and Social Media
Firms must focus on creating positive brand experiences so unplanned messages will
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2. Communicate Your Expertise
Sophisticated companies publicize their expertise in various ways online, such as via
3. Customize the Message to the Audience
Rather than using mass media to offer cookie–cutter solutions to the masses, today’s
4. Target a Specific Market
Most firms will need to target fairly specific audiences with their marketing
5. Understand Your Mistakes
The Internet is an excellent tool for understanding specific characteristics of target
6. Monitor Your Firm’s Online Reputation
Trust plays a critical role in the success of social media marketing. Thus, marketers
7. Manage Information about Your Company and Brands
Buyers respond favorably to information that appeals to their needs and concerns
about products and brands they enjoy. News releases online link to the corporate
Key Terms
Social network: It is a communal structure consisting of individuals or organizations connected
with each other through friendship, common interest, commercial transactions, information
exchange, or other types of relationships.
Social community: When a social network converges around shared interests, goals, values, or
attitudes, it fosters a common identity among its members, which is called a social community.
Wiki: It is a website developed and maintained by a community of users who add informative
content on a variety of topics.
Forum: It is essentially a site where people hold conversations in the form of posted messages.
Podcasting:
Viral marketing: It is a technique that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a
marketing message to other users or sites, leading to potentially exponential growth of
communications.
Questions for Discussion
1. Describe the relationship between social networks and social media.
A social network is a communal structure consisting of individuals or organizations
connected with each other through friendship, common interest, commercial transactions,
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2. What trends have given rise to the emergence of social media as an important international
marketing tool?
The major trend that has given rise to the emergence of social media as an important
3. Distinguish between social media and traditional media in international marketing.
The following are some of the differences between social media and traditional media:
• Traditional marketing communications are “one way” whereas, social media facilitate
“two–way” communications.
4. Describe the various forms of social media.
The following are some of the forms of social media:
• Blog: It is a website on which individuals make regular entries of commentary or
descriptions of events.
5. How do consumers create content using social media?
Consumers create content using social media through comments, blogs, videos, and photos.
Social media marketing emphasizes promotional content that consumers share with their
6. What benefits do social media provide firms in their international marketing activities?
Some of the benefits provided by social media are:
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taken instantly to their most relevant sites on the Internet.
• Social media can quickly tap into consumers’ social networks, producing word–of–
mouth marketing that can spread at an exponential rate.
• They help in viral marketing (passing a marketing message rapidly from person to
person).
• Generating product sales is the ultimate goal of most firms’ marketing activities.
Social media provide the means to engage target markets more efficiently and
effectively.
• Today, Internet users consider nontargeted, broadcast sales pitches to be spam.
Sophisticated spam filters do not allow such messages to reach their intended
audience. Accordingly, news releases and other forms of information dissemination
online must be crafted and targeted skillfully.
7. What disadvantages do social media pose for internationalizing firms?
Some of the disadvantages of social media are:
• Social media are a double-edged sword. Just as firms leverage the technology to
generate positive exposure for the firm and its brands, consumers and the media use
8. Describe how firms use social media in international marketing communications.
Firms use social media in international marketing communications in the following ways:
• Advertising: Early attempts at Internet-based communications featured static display
advertising and pop-up ads. There were even traditional ads on trucks and sandwich
boards encouraging people to look up specific websites. The ads on the websites in
customers.
• Public relations: PR, or publicity, consists of nonpaid news or editorial commentary
intended to generate goodwill and a positive image for the firm or its products.
Historically, PR managers worked closely with journalists in traditional media to
generate publicity about the firm and its activities. Today, compared to traditional
to entice buyers to act immediately, such as by visiting a website, registering online,
or making a purchase.
• Integrating social media with traditional marketing communications: In terms of the
traditional AIDA model of marketing communications, the firm seeks to create
Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action among consumers. Social media are
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9. How do social media vary around the world?
Social media take on various forms in nations and regions around the world. Differences in
culture, economic conditions, technology diffusion, and other factors drive differences in the
way social media are used, or whether they are used, around the world.
10. What are the success strategies for using social media in international marketing?
Some of the success strategies for using social media in international marketing are:
• Firms must focus on creating positive brand experiences so unplanned messages will
be positive. Firms can build trust in social channels by being helpful.
• Sophisticated companies publicize their expertise in various ways online, such as via
websites, podcasts, blogs, and social media, all emphasizing buyer’s needs. By
in hand, the firm should then create and deliver appropriate products and services
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• Trust plays a critical role in the success of social media marketing. Thus, marketers
need to invest efforts every day scanning the Internet to monitor news about the firm
and its brands. Continuous scanning helps deal proactively with emergent news stories
that can harm the firm’s good name. It also allows for deeper understanding of “the
mind of the marketplace.”
Internet Exercises
1. Current information on the state of social media worldwide is provided by various websites,
marketing goals? Suppose you worked for a small company. Based on your investigation of
the above sites, write a memo to your superior in which you describe the most important
social media features of corporate websites for facilitating international marketing success.