University of Pretoria

Social Media and Web 2.0Dr Gené van Heerden

Department of Marketing Managment

Structure

• Introduction• Web 2.0• Social Media – social networking• Marketing landscape and social media• The consumer• Organisations and this space• Summary

Introduction

• Contemporary societies • Information is at the core of these developments• Individuals are more connected• Technology has changed marketing• Environment: Powerful, interactive and collaborative

Web 2.0

• Web 1.0 was read only top-down • Web 2.0 is read/write, and bottom up• Collaborative environment created by Web 2.0

Social Media

• Peer to peer communication• Sharing, creating and discussing information• Community “architecture of participation”• Instant responses

Social Media

• Mobile and web-based interactive platforms are used (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthey, & Silvestre, 2011).

• User experiences and key functionalities of social media:– Identity - LinkedIn– Presence– Relationships– Conversations– Groups– Reputations - Facebook– Sharing - Youtube

Social Networks

• Social networks:– a social structure– connected by specific interdependencies– ability to facilitate an abundance of information

Social Networks

• Transformed marketing communications – Reach and richness – Large numbers of users simultaneously use – Vast amounts of information communicated– Ability to tailor it– Create two-way communication

Marketing landscape and Social Media

• Challenges loss of power and control of the messages• ‘Collaborative world’ (Hanna, Rohm & Crittenden, 2012). • ‘Dominant social networking culture’ (Parent, Plangger & Bal,

2011). • Consumers expect to actively be a part of the media process

‘consumer experience’ (Hanna et al., 2012)

Marketing landscape and Social Media

• Traditional pushed-based marketing • Replaced by personal and authentic conversations • Media landscape has changed:– Integrated and mobile– Individuals are at the core and the drivers

Marketing landscape and Social Media

• A number of questions:– how should we integrate this space effectively – into their marketing activities and – create competitive advantage

Who is the consumer?

• Individual within communities• Consumers are co-creators (Berthon, Pitt, McCarthy & Kates,

2007)• Conversations create value = market• Content creation• Digital and mobility

Organisations and this space

• Present and active• Open and flexible• Understanding of the social, economic and technical

environment - to understand the activities• Management - Resource implication• Research orientated

Summary

• Networking– Past, present and platforms

• Monitor– Listening, relationship and participate – who is talking about what

• Measure– Metrics – change in traditional view

• Resources– Time and personnel

• Content – Space for co-creation

Thank you

References• Berthon, P.R., Pitt, L.F., McCarthy, I. & Kates, S. (2007) “When customers get clever:

Managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers”, Business Horizons, Vol 50(1), pp 39-48

• Hanna, R., Rohm, A. & Crittenden, V.L. (2012) “We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem”, Business Horizons, Vol 54, pp 265-273

• Kietzmann, J.H., Hermkens, K., McCarthey, I.P. & Silvestre, B.S. (2011) “Social media? Get Serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media”, Business Horizons, Vol 54, pp 241-251

• Parent, M., Plangger, K. & Bal, A. (2011) “The new WTP: Willingness to participate”, Business Horizons, Vol 54, pp. 219-229

• Stewart, D.W. & Pavlou, P.A. (2002) “From Consumer Response to Active Consumer: Measuring the Effectiveness of Interactive Media”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol 30(4), pp 376-396.