Social Media Networking Refers To the Use of Social Media Channel

Question: What Is the Social Media Networking Refers To the Use of Social Media Channels? Answer: Introduction Social media networking refers to the use of social media channels for communicating advertisement message to the target customers. The social media communication has several disadvantages and advantages and the business organizations struggle to find the best manner to use them. The presence of the internet-based social media has made it possible for a single person to communicate with the thousands of people all across the people. The social media provides immense opportunity for an organization to present itself and its products in a dynamic manner so that the communities and individuals remains interested. In social media networks, the companies can use a number of methods such as post, tags and blogs to post and attract potential customers. The content developed by the social media can be defined as a newly generated resource of online information, which the users create, spread and use to educate each other about the attributes and qualities of different consumer products. Due to its use of use, speed and reach, social media has become an essential part of the marketing strategy of the organizations. Moreover, social media promotions, marketing intelligence, sentiment research, public relations and customer management are the sub-disciplines of marketing (Christou, 2016). In this regard, the present literature review examines the role of benefits and the drawbacks of social media for the hotel service industry. Benefits of Social Media Marketing Hensel and Deis (2010) has discussed the benefits of using social media marketing methods for driving the profit ration and sales of an organization. The social media has become the driving force in the information age wherein the general public has attained the capability to create and consumer information and immediately distribute it on the internet. Different social media such as Facebook, MySpace and Youtube provides the business organizations with the opportunity to instantly connect with their customers and create a buzz regarding the new product. The literature has cited that after Faacebook, blogging is the most common tool for networking and social media tools. Online communities are also beneficial for the business organization as they provide cross-selling opportunities to different user groups who share same user platform. The business organizations cannot ignore social media marketing due to its immense benefits. It is commonly used by the consumers to take opinions of millions of other consumers. A large number of business organizations device strategies to influence the public opinion to drive its sales. The consumers can share ideas, photos, and video with social media. The business organizations have also realized that with the increased interaction with the social media websites, the companies can effectively meet the demand of their consumers. In the views of Mangold and Faulds (2009) has stated that with the emergence of the social media the traditional promotional techniques have changed. The social media can also be referred as consumer-generated media which refers to the variety of sources of online information which is created, initiated, generated and circulated online. Social media entails variety of online platforms such as blogs, company-sponsored discussions, chat rooms, consumer product or service ratings and internet discussion boards. The authors have similar views to Hensel and Deis (2010) regarding the use of social media and its benefits for the business organizations. However, the authors discuss the manner in which social media marketing is different from the traditional mediums of marketing communication. The literature cites that in contrast to the traditional marketing mediums, wherein the marketers possessed all the control over the marketing communication, the marketer possesses little control over s ocial media channels. In the views of Kaske, Kugler Smolnik (2012), with the increased popularity of the social media the companies are extensively using it for increasing their customer base. The business executives are challenged by trade-offs between different marketing initiatives. The decision of the marketing executives is based on the profit maximization of the organization. If the long term benefits of the social media are more than the cost, it will certainly be implemented by the organizations. Similar to the above discussions, it can be cited that the social media marketing methods can be used to increase the customer outreach, improved business generation, increased customer loyalty, improved customer satisfaction and avoidance of customer dissatisfaction. The most important benefit of the social media is that it has a relatively greater outreach with low costs. Pollock Rindova (2003) has discussed that social media platforms assist the business organizations to achieve greater sales as they assist the organization for direct call for action and access to the target market. Several companies have used social media for crowdsourcing and showcasing available discounts. The social media interaction also assists the companies in enhanced customer retention and increased customer loyalty. The companies can actively participate and steer communication with a large number of customers. Other than that, the companies can create a specific sphere of influence which can be created by the social media. Before the digital age, the customers opinion has minimum impact on the market dynamics. Social media is also critical in monitoring customer-to-customer communication and intervene when necessary. The word of mouth is considered as one of most persuasive form of promotion. The social media is also essential in increasing the transparency, enhancing the customers experience, analysing the feelings of the customers towards the product. Social media is also essential to reduce the market inefficiencies and increase the positively increase the competitiveness of the market. Vries, Gensler Leeflang, (2012) the investment the companies need to obtain new customers is much higher than investment in retaining the older ones. Therefore, retaining customers is beneficial for the companies. The companies can achieve high retention by linking brand to the social networks. The companies can also focus on resolving the customer issues as soon as they appear online to increase the customer loyalty. Improved customer communication is a qualitative advantage which can increase the social media visibility, permanence and reach to the customers. Drawbacks and Challenges in Social Media Marketing in Hotel Industry Minazzi (2014) has discussed that the major disadvantage of the social media is may spread outrage, discontent and ridicule among the employees. Therefore, it is important that the organization use social media monitoring to examine he customer satisfaction and avoid customer loss of trust and image. Verma, Stock and McCarthy (2012) have stated that in the hospitality industry, the customers heavily rely on the internet ratings and the feedback of the customers selecting the hotel for stay. The business and the leisure travellers both follow the recommendations of the fellow travellers as well as rely on the search engines to know more about the available hotels. The social media influences the marketing and the distribution on the hospitality industry. In this regard, it can be evaluated that the hospitality operators find it challenging to meet the standards of the international rating system and need to promptly respond to the queries and the comments of the social media experts. The literature has cited that traditionally, the most powerful marketing tool is word-of-mouth between the customers and the social media is an extension of this human network. The major challenge for the business organization with the arrival of the social media marketing is that the company has to r emain familiar with the latest patterns in the social media marketing and establish an attractive website to draw the interest of new customers. The search pattern of the customers initiates with the search of the hotels in the traditional search engines; later, the customers are search for the website of the company. If the website of the company is filled with negative reviews, it can reduce the customers to the company. The customer reviews can impact negatively on the willingness of the customers to book the hotel. According to the literature, the most significant challenge for the organization is fake reviews and feedback from the competing companies. It can be analysed that with the recent advent of the m-commerce and the smartphones, the customer reliance on the social media is increasing constantly. In regard to the business and the leisure travellers, it can be observed that location based innovations such as finding information about the services, directions to the establishment and the ability to make reservations in the organization has a positive impact on attracting the customers to the organization. The companies can use communication-based innovations such as text message, alerts, voice mails and wake up calls to increase the customer satisfaction. Noone, McGuire, Rohlfs (2011) have stated that the companies in the hotel industry are finding is difficult to keep up with the changing consumer demands. Although a large number of companies have adopted social media channels as a marketing strategy, the companies are yet to completely realize the full potential of the social media marketing on the marketing activities. The social media marketing is an effective strategy for customer acquisition and retention; however, there are several key issues which are needed to be considered in the development of social media marketing strategy. The company has to assure that its social media marketing strategy aligns and works in a coordinated manner with the sales and marketing activities of the organization. It is important for their effectiveness. Moreover, the companies should also consider whether they need a separate strategy for brand, owners and the corporate organizations. Another significant challenge is that the field of social media marketing is relatively new field and there are no experts available. The communicators have little knowledge regarding the property, location and the brand which can create discrepancies in the message transmitted to the customers. In the social media marketing, there should be in-house experts who have knowledge of the social media marketing. The companies can outsource the social media marketing activities to reduce the cost of the organization. According to Maha (2015), other issues in the social media marketing is that the web pages of most of the companies is not optimized. The hotel page should redirect the visitors to their official Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube account. When the companys website is not linked with the social media page of the company, it is reducing the number of potential customers for the organization. Another mistake that the business organization perform is not to stay active at their official social media pages. Although, it is not necessary to always stay active at the social media pages, the companies should daily post attractive posts and videos on the social media. Gordon (2014) posits that hoteliers should maintain a positive attitude for the customers even when they are negative. It is observed that several times, the managers use rude or accusatory tones to the customers who have provided negative reviews and feedback. In this case, the organizations should focus on creating positivity from the negative reviews. They should be able to satisfy the negative customers and understand their needs and requirements by positively communicating with the customers. The companies also need to conduct research regarding the websites and the social media pages of the competing organizations. In the hotel industry, most of the companies create websites which are attractive and incomplete. Gonzalo (2012) has discussed that most of the business organizations have failed to integrate the social media marketing strategy in the business processes of the organization. It is important for the companies to understand that social media cannot be used singularly for marketing purpose. When the company is declaring something about the shareholders or community relations, it related to the public affairs. When the conversation is related to the corporate culture or the business to business sales, it is a matter of human resource and sales of the organization. It is important for the business organizations to understand that social media marketing is associated with several other divisions of business management. According to Pike (2015) another challenge in the social media marketing in the hotel industry is to remain consistent with the content. In the hotel industry, there is a lot of content available and the companies can daily churn out a large number of articles. However, the major challenge for the companies is to remain consistent with the matter and relate with the customers. In order to resonate with the customers and built a desire for the product or the service, the companies need an in-depth approach which provides quality content to the customers and increase their understanding of the priorities. In order to develop a successful social media marketing strategy, the companies need to develop clear and measurable objectives for the organization. The social media marketing should be developed after the clear analysis of the business objectives and targets. In the strategy development, the companies need to identify the target audience and the social media which can assist it is a chieving the goals of the organization. Summary It can be summarized that the social media marketing is an innovative and attractive method to attract large number of customers. It has wide outreach, cheap and can instantly connect with the target audience. However, there are several drawbacks of using the social media marketing activities. It is relatively new field, thus lacks experienced professionals. Moreover, the companies also struggle with the negative feedbacks and updating the website to provide a clear and consistent message. References Hensel, K., Deis, M.H. (2010). Using Social Media To Increase Advertising and Improve Marketing. The Entrepreneurial Executive 15. Mangold, W.G., Faulds, D.J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons 52, 357-365. Kaske, F., Kugler, M., Smolnik, S. (2012). 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