The rise of social media and citizen journalism
According to Jennings and Weatherly (2014), social media has become a major role to play in today's business world. With just a touch of a button, information can be spread to millions of people across the globe via the social website, such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on. For instance, two thirds of Australians (over 10 million) visited social media sites and do Google search, in which 78 per cent were visitors to social networking sites and 16 per cent were heavy social users. On other hand, Facebook.com ranked as the third most visited site, with 6.1 million visitors whose purposes to join is to know more about a brand, purchase intention or it could be purchase behaviour (LaPointe, 2012).
In the organization perspective, IMC provides the opportunity for the firm to communicate with its customers with such immediacy. Before, the communication process is very complex with many factors such as nature of the message, receiver's interpretation, channel of distribution, noise, feedback and so on (Clow and Baack, 2013; Belch et al, 2009). For example, a television advertising that was broadcasted some decades ago have a lot of hindrances to the final message to the receivers . The encode message was understood by limited number of receivers though it might be seen by millions of people at a time. Also, there were some noises that may interference to the message such as signal transmission, a phone call. Last but not least, it was inconvenient for potential or actual consumers to give response or feedback via mail, phones due to the cost.
In the organization perspective, IMC provides the opportunity for the firm to communicate with its customers with such immediacy. Before, the communication process is very complex with many factors such as nature of the message, receiver's interpretation, channel of distribution, noise, feedback and so on (Clow and Baack, 2013; Belch et al, 2009). For example, a television advertising that was broadcasted some decades ago have a lot of hindrances to the final message to the receivers . The encode message was understood by limited number of receivers though it might be seen by millions of people at a time. Also, there were some noises that may interference to the message such as signal transmission, a phone call. Last but not least, it was inconvenient for potential or actual consumers to give response or feedback via mail, phones due to the cost.
Nowadays, people may find what they want in the internet through social media tools such as Facebook with a click of button. Moreover, they will be able to like, to comment, to suggest and to share the product as well as receive feedbacks and response at the same time without paying extra costs. The another advantage of the social media is that the company won't be able to block negative comments from the customers, but to appreciate and adjust the product for the better. Another way consumers are initiating communication messages is through citizen journalism. The term citizen journalist refers to the news produced by amateurs as opposed to professionals(Örnebring,2013.) Johnson and Wiedenbeck (2009) also described citizen journalism as the practice of citizen without formal training in journalism collecting and distributing news content.
Indeed, online vehicles such as Facebook or Twitter will create a field where people will be able to express opinion, contribute knowledge, or engage in debate with other social media users by giving public comments on online stories of professional journalists to stand-alone websites where people can post articles that have not been accessed and edited prior to publication. One good example is The-Latest.com, a Britain's first dedicated citizen journalism new portal where members can participate in the forum discussions and comment on constantly updated community, national and international latest news (The Lastest.com. n.d.)
Obviously, professional reporters cannot be everywhere and cannot cover every event taking place, peculiarly to unexpected events. For instance, when the plane crashed into the World Trade Center Tower in 9/11/2001, it was not reporters or new journalists who took the picture, but the New Yorkers and visitors who happened to have a camera or a phone on hand; or a consumers who did a blog on a website warning about a certain Greek yogurt product that get spoiled before the expired day. Along with the pro, citizen journalism also has its disadvantage due to added excitement that citizen journalist provided as well as not to abide the primary aims of journalism in which to give an objective and fair view to the event. Despite the advantages and disadvantages, it would be better for normal people to show what are they really need and want, not only breaking news stories to the world, but their opinions and comments about certain products to their family and friends through the internet.
Indeed, online vehicles such as Facebook or Twitter will create a field where people will be able to express opinion, contribute knowledge, or engage in debate with other social media users by giving public comments on online stories of professional journalists to stand-alone websites where people can post articles that have not been accessed and edited prior to publication. One good example is The-Latest.com, a Britain's first dedicated citizen journalism new portal where members can participate in the forum discussions and comment on constantly updated community, national and international latest news (The Lastest.com. n.d.)
Obviously, professional reporters cannot be everywhere and cannot cover every event taking place, peculiarly to unexpected events. For instance, when the plane crashed into the World Trade Center Tower in 9/11/2001, it was not reporters or new journalists who took the picture, but the New Yorkers and visitors who happened to have a camera or a phone on hand; or a consumers who did a blog on a website warning about a certain Greek yogurt product that get spoiled before the expired day. Along with the pro, citizen journalism also has its disadvantage due to added excitement that citizen journalist provided as well as not to abide the primary aims of journalism in which to give an objective and fair view to the event. Despite the advantages and disadvantages, it would be better for normal people to show what are they really need and want, not only breaking news stories to the world, but their opinions and comments about certain products to their family and friends through the internet.
How businesses are working in this environment?
Meister (2012) claims that the consumer-centric approach becomes an importance for firms to understand the relationship between customer, brand, and product to create appropriate marketing tools to improve long term relationship and to gain customer royalty. Thus, organizations are taking social media platform to induce a new trend in marketing communications that considers customers active participants in the communication process (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). For this reason, social media is not regarded as an effective tool for broadcasting one-directional messages to wide audiences, but rather is seen as useful for attracting customers into interactions around brands and then maintaining their activity level (Weinberg & Pehlivan, 2011).
By using social media like LingSocial and Facebook, it is fast way to communicate to audiences and business can get fast feedback. At the same time, customers can make requests for special deals, specific information, and even complain about products and services. Therefore, for this communication means when business has responded and interacted to their customers, it improves customer loyalty and advocacy via experiences sharing and word of mouth. With positive feedback, consumer can influence purchase making decision of new customer by forwarding messages and suggesting to their friends. For example, firms promote their product by using followers to like, describe about experience on product and shared to their friends to win gifts and vouchers.
Another good illustration for social media and journal citizen is Groupon model. Groupon is a US based group buying website conducting viral marketing promotions where customers can earn $10 deal vouchers when they invite their friends to join. Here, the organisation is providing the content to the customer who then recruits their friends, family and colleagues via social media channels.
Marketing through social networks isn't as much about selling products, as it is about engaging company’s followers. The goal of the community-based environment of social networking sites is to provide a platform for an open, honest conversation. The companies that are most successful at converting followers into dollars are those who interact most with the users and frequently post content related to their brand. Facebook's Fan Page is probably the best example of how organizations should be marketing their companies through social networking sites. The page acts as an upgraded user profile for brands, companies, and organizations to be as involved as the users, and has plenty of tools to help companies do so. As users become 'fans' of your page, all of your activity appears in their News Feed each time they log on. There's also a useful feature called the Insights tool, which allows firms to analyze page views, the demographics of fans, and the number of people who view (or stop viewing) their News Feed posts.
By using social media like LingSocial and Facebook, it is fast way to communicate to audiences and business can get fast feedback. At the same time, customers can make requests for special deals, specific information, and even complain about products and services. Therefore, for this communication means when business has responded and interacted to their customers, it improves customer loyalty and advocacy via experiences sharing and word of mouth. With positive feedback, consumer can influence purchase making decision of new customer by forwarding messages and suggesting to their friends. For example, firms promote their product by using followers to like, describe about experience on product and shared to their friends to win gifts and vouchers.
Another good illustration for social media and journal citizen is Groupon model. Groupon is a US based group buying website conducting viral marketing promotions where customers can earn $10 deal vouchers when they invite their friends to join. Here, the organisation is providing the content to the customer who then recruits their friends, family and colleagues via social media channels.
Marketing through social networks isn't as much about selling products, as it is about engaging company’s followers. The goal of the community-based environment of social networking sites is to provide a platform for an open, honest conversation. The companies that are most successful at converting followers into dollars are those who interact most with the users and frequently post content related to their brand. Facebook's Fan Page is probably the best example of how organizations should be marketing their companies through social networking sites. The page acts as an upgraded user profile for brands, companies, and organizations to be as involved as the users, and has plenty of tools to help companies do so. As users become 'fans' of your page, all of your activity appears in their News Feed each time they log on. There's also a useful feature called the Insights tool, which allows firms to analyze page views, the demographics of fans, and the number of people who view (or stop viewing) their News Feed posts.