How can Social Media Marketing (YouTube, LinkedIn etc.
) Create
Customer Value
17.5 Implications of the internet for communication decisions
In the physical marketplace, different communication tools are used in the customers’ buying
process (see Figure 17.6). Traditional mass communication tools (print advertising, TV and
radio) can create awareness and this can result in consumers’ identification of new needs. From
then on, other elements of the communication mix take over, such as direct marketing (direct
marketing, personal selling) and in-store promotion. Unlike marketing in the physical
marketplace, the internet/e-commerce encompasses the entire ‘buying’ process. Of course, the
online markets also make use of traditional mass advertising in order to get potential customers
into the online buying process (from the left in Figure 17.6). Market communication strategies
change dramatically in the online world. On the internet, it is easier than ever to actually
communicate a message to large numbers of people. However, in many cases, it is much harder
for your message to be heard above the noise by your target audience. Various strategies for
conducting online marketing have been developed in the past several years – from the most
common (website linking) to the most expensive (banner advertising) to the most offensive (e-
mail spamming), and everything in between. It is almost certain that a continual stream of new
market communication strategies will emerge as the internet medium evolves. How, then, can a
web audience be created? One of the new possibilities in this field is social media marketing.
From ‘Bowling’ to ‘Pinball’ Although a little oversimplified, marketing in the pre-social
media era was comparable to ‘Bowling’ (see Figure 17.7). A game of bowling shows how you
may have traditionally communicated with your cus tomers, with the firm and the brand (the
bowler) rolling a ball (the brand communication message) towards the pins (your target
customers). Clearly this is a very direct one-way communication approach. This is the old
traditional push model. Marketers targeted certain customer groups and sent out their
advertising messages like precisely bowled bowling balls. They used traditional media to hit as
many bowling pins as possible. One key characteristic of this bowling marketing game was the
large amount of control the company retained over marketing communication because
consumers were given only limited freedom of action. For many bigger companies a large TV-
budget has been the ball that marketers rolled down the lane, trying to hit as many the pins as
possible. Marketers were in control, happily counting how many pins they had hit, and how
often. Success in this game was clear-cut, and the metrics clear
