Social Media and Marketing mix Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Social Media and Marketing mix - Assignment Example Some argue that social media marketing is a replica of the word of mouth marketing since people like the contents and share the information with friends thus increasing visits to the social network site. The change brought about by social media in marketing has seen the success of companies like Netflix whose presence is not only felt in the UK but also worldwide. For business entities to consider social media as an effective marketing tool, they must understand what the concept entails. Gordon (2014) suggests that the definition of social media is never complete without reference to Web 2.0 that has been defined as the new way through which people use the World Wide Web as place that continually alters contents to allow sharing in a collaborative way. The Web 2.0 came about or evolved from simple tasks of retrieving information to more complex functions like interoperability, interactivity, and collaboration. By definition, social media a collective term for internet based applications whose basis come from technological and ideological foundations of the Web 2.0 to allow creation as well as exchange user content (Brennan, & Croft, 2012). According to Brennan, & Croft (2012) social media are basically software tools that make it possible to create user specific content which they can share. For a website to meet specifications of a social network, it must have content, user profiles, method for connecting users and posting comments and also provisions for joining virtual groups of common interests like politics, fashion, or religion (Gordon, 2014). Also, there is always confusion between the terms social media and social media networks though the latter allows users to unite through generation of personal or private information profiles where the users can invite their friends to access the profiles (Sashi, 2012). Therefore, a more discreet definition of social media is that; social media is an environment where social networking occurs and