Appendix A: Review of Literature

This section provides our client with meaningful information on industry trends and best practices. This will allow for a better understanding of the use of different platforms when building a business. All of the data in this section is beneficial for our client because of the variety of helpful tools used in businesses.

 

 Social Media Marketing and Measuring Its Success Through Analytics 

One of the best ways to utilize social media marketing in the small business community is to measure their various sites’ success with analytics. Brandon Breshears co-founded a company called Rethink Veterinary Solutions, where his job is to create an online presence and assist with marketing. When writing about different digital strategies a small business should use to build their client base, Breshears states, “Measuring results is critical to small business growth because if team members are unaware of the traffic generated by efforts on their websites and social media, they cannot understand which methods are effective” (2016, p. 38). Breshears is basically emphasizing how important it is for a small business to keep up on the activity seen across various social media platforms so that that business knows which site to focus their time on more diligently. Aneri Joshi, a digital marketing consultant and trainer for IIDE with over eight years of experience, agrees with Breshears regarding the importance of measuring the success of social media marketing with analytics in the small business environment, as she says, “With tracking data, a small business can measure each social media platform to learn about which of their posts and content is performing the best with their audience” (2020, para. 6). Joshi is essentially explaining that by tracking the involvement seen from different posts and content material on various social media sites, small businesses can tailor their future postings to keep up with their target audience as well as abandon the sites and content that were not receiving the necessary traction. Clearly these marketing experts agree with the idea that measuring a small businesses social media marketing success with analytics can greatly boost the engagement seen on those same sites by customers as well as assist in prioritizing their personnel’s time by allowing them to notice when to get rid of the platforms that are not working for their target audience.

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Social Media Marketing and Increasing Customer Loyalty

Social media that is connected and interactive with a small business's customers can be an effective marketing tool as it will increase customer loyalty and sales. Sonia Taneja, an associate professor at Texas A&M University, says, "To involve customers and build customer loyalty, a small business should move from the product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach" (2014, p. 257). By staying engaged with customers through social media, the small business should start to learn what their target audience's likes and dislikes are and can tailor their future products or postings to their customer's wishes which builds up customer loyalty and increases the chance that they will come back. Jasmine Davis, a student getting her Masters of Science at Walden University, agrees with Taneja about social media accounts needing to be connected and interactive in order to grow customer loyalty. Davis, when discussing the various successful marketing strategies for sustaining a small business, stated, "Customer participation in a business's social media site leads to an increase in the frequency in customer visits” (2020, p.67). Davis is basically explaining how when customer's feel like they can interact directly with the business, loyalty within that business's client base will increase, leading them to return more frequently to their site. By using social media to stay connected and interactive with customers, a small business can experience an increase in both customer interaction and sales. 

 

Social Media Marketing Strategies

Advertising a business has become a task that no longer involves long hours at night trying to figure the best way to promote a business. People have now designed ways to easily advertise using sources including the internet. When it comes to the idea of online advertising, The PR Newswire has developed a way that is being the new norm of promoting. They mention how “…the increase in people needing to stay home has resulted in a drastic increase in the amount of online content being absorbed daily” (p. 1). Due to recent situations in the world around us such as COVID, people have begun to use the internet a lot more. Therefore, businesses have taken this opportunity to their advantage and now are looking into programs to help with that such as working with the Amazon advertising agency. This is an agency that the PR Newswire has been promoting to help others seeking knowledge. Just as well as an online website, there are books that contain information that helps with advertising. Earnest Elmo Calkins, the author of Forgotten classics: The Business of Advertising, has acknowledged another helpful people can utilize for bettering their business. When discussing the benefits, it is said that “advertising should be a major force in a commercial artistic revolution” (p.253). It is well known how advertising and putting your business out there in the open is always a good idea. So using this book that contains ideas such as mass marketing and brand marketing skills. These two sources are great and can be used together to form amazing ideas because they both help in different areas and can be used frequently.

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Advertising Using Social Platforms

Making sure marketing for a business is effective is the most important idea in promoting a business. Using the strategy of electronic marketing is something that most businesses are utilizing because of it being a new and easier way to connect to new customers. With making electronic marketing effective, there are a few concepts that need to be taken into consideration for the business. These include ideas of how to attract a target audience, getting customers more involved, and recording numbers of which method is attracting more customers and benefiting the business financially. Studies have shown that businesses willing to branch out into electronic marketing strategies have seen substantial increases in attracting and maintaining customers. Like other forms of social media, Facebook is a common platform for companies to use in order to promote their business. This platform is used by many small and upcoming businesses who want to attract more clients or customers by communicating with the public. Having a social media account for a business is something that is common among businesses because it allows a way to interact with customers using photos and videos that advertise the business. Facebook is a platform that has many pros that include free to use, quick and easy to set up, and doesn’t require any skills in order to operate the account.

 

The Benefits of Social Media Marketing and Obtaining Success

Social media is becoming more and more accessible which has aided businesses with their marketing efforts. Experts agree that there are many useful benefits when using marketing strategies via social media. Using social media for advertising and networking allows businesses to reach out and spread the word about their business. Suvashree Bhattacharya, Deputy Manager at REVE SYSTEMS, acknowledges how prominent the social media world is becoming regarding brands and companies. “Social media platforms are becoming the main source for people to learn more about businesses – latest information about new products, services, advertisements, deals or promotions (Bhattacharya, 2021)”. Even though many agree that digital marketing has great advantages, it is important to obtain the skills and knowledge on how to successfully manage your online business when aiming for optimal results. When using social media to advertise and market it is important to interact directly with individuals instead of using bots for interactions. Engagement is a crucial aspect when it comes to increasing traffic for your business. Dave Evans, Vice President of Khoros, stated “the engagement process is fundamental to successful social marketing and to the establishment of successful social business practices” (Evans, 2021, p. 11). It is equally important to answer questions in a timely manner. Interacting with the audience creates a more personal experience for the follower, or customer, and it can result in an increase of brand loyalty. By engaging with individuals directly, building a loyal following, and being timely with responses, a brand has a higher chance of success.

 

The Importance of Social Media Engagement

Social media can be a great outlet for networking. Businesses have to continue to keep up with current events and trends in order to keep up with their competing brands. Traditional marketing techniques are not as effective as they once were. With the growth of digital marketing, businesses have more opportunities to reach out to more demographics than ever. In order to stay relevant, businesses and brands have been conforming to this method of marketing. Jonathan Durante, a Forbes Council member states, “Building both a social audience and a landing page audience is critical to creating consistent and future success from your marketing efforts by leveraging historical data” (Durante, 2021). There are millions upon millions of active social media accounts which means that understanding what customers want is easier than ever. Rebecca Battman, the founder and managing director of RBL, a reputable branding and marketing agency, has explained this by stating: “To help keep track of your customers, cookies can help track online activity by storing information about an individual’s browsing habits, including which pages have been viewed” (Battman, 2021). In other words, a brand's marketing page has the power to obtain useful information about their target audience’s daily habits. This allows a brand or company to have more insight on what their audience wants.