Social Media and the Marketing Mix: An Eye Opening Guide

  

Introduction

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The marketing mix is a set of actions or plans that a company will follow so that they can promote its brand or product in the market. The mix consists of 4 stages known as: Price, Product, Place and Promotion.

Price refers to all the costs, involved with the creation of the product and considers the consumer budget. The product must be suitable and deliver at least a minimum level of performance, individuality and to satisfaction for the customer. Place is another stage which is all about the location, in any industry you will find that drawing in your consumer and making it easy for them to buy is the main aim of good distribution. Many retailers pay premium prices for specific locations as they know this stage is essential. The final stage promotion is all about the activities taken to make the product or service become general knowledge between the user and trader.

Impact

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In the last few years social media has become a force in itself, being used my millions of users daily, it has become a medium for most young people to communicate. It is also highly accessible as anyone can create an account. Not only young people, but businesses have been using it to their advantage by creating social media for their brand.

From this aspect alone social media has had a huge impact on marketing as it allows businesses to showcase their products into a huge market, a place where everyone can see it. Originally companies would choose a physical location and try and expand using posters, free samples, customer service and pop-up shops. However, with how fast the digital age is moving this is all now possible online. This benefits most businesses as it means that they can cut a ridiculous amount on costs. Using social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are good, as they are very easy to use and are free. With this change in marketing it is easier for businesses to not focus on place so much as it is already in front of them to use. It gives them more time and finances to focus on other parts of the mix.

Conclusion

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Social media impacts all the elements involved with the marketing mix. As companies are able to deduce their pricing, come up with a unique product and promote it with minimal cost. They can do this by easily communicating with their audience. By using posts, questionnaires, advertisements, and celebrity endorsement they can get all the market research they need about their product and consumer. User generated content allows a product to reach a bigger audience. For example, Coke Cola after putting names on their bottles, went to social media to tell consumers to post their bottle, in turn it became a form of free advertising. Previously companies would go through a time-consuming process of multiple meetings and decision making whereas that one post on social media had global outreach. New start-up businesses can target its audience and gain information a lot easier as long as they have the right strategy.

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Additional Information:

The Marketing Mix

User Generated Content