THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN THE ADVOCACY OF

CUSTOMER RETENTION

ABSTRACT

The conventional and the long-established concept being applied in any marketing

approach promotes the objective to seek dominance and control over a huge percentage of the

market share through the careful and thorough application of various marketing strategies in

order to gain and maintain customer retention. However, most marketing savvy analysts have

questioned such idea on the grounds that it presents an insufficiency that customer retention may

not be very well guaranteed through the inception of principles being applied through the

traditional approach of marketing. Thus, this led to the dawn of a new and contemporary method

of marketing to attract and ensure permanent customer retention and that is through social media

marketing.

INTRODUCTION/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The change in the society is inevitable considering the influx of the latest technological

trends and innovations which can possibly alter how various fields of study function. In fact,

most of these modern innovations compel users and consumers to no longer settle for the

outdated and the obsolete given the fact that convenience is far more accessible than the

outmoded principles. The body of study in the field of marketing and customer retention is not

exempted to this rule. Relatively, social media marketing has been considered to be the forefront

in the recent contemporary marketing strategies so as to take hold of customer retention.

 Social media has been primarily considered to be an online outlet for people who intends

to share their concerns, ideas, and opinions in an interactive approach through the use of various

multimedia channels such as audios, videos, or pictures. It initially began when internet

engineers have developed various methods to provide a web of interactive networks among

computers which is through internet relay chats and IRCs that have been quite popular during the

1990s. It has later progressed to the development of social media sites. In 1997, Six Degrees was

tantamount to the Facebook of today as it enables online users to create and upload a profile and

enables one to interact with other online friends and users. Social media began to gain more

popularity by the development of blogging sites which has been the best avenue for online users

to vent out their rants and raves about certain topics and ideas.

The advent of blogging sites paved way for social media to diversify in terms of its

function. The creation of MySpace has achieved its popularity high in the early 2000 when the

idea of connecting with friends while being able to use photo-sharing utilities found out to be the

perfect means to stay in touch despite geographical boundaries. Today, Facebook and Twitter

have been considered the top moguls of the social media industry which has been used by almost

all the people in the world. These social networking sites have been deemed the best way to

reach the most number of people without putting into jeopardy the personal communication one

has maintained from each of these online individuals.

The impact of social media is gradually overrunning the commercial and business world.

Not only has this innovation assisted the online world of social interaction, but it has aided

thousands of marketers, industrialists, and entrepreneurs who have realized the innate potential

of social media in terms of their capacity to secure customer retention. Considering that

commercial competition is fierce and unforgiving, it is the clamour of every company or business
establishment to find newer and better ways to secure a good hold of their market share and that

is through customer retention. Fortunately, the potential being acquired by social media holds

enough influence and power to access a wider reach of market through the online contact thus

giving birth to social media marketing.

RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Considering the hype that is going on in social media websites, it has already been

considered to be the best place to be for online users to share their updates, multi-media

messages and activities in a more radical way. Since social media feeds on various online links,

stories and discoveries, consider how vital this tool will be in the application to customer

retention. Indeed, social media as a form of a marketing strategy is an overlooked advertising

potential especially in the field of customer retention programs. In addition, customer retention is

a very crucial element in any organization as it determines how well a company is doing through

its motivated and loyal customers.

This study aims to correlate the principles and applications involved in social media

marketing and customer retention. Moreover, it seeks to stress the significance of social media

marketing and how its introduction to business marketing helps sustain customer retention.

Moreover, since social media marketing has commonly been failed to be noticed as one of the

vital marketing tools, this study further stresses the effectivity and efficiency of social media

marketing in building and maintain customer retention in every organization or company.

BODY OF DISCUSSION

Definition of Terms

Marketing is a management process through which the goods and services are being

moved from concept to the customer. Such act involves the careful and deliberate action made by

the business entity to promote the selling of their goods and/ or services.

Social Media Marketing is one of the many marketing methods employed by a company

or organization in order to build and maintain a business through the various use of social media

outlets. Such social media outlets may be in a form of blogs or videos which would guarantee an

organizations exposure to the public. It may also be commonly termed as Internet Marketing as

it makes use of various social networking sites to the companys advantage as effective

marketing tools to attract or retain clients. It is basically a marketing strategy primarily driven by

word of mouth as most networking sites proliferate an idea, concept or opinion through its web

of interconnected links allowing it to gain more traffic thus potentially gaining a higher target

market. Thus,

Customer retention is an action which a company or an organization embarks on to

reduce, minimize, or eliminate any customer deficiencies. Since customer retention may be

maintained through various means, its brief definition can generally be boiled down to a process

by which customers continue to patronize a certain companys products or services within a

particular time frame. Customer retention is primarily founded not only on the quality of

products and services the selling entity is providing but also its quality of customer service it

caters to their clients and customers. The main core objective of customer retention is to exceed

customers expectation by constantly emphasizing on what they need and want on the product or
service so as to maintain customer value. On that note, a selling company can also capitalize on

customer value from customer retention in order to maximize their profits. As per research, an

engaged customer, as a result of effective customer retention, is able to generate higher revenue

for the company as compared by regular customers.

How Does Social Media Marketing Work?

The concept of social media marketing does not, in any way, vary greatly with the

concept as involved in a conventional social media as what is being applied in various interactive

social networking sites.

Basically though, social media marketing encompasses a variety of multimedia formats

upon which it enables to address a users concerns, opinions, and testimonials on a given

company. It further allows an interactive communication among online users through various

social media platforms such as internet blogs and social networking sites. It also enhances real

time communication to occur so as online users may be updated on what is currently trending in

the market. Moreover, it allows between and among online users despite various physical

boundaries. Social media marketing is also a form of customer engagement wherein selling

companies advocating this concept can empower online users to proactively engage in the

marketing activities of the company. In addition, since social media marketing utilizes various

social media platforms, the online conversations and actions made by users can be capitalized by

various online advertisers to acquire insight and significant feedback without the hassle of

coercing them to relay or advertise marketing messages. A famous social media consultant, Mr.

Peter Shankman, simply defines social media marketing a another arrow to be shot in a

companys marketing quiver.

 Considering the various features on social media marketing as being aforementioned,

social media can indeed potentially increase a companys revenue by taking advantage on the

principle of customer retention. Thus, a plethora of factors can significantly be put into

consideration as social media marketing can make or break a companys framework on effective

marketing strategy.

The following factors should be considered for social media marketing to provide a

favourable impact on customer retention:

1. Maintenance of regular and existing customers

Social media marketing basically takes advantage of regular and existing customers as

compared to the efforts of getting a new customer. It is where the selling company finds

online ways to engage their current customers through the use of various social media

platforms. In this connection, social media marketing secures customer retention by

providing online service to existing customers through online customer service or online

technical or support groups. It can also increase customer retention by providing online

interaction between the existing customers and the selling entity through a particular

social channel. Facebook is contemporarily being used by various online savvy marketers

to reach out to their existing clients.

2. Be more personally involved

Social media marketing is also beneficial for leads and potential customers. Customer

engagement is as important for potential sales leads as for the existing customers. Rather

than having an anonymous sales agent feed you with random marketing inception to avail

of their product or service, most would definitely not buy it as it does not arouse their
interest or motivation. However, social media channels provide an ideal avenue to get

personal with potential markets as online users are more likely to build an interaction as

they get to be more informed through a myriad of multimedia online tools.

3. Building of Advocates

The bottleneck in any customer retention approach is the selling entitys ability to

maintain in the perception of their existing customers that its product or service is their

main purchasing choice among other brands or competitors. This is where the role of

social media marketing comes in. It activates the right customer engagement so that

existing customers are more likely to become regular repeat customers through the

companys personalized service.

4. Beware of social media mishaps

Social media marketing may not always be a bowl of cherries on the part of the selling

entity. If not properly utilized, they could very well destroy customer retention. This is

how influential social media can be in the area of marketing and customer retention.

A viral video of a McDonalds employee spitting on a McDonalds meal may cause a

significant loss on customer retention. It may involve a huge spending on good

advertising and nifty promotional offers until this video anomaly will be forgotten by

both existing and potential customers.

Moreover, a fake advertising article guaranteeing offers which are unauthorized to be

made publicly online from the selling company could be at risk of customer retention

failure. However, in the case of Apple, the famous saying If you cant beat them, join
 them converted several black social media propaganda to their advantage. A viral online

message has been spread in the Internet stating that their latest iPhone products may run

out of stock. Clever Apple Company stood to this contention thus allowing their iPhone

products to be exclusively inaccessible to the few. This, together with their various

online marketing tools adopted, has further increased their sales demand even prior to the

said units release to the public.

Traditional Marketing vs Social Media Marketing

MARKETING

TRADITIONAL
Banners SOCIAL MEDIA
Tarpaulins Online Blogs
Newspaper ads Facebook
Radio ads Twitter
TV ads Instagram
SEO articles

With the advent of technology and the latest online innovation, marketing has given birth to

another concept in advertising and that is the social media marketing. As per illustration, social

media marketing has greatly changed the whole concept of marketing. If the main objective of

traditional marketing is to attract new customers through the various platforms and media as

illustrated, the goal of social media is to attract current and existing customers. Most traditional

marketers would question the validity of the applications in social media marketing. However, in

a social media marketing perspective, customer retention should as the end of the marketing

strategy. In fact, social media marketing capitalizes on the maintenance of existing customers
and clients so as to attract more new and potential customers. In a traditional marketing

approach, their marketing efforts end upon the acquisition of new clients or customers.

Unfortunately, customer retention does not work this way. Existing customers are more likely to

shift or change preference if they are not constantly being engaged or motivated by the selling

company. This gray area in traditional marketing has been made lucid and more comprehensible

by the social media marketings realization that an earned media is much better than a paid

media. If a company continues to reach out to their customers through various online facilities,

these customers are more likely to spread the word online that such company offers only the

most effective and efficient products and services. This is neither a well coerced nor paid

advertising. It is the honest reviews of existing customers who are willing to express such

opinions in the most convenient of all avenues- the internet, which is the ideal online locale for

target and potential users and consumers.

FINDINGS/CONCLUSION

It has been found out that because society is evolving towards technological

advancement, marketing must still remain to be vigilant in being updated with the trends of the

season so as to firmly take hold of their customer retention.

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