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Example Social Media and Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review
Mohammad Furqan Khan1, Dr. Anisa Jan2 Research Scholar, School of
Business Studies, Islamic University of Science and Technology,
Awantipora, J&K. Assistant Professor, School Of Business Studies,
Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, J&K.
Abstract : Social media and social media marketing are sometimes used
interchangeably, but two indeed are different. The purpose of this
research paper is to revisit the literature on both concepts and
correlates them in technical terminologies. We have studied the
literature available on Social media first and identified the basic
functionalities of it. Then the literature available on social media
marketing helped us in identifying its dimensions. In conclusion
section of the research paper we have correlated the two concepts and
redefined social media marketing in technical terms. I. Introduction
Today almost every internet user is familiar with these two words
irrespective of their profession, nationality, culture, race or
religion etc. This concept is only a decade old but has reached every
social and economic class of our society. Blackshaw & Nazzaro (2004)
have beautifully defined social media in the beginning of the era of
social media, as the new source of online information, where the
information itself is – created, initiated, circulated and used by
consumers for the purpose of educating each other about products,
brands, services, personalities and issues. According to Chi (2011,
46), social media marketing is a connection between the brands and
consumers, that offers a personal channel and currency for user
centered networking and social interaction. The way of communication
has changed with the evolution of social media, and every business
irrespective of its size has a presence on social media. This review
examines current literature on social media and social media
marketing. The focus of this research is to understand the
relationship between the two concepts and finally reach to certain
conclusion. For the purpose of this research we have examined the
literature available on social media and its functional blocks in the
beginning of the paper and then we have studied the dimension social
media marketing tools. The purpose is to study the relationship
between the functionalities of the social media and the dimension of
the social media marketing in order to redefine the concept. II.
Defining Social Media Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media
as “a group of Internet based applications that build on the
ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and allow the
creation and exchange of user generated content.” According to
Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) web 2.0 is a platform where content is
continuously altered by all operators in a sharing and collaborative
way. Web 2.0 is a web based technology which helps to create highly
interactive platforms through which individuals and communities
share, co-create, discuss and modify user –generated content. Social
media are the websites which are build upon the technological
foundations of web 2.0 that help a user to create user generated
contents that can be shared. This technology allows a user to create
and publish the content on the social media networks. This
information can be shared with other members of the social media
website, who are connected with the user. This process is interactive
where other members can also respond in different ways. Mangold and
Faulds (2009) describe ―social media as the set of online word of
mouth forums which includes blogs, discussion boards, forums or
social networks to name a few. Using all mobile and web-based
technologies, social media creates highly interactive platforms by
bringing together individuals and creating communities. Internet has
a lot of websites; each of them has different functional attributes
and caters to different sections of society. Websites like facebook
are for general masses but LinkedIn is focused on professional
networking. Media sharing sites (i.e. YouTube, Picassa and Flickr) or
blogging platforms (i.e. blogspot, wordpress) are also members of
this ecosystem called social media (Kietzmann et al., 2011).Social
media has equipped the organization to establish an direct
relationship with the consumers. Both of the organizations and
consumers are free to generate content on the web pages, which
further leads to conversations and discussion. Organization on one
end are provided with an opportunity to share their information with
a large base of customers and on the other end consumers are also
free to publish any content whether positive or negative regarding
the information. DOI: 10.9790/487X-171111215 www.iosrjournals.org 12
| Page Social Media and Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review
DOI: 10.9790/487X-171111215 www.iosrjournals.org 13 | Page 2.1
Honeycomb Model Honeycomb model of Smith (2007) identifies seven
functional blocks of social media websites: identity, conversation,
sharing, presence, relationships, reputation and groups. Presence
Sharing The extent to which the user exchange, distribute and receive
content Conversations The extent to which the users communicate with
each other. The extent to which the user knows the others are present
Identity The extent to which the user reveals themselves Groups The
extent to which the users are ordered or form communities
Relationships The extent to which the users relate to each other
Reputation The extent to which users know the social standing of
others, and content. Each block allows us to understand the structure
of the social media site based on the facilities it provides to its
users. This study attempts to understand the functions of the social
media websites and their role in social media marketing. These
building blocks are not mutually exclusive and also they are not part
of every social media site. These building blocks are the constructs
which helps us to understand how different levels of social media
functionality can be configured. 2.1.1 Identity The identity
dimension is about the extent to which individuals or organizations
make their identity public by disclosing personal or corporate
information (i.e. name, age, gender, profession, location) in a
social media setting. Individuals also tend to reveal other
information – consciously or unconsciously – about themselves that
makes them portrayed in certain ways through ‗self-disclosure„of
subjective information such as thoughts, feelings, likes, and
dislikes (Kietzmann et al., 2011). 2.1.2 Conversation The
conversations dimension of the Honeycomb Model is about the extent to
which each individual communicate with one another in a social media
setting. Most social media sites„primarily purpose is to facilitate
conversation among individuals and interest groups (Kietzmann et al.,
2011). 2.1.3 Sharing The sharing dimension is about the extent to
which an individual ex-changes, distributes and receives content in a
social media setting. As the term ‗social„implies, exchange between
individuals is a crucial functionality on social media sites. At the
end of the day, social media is about people sharing their identities
and lives by sharing relevant content (i.e. groups, text, videos,
pictures, audio, links) (Kietzmann et al., 2011). Social Media and
Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review DOI: 10.9790/487X-
171111215 www.iosrjournals.org 14 | Page 2.1.4 Presence The presence
dimension is about the extent to which an individual can know whether
his/her peers are available online. Presence dimension includes
information as to where each-individual-in-one„s-network is in the
virtual world and/or in the real world. In a way presence dimension
functions as a bridge that connects the real and the virtual
realities (Kietzmann et al., 2011). 2.1.5 Relationships The
relationships dimension is about the extent to which each individual
can be related to other individuals in a social media setting. The
word relate„ is used to indicate the type of association formed
between individuals (i.e. befriending, joining groups, co-presence on
a social media site) which in turn may lead to conversation and
shares (Kietzmann et al., 2011). 2.1.6 Reputation The reputation
dimension is about the extent to which each individual is able to
identify one„s relative position (including one„s own position) in
the society in a social media setting. In social media, reputation is
not something granted to people through their disclosed identities
but it is something that can be earned through shared content,
expressed thoughts, likes and dislikes. The same is true for
organizations seeking to build or strengthen their reputation through
implementing social media strategies (Kietzmann et al., 2011). 2.1.7
Groups The Groups dimension is about the extent to which each
individual can form communities and subcommunities in a social media
setting. The more social„a network is, the higher the number of
groups, communities, followers and contacts (Kietzmann et al., 2011).
III. Social Media Marketing Social media marketing is a new marketing
strategy which almost every business is adopting to reach their
consumers on the virtual networks. If you have an idea and you want
it to reach millions, at a very little cost, then social media is the
only way-out. Entertainment companies were the first to adopt the
social media as a promotional tool. Weinberg (2009) has defined
social media marketing as the process that empowers individuals to
promote their websites, products, or services through online social
channels and tap into a much larger community that may not have been
available via traditional channels. So if we keep it simple, social
media marketing is the process where organizations use social media
websites to build rush on their company official websites. It does
not stop here but organizations also inform the potential customers
of happenings in the organization, launch of the new model or product
and latest news about the organization through social media
applications. Gordhamer (2009) has related social media marketing to
the relationship marketing where firms need to shift from “trying to
sell” to “making connections” with the consumers. This
explanations of social media marketing takes us to the other side of
marketing, where building relations with the potential consumers is
the key to repeated purchases and enhanced brand loyalty. Social
Media is an innovative tool that organizations use for creating a
very strong public relation with the customers on the virtual
networks (Jan & Khan, 2014). Maintaining public relations through
social media has become easy because a large number of potential
consumers are available on the virtual networks. And making
connection with consumers using social media is only some clicks
away. Today‟ s customers are more powerful and busy; therefore,
companies should be reachable and available in every social media
communication channel such as Face book, Twitter, Blogs, Forums at
any time (Gordhamer, 2009). Exploiting the opportunities provided by
the social media communication channels is important for every
organization. 3.1 Dimension of the Social media marketing (Asa’ad, &
Anas, 2014) There are five dimension of the social media marketing,
which means these five things are required to create connections with
consumers or to building traffic to company websites. 3.1.1 Online
Communities: A company or business can use the social media to build
a community around its products/business. Vibrant communities create
loyalty and encourage discussions, which can contribute towards
business development and improvement. (Taprial, & Kanwar, 2012).
3.1.2 Interaction: A Facebook page or Twitter account can notify all
its followers of specific subject quickly and simultaneously
(Berselli, Burger, & Close, 2012). Social networking sites enable
greater interaction with the online community through broadcasting
up-to-date, consumer relevant information. (Fischer, & Reuber, 2011)
Social Media and Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review DOI:
10.9790/487X-171111215 www.iosrjournals.org 15 | Page 3.1.3 Sharing
of Content: The sharing dimension is about the extent to which an
individual ex-changes, distributes and receives content in a social
media setting. (Babac, 2011) 3.1.4 Accessibility: The social media is
easily accessible and takes minimal or no costs to use. Social media
is easy to use and does not require any special skills, knowledge to
use. (Taprial, & Kanwar, 2012) 3.1.5 Credibility: It is all about
delivering your message clearly to the people, establishing
credibility for what you say or do, connecting emotionally with your
target audience, motivating the buyer and generating loyal customers.
The social media provides a very good platform for all businesses
(big or small) to network and reach out to their target audience,
connect with them directly and generate trust by listening to what
they have to say. (Taprial, & Kanwar, 2012). IV. Correlation Between
The Two Concepts When we study honey comb model of smith (2007) and
simultaneously look at the five dimensions of the social media
marketing we can easily figure out that the seven functionalities of
social media websites form the basis for social media marketing.
These seven functional blocks are the pillars on which a firm can
establish the structure of its social media marketing strategy. We
have generalized the above theories on social media marketing and
social media as follows: ➢ Group functionality and relationship
functionality of the social media leads to Online Communities. ➢
Conversation functionality of social media leads to Interaction. ➢
Sharing functionality of social media leads to sharing of the
content. ➢ Presence and identity functionality of social media leads
to Accessibility. ➢ Reputation functionality of social media leads
to credibility. V. Conclusion In this paper we made an effort to
understand the concepts of social media and social media marketing.
We studied the literature of the social media first and analyzed the
honey comb model which explains the seven basic functionalities of
any social media website. Our literature review of the social media
marketing led us to identify the five major dimensions of the social
media marketing. When we try to correlate the functionalities of the
social media and dimensions of social media marketing we reach to a
conclusion where we can identify that the seven functionalities of
social media supports all the five dimensions of the social media
marketing. This finally leads us to redefine the Social media
marketing on the basis of functional block of the social media
websites. “Social media marketing is a process where seven
functional blocks (identity, conversation, sharing, presence,
relationship, reputation and groups) of a social media website are
utilized for promotion of a brand, organization, political party, a
personality, an idea or an event.” So when we use social media for
promotion of an idea or a product that is social media marketing.
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impact of social media marketing on Brand Equity: An Empirical study
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Master‟ s Thesis, Halmstad University, Sweden. [3]. Berselli, S. &
Burger, S. & Close, J. (2012) .Crisis Mapping Community Social Media
Information During and After Large-Scale Disasters, Unpublished
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101: Word Of Mouth In the age of the Web Fortified consumer „,
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Brand Community: Exploratory Study of User Motivation and Social
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/2009/09/22/Social-MediaBusiness/. [8]. Jan, Anisa. & Khan, M.Furqan.
(2014).“Social Media Is Nothing but a Public Relation Tool.” The
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California.
2.1 Honeycomb Model Honeycomb model of Smith (2007) identifies seven
functional blocks of social media websites: identity, conversation,
sharing, presence, relationships, reputation and groups. Presence
Sharing The extent to which the user exchange, distribute and receive
content Conversations The extent to which the users communicate with
each other. The extent to which the user knows the others are present
Identity The extent to which the user reveals themselves Groups The
extent to which the users are ordered or form communities
Relationships The extent to which the users relate to each other
Reputation The extent to which users know the social standing of
others, and content. Each block allows us to understand the structure
of the social media site based on the facilities it provides to its
users. This study attempts to understand the functions of the social
media websites and their role in social media marketing. These
building blocks are not mutually exclusive and also they are not part
of every social media site. These building blocks are the constructs
which helps us to understand how different levels of social media
functionality can be configured. 2.1.1 Identity The identity
dimension is about the extent to which individuals or organizations
make their identity public by disclosing personal or corporate
information (i.e. name, age, gender, profession, location) in a
social media setting. Individuals also tend to reveal other
information – consciously or unconsciously – about themselves that
makes them portrayed in certain ways through ‗self-disclosure„of
subjective information such as thoughts, feelings, likes, and
dislikes (Kietzmann et al., 2011). 2.1.2 Conversation The
conversations dimension of the Honeycomb Model is about the extent to
which each individual communicate with one another in a social media
setting. Most social media sites„primarily purpose is to facilitate
conversation among individuals and interest groups (Kietzmann et al.,
2011). 2.1.3 Sharing The sharing dimension is about the extent to
which an individual ex-changes, distributes and receives content in a
social media setting. As the term ‗social„implies, exchange between
individuals is a crucial functionality on social media sites. At the
end of the day, social media is about people sharing their identities
and lives by sharing relevant content (i.e. groups, text, videos,
pictures, audio, links) (Kietzmann et al., 2011).