Executive Summary Social media remains an integral aspect of business in the constant busy world of the 21st century. It has expanded its use to suit the needs of businesses and allowed companies to increase their profits through effective marketing and use of social media influencers. As customers use social media to comment, view, and judge things, companies can tailor-make their brand image in a way that is attractive and appealing to their target market. This is why businesses have cultivated new strategies to allow for redirection and growth towards social media and social media influencers. This paper will discuss the benefits of social media in business, what used to be done with social media in the business world, and what are the latest techniques/findings regarding social media and business.

Introduction

Social media in the last ten years has exploded and expanded to include a host of websites and apps. What seemed like niche market with very little advertising consideration has grown to become a main way for businesses to market themselves and increase customer brand awareness. Some of this had to do with the smartphone and the ease with which customers could interact with companies and each other to spread around certain company advertisements or inspired trends. An example of this is in Instagram when social media influencers feature a beauty product and create a trend amongst Instagram users to use that product, increasing sales for the company that produces it.

It does not simply happen on Instagram. Social media has also come to include the website YouTube where social media influencers can be sponsored by companies to promote a product in one of their videos. Because these social media influencers have millions of dedicated fans viewing their videos and buying recommended products, companies end up gaining sales and better profits versus not appealing to these social media influencers. Because social media has grown and become what it is, it is therefore a key means of businesses to market to consumers in the hopes of growing their customer base without spending as much money as they would via traditional methods like commercials on television networks. This essay will discuss past and current methods for businesses that use social media.

Previous Approaches

Myspace used to be a great way for companies to showcase their brand through advertisements. However, that was quickly replaced by Facebook Facebook became the main means of communicating to social media users through targeted advertisements and general advertisements placed on the website. Another website, Twitter, became a great way to communicate with customers. Aside from advertisements, businesses could open a Twitter account and have employees talk to customers, especially if they have a complaint of the business’ product or service.

A good example of this is American Airlines where customers can tweet a company with a concern receiving a prompt response without having to call and wait on hold. Not only did Twitter become a great way to connect with customers new and existing, but it also became a primary way to gather data on potential customer interests....

For instance, Twitter hashtags provide businesses the ability collect data on what is desirable and trending, then market accordingly.
supply chain tweets are used by different groups of supply chain professionals and organizations (e.g., news services, manufacturers) for information sharing, hiring professionals, and communicating with stakeholders, among others; diverse topics are being discussed, ranging from logistics and corporate social responsibility, to risk, manufacturing, SCM IT and even human rights; some tweets carry strong sentiments about companies? delivery services, sales performance, and environmental standards, and risk and disruption in supply chain (Chae, 2015, p. 247).

When YouTube was in its infancy, advertisements were not placed on videos. YouTube has become part of social media and back then was used by businesses through the front page of YouTube through banners and commercials. This method was used because back then the social media influencer was not as well known or valued as it is today. Just going back ten years, one saw why companies chose to advertise that way. They saw the limited views popular users of the website had and instead chose to appeal to everyone rather than the audience of a social media influencer.

That is the basis of previous marketing and advertising strategies for businesses looking to raise brand awareness on social media. The intent was not to appeal to those expanding the reach of social media, but rather to advertise in general to the social media users. It was not until the introduction of the smart phone that businesses began to see the importance of targeted advertising to improve their reach and create better customer loyalty and company branding. The smart phone and app technology brought a new mean of advertising for businesses regarding social media.

Much of the older evidence of social media and businesses focused on the idea that customers can be accessed through sites operated on mainly computers. Therefore, traditional methods of advertisement included images, long commercials, and promotions. While this is still used today and remains effective, there are other ways to promote a company and allow for greater interaction with customers. This will be explored further in the next section.

New Findings

Social media has grown, and social media influencers have become a prime means of advertising to customers. Additionally, new websites/apps have appeared like Snapchat and Instagram that make it easier to appeal to customers using social media influencers. What back then was a strategy involving a general appeal to customers has become specific and even niche. A key example of this is Morphe and their ongoing collaboration with social media influencer, Jaclyn Hill.

Jaclyn Hill has millions of subscribers on YouTube and millions of followers on Instagram. She markets Morphe through pictures and short clips on Instagram and does sponsored or collaboration videos with Morphe on her YouTube channel. Thanks to their collaboration and the codes they distribute to other social media influencers, the success of Morphe has a permanent collaboration with Jaclyn…