Social media and business applications

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 Hill and a selling of the company from the original owners of the business for millions in profit. “Jaclyn Hill Favorites palette that has sold out pretty much instantly. And since it was limited edition, it’s basically impossible to get now but more than a year later, people are still listing it on eBay for more than $100” (Bousquet, 2016).
Jaclyn Hill is just one social media influencer that has found success and has led to success for companies that user her to market their products/services. Other prominent social media influencers like NikkieTutorials has gained great paydays from her collaborations with companies. Someone like Kylie Jenner, who made Instagram popular among users, also made money and even generated her own successful makeup line that shows what the new age of social media has begun. Now that millions are tuned in to social media, it is one of the main ways to appeal to customers.
Morphe is not the only company to greatly profit from endorsements and collaborations. Fit Tea is another company that seems to generate buzz by paying celebrities and social media influencers to promote their product on social media. The fees they pay out can range from a few thousand to as much as $250,000 and has led to the company creating enough profit to continue their strategy with big name celebrities.
Racked did a deep dive into the phenomenon, which is weirdly large and only growing larger. They say teatox companies will shell out between $3,000 and $250,000 for an Instagram endorsement, depending on how many followers you’ve got. The overhead on one of these businesses is low, leaving plenty of money to spend on marketing. It’s not just fitness selfie Randoms, either—promoters have included various Kardashians, Nicki Minaj, Lindsey Lohan, and Hilary Duff. In fact, the business is so driven by celebrity endorsements that all these brands are now in an arms race. “We are waiting to see who will spend the most money on influencers, so they can become the number one tea,” explained Thomas Rankin of Dash Hudson, which works with brands that want to grow their Instagram followings (Faircloth, 2016).
When customers see a product or service promoted by someone they like or admire, businesses have found they are more likely to buy the product thanks to the built-in trust and connection they have with whoever is the social media influencer. This kind of connection may take years to foster and is why the payments can be so high. This goes into the type of promises businesses made when allowing a social media influencer to promote their product or service. By promoting this product, they make an implicit promise that the product or service is of high-quality product that works and can be bought at a fair price. Customers then trust the company and make the purchase and if they are satisfied, remain loyal customers.
Interestingly, new information (presented in charts below) showcases that while certain websites like Twitter, have not performed well in recent times, taken over by other apps like Instagram and Snapchat, Facebook remains the top website or app to use in social media (Chaffey, 2017). Companies still advertise on Facebook and sometimes go for general instead of targeted advertisements. Companies on Facebook are not as specific as on YouTube or Instagram, nor do they use social media influencers as often, but they still understand the appeal of a pool of users available for direct and aggressive advertising tactics (Chaffey, 2017).
New tactics for advertisement on Facebook aim towards the preferences of users. For example, pages or posts that a Facebook user likes will be taken into consideration when producing advertising content. Instead of blanket marketing, they aim for marketing that promotes the product to a target audience. Although there is still a general aspect to this kind of marketing, it has improved in terms of selection of appropriate products and services for specific target markets. An example of this is a Facebook user who is a teenager and into anime. Anime-related products may pop up in that Facebook user’s feed.
What used to be a general and blanket advertisement, thanks to new marketing tools available to businesses, has grown into target advertisement. This has expanded the viability of social media as a true way to market and promote to customers. With such increases in marketability and viability, it is no wonder businesses have decided to embrace social media completely in recent years.

Conclusion
Social media has blossomed and become something that can be lucrative for businesses. Businesses have found overwhelming success through marketing to social media users. Now that social media has grown to include millions of active users, the power of the social media influencer has widened. Social media influencers now command tens of thousands of dollars just to feature a product in their video. They collect AdSense revenue on sites like YouTube and Facebook and can make millions each year with their own marketing tactics. This shows the power of social media on the business world.
Back when social media was in its infancy, sites like YouTube and Facebook had companies advertise in a general way, usually on a main page or through traditional commercials and image advertisements. The social media influencer back then had minimal reach and so companies found no incentive to appeal to them. What they did instead was connect with customers directly through Twitter. They used Twitter also, to collect important information on target markets using hashtags.
However, as smart phone technology improved, consumers came by the millions to access these websites allowing the social media influencer to gain traction. Now companies like Morphe pay social media influencers to promote their products and have gained incredible success through these tactics. By paying social media influencers and attempting to streamline the promotion of products and services, companies have gained more customers and even a dedicated customer base. This was unheard before. Social media and businesses have generated a kind of symbiotic relationship that will keep expanding.








References
Bousquet, K. (2016, April 5). 5 Brands That Can Credit Their Fame to Social Media. Retrieved from http://www.thegloss.com/beauty/social-media-fame-makeup-brands/
Chae, B. (. (2015). Insights from hashtag #supplychain and Twitter Analytics: Considering Twitter and Twitter data for supply chain practice and research. International Journal of Production Economics, 165, 247-259. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2014.12.037
Chaffey, D. (2017, April 27). Global Social Media Statistics Summary 2017. Retrieved from http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/
Faircloth, K. (2016, April 28). Inside the Big Instagram Business of Shilling 'Detox' Teas. Retrieved from https://jezebel.com/inside-the-big-instagram-business-of-shilling-detox-tea-1773585005