Social media refers to the applications and software that use the internet allowing people to interact, share personal information, photos and even real time thoughts. Over the past, social media has been used by people globally to communicate and share their life experiences (Tracy & Michael, 2012). Today social media use has expanded enabling businesses to use the new communication tool to reach out to prospective customers through inbound marketing.
Social media enables businesses to pass their message to consumers in real time. The marketing strategy has proven to be cost effective as it enables businesses to reach out to a wider group of consumers. All that business marketers need to do is register on these social media platforms, post their products and services on these sites and their messages will be passed on to the consumers. Social media has not only proven to be useful to businesses but also helped consumers by directing them to more enhanced sources for purchasing. Actually it is the main reason as to why businesses are jumping onto the social media bandwagon at a speedy pace.
An example of one successful social media outlet is Facebook. Facebook has over seven hundred and fifty million registered users. It was created with an intention to connect families and friends worldwide who found other modes of communication to be too costly. Six years after Facebook was launched, the site has become one of the largest social media website in the world with over three hundred million people visiting the site on a monthly basis. This explains the reason as to why Facebook is considered a strong marketing tool to those businesses that use it.
A legally astute social media marketing manager must have a number of features to enable him utilize social media outlet such as Facebook in a manner that will make his business flourish. One of the components is that he should be a Marketer; social medial marketing tactics should come as an added advantage too his marketing skills. If the marketer does not understand the tricks behind the working of social media, then he does not have the qualities of a good social media marketer.
He should be able to understand how Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content and/or email marketing works. Even with such social media marketing skills, there are risks involved with having such skills. One such risk is the possibility of being sued for stocking people with marketing messages. The social media marketing manager should use modes that appeal to Facebook users otherwise he risks being reported to be a spammer.
A Facebook marketer should also be a good writer. If the marketer is to attract the attention of his message readers, then he has to be able to write a massage that is catchy. However, enticing messages are also likely to attract fraudsters. Fraudsters target businesses that do not take keen interest to secure their online transactions. This is likely to lead to businesses losing lots of money online.
A good Facebook marketer should also be able to understand the concepts that propel social media marketing. Conversations via social media such as Facebook can be rewarding, but what makes your Facebook marketing efforts to take you to the next level is the ability to engage content in your conversations. The risk involved with such tricks is that the conversations are likely to attract competitors who could employ people to ruin your efforts through the comments they post on such public conversations.
Facebook marketing just like any other social media marketing tactic should be like a hobby (Zarella & Alisha, 2010). The marketer should be social in that he can be able to start a conversation and keep the engaged in a continuous and positive dialog that yields results. It is not all about just understanding Facebook applications; if you do not have a passion for understanding and learning people, then you are likely to get bored by the position.
While conducting business online, disputes are likely to arise between traders and consumers especially when there is an issue with a product or service traded in the process. This is why there is a need for alternative dispute resolution. The methods for dispute resolution include: negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. Negotiation requires that the parties involved settle their differences through communication with an aim of finding a way out. It enables the parties involved to openly contribute to a verdict that is likely to affect them.
In the case of mediation, it requires that the parties voluntarily engage another impartial person normally called the mediator to aid with the communications and encourage reconciliations. It is however significant to point out that the mediator does not make the final decision. Arbitration is almost similar to mediation but in this case, the impartial person who is called an arbitrator makes the decision. The arbitrator normally controls the proceedings by listening to both parties to the case and makes the final judgement based on the facts and personal judgements.
Litigation is the other method of alternative dispute resolution. It involves the use of civil justice system and courts to resolve legal disagreements. It begins by filing a case in a court. Through a trial, a jury or judge decides the case giving his or her reasons for arriving at a certain decision.
Due to the complex nature of Facebook as a social media marketing tool, using litigation can be quite lengthy and at times end up not resolving anything as the parties involved are normally miles away making it hard for the courts to trace an individual. Mediation would be considered to be the best way of solving disputes that arise from consumers buying goods and services via businesses that provide links on Facebook. This is because the parties engage themselves through the help of a mediator. The mediator helps them to see the benefits and the implications of being able to come to an agreement and vice versa.
Social media is a global communication tool and therefore it is likely to attract consumer transactions worldwide. This makes it hard for the federal government to control such transactions as it involves the use of internet. The government can however control these consumer transactions by coming up with policies that govern how consumers engage with businesses via social media such as Facebook. This should aim at ensuring that businesses do not post wrong information about their products that will end up convincing consumers to buy products based on the wrong information they give.
The federal government should invest in encouraging consumers on Facebook to transact with only those businesses that are considered to be legit as per the federal online business requirements. The Federal government should also control the information that is posted on Facebook by businesses about their products to ensure that consumers are protected. The Federal government should also insist that businesses and consumers transact on a more secure payment system such as PayPal. This will ensure that only legitimate businesses and individuals transact via Facebook as PayPal does not register persons or businesses that do not have legal documents such as Identity cards and existent bank accounts.
Most government systems have three branches and these are: legislature, executive and judiciary. The legislative branch comprises of individuals representing the citizens of a given Nation. The purpose of the legislative branch is to enact laws of a country (Hamilton, 2005).
They also ensure that the executive branch is held accountable for its actions in implementing such enacted laws. The executive branch comprises of the president and the ministers. Its role is to carry out the day to day activities of a nation; this includes both foreign and domestic affairs. The judicial branch of government comprises of judges and courts of a given nation. The purpose of a judicial system is to interpret the laws passed by the legislature. It is the responsibility of the courts to make decisions that are legal about various policies and issues.
The branch of government that effectuate the greatest significant influence on controlling consumer dealings is the legislative branch. It is this branch of government that passes the laws of a particular country. Consumer transaction through social media such as Facebook is a new practice in most countries. The implication is that there are no specific laws that have been enacted to control consumer transactions via Facebook. New challenges are emerging each day and it is the responsibility of the legislative branch to come up with new laws that will help bring sanity to consumer transaction via social media.
Through Facebook, marketers can use social networking skills to build relationships with customers. This is a free marketing strategy and requires one to have social skills to take maximum advantage of such opportunities. Facebook also uses marketing applications such as “sense of community” to encourage users of such applications to consume certain products and services. It is important to note that the marketing apps that drive more sharing are the ones that engage more users at a time. The more users engaged the better the capabilities of the application to drive consumer transactions.
The purpose of Facebook is to bring together users globally creating a market place where business marketers can advertise their products in real time. Advertising through Facebook can either be free or paid for depending on the mode used to pass the message to the customers on such social media. A good case where the marketers can pay for advertising their products via Facebook is the “pay per click” marketing. It is more effective than free marketing as it reaches out to a specific target group.
Social media is indeed a strong marketing tool for businesses. Business owners should be keen to choose marketing managers who are able to take advantage of social media to reach out to consumers seeking to buy their own products. Most businesses that still use the traditional marketing strategies are bound to lose their customers to online businesses as more consumers join social media to direct them to better sources for purchasing.
References
Hamilton, J. (2005). Branches of Government. Minneapolis: ABDO Publishing.
Tracy, L.T., & Michael, R.S. (2012). Social media marketing. Ohio: Prentice Hall PTR.
Zarella, D., & Alisha, Z. (2010). The Facebook Marketing Book. New York: O’Reilly media, Inc.