Social Media Marketing Impact on Consumer Behavior

Social Media Marketing Impact on Consumer Behavior In recent times, the term social media has emerged as a catchall expression (Zarrella, 108). It is a new form of marketing that concentrates on opening new horizons for marketers in order to promote a product or service. It differs from the conventional media as it mainly emphasizes on consumer generated content rules (Zarrella, 109). It incorporates the use of wide ranging applications that are based on Internet, which are based on the Web 2.0 technology. Consumer behavior is an important aspect of marketing as it assists marketers to devise strong and robust marketing strategies and techniques. For instance, organizations launch new products or services, which are generally bought by few customers in the initial phase and gradually, there is an increase in the users. It is essential for an organization to devise a strong and robust marketing strategy that would ensure commercial success. The satisfaction of initial consumers is dependent on the marketing strategy as their satisfaction and contentment would make an impact on the subsequent brand choices of the consumers. (Kim, Fiore, and Lee, 96) Today, organizations are employing social media technique in order to change consumers behavior and to win their loyalty. The aim of this paper is to study the impact of social media marketing on consumer behavior in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources (Kim, Fiore, and Lee, 97). Overview Social media marketing is the form of marketing which consists of internet based applications such as social networking sites, podcasts, blogs, microblogs, etc and have become part of the marketing strategy in order to promote a product or service, improve efficiency of the organization and to attain new customers. From research, it is evident that social media marketing has been adopted by different organization in order to target wider audience and to influence consumer behavior(Zarrella, 115). In the new era of marketing, organizations no longer depend on traditional forms of marketing in order to interact with the consumers. Similarly, consumers have power the raise their voices and opinions. The contemporary consumer can voice his or her opinion in a louder and clear manner as he or she has access to Twitter, Facebook, blogs, websites, microblogs, YouTube, etc. therefore, it has become necessary for companies to utilize social media marketing in order to change the way they conduct their business. Social media marketing plays an important and significant role in changing the buying behavior of the consumers. A study conducted by Kim, Fiore, and Lee , concentrated on studying the importance of social media marketing and its impact on consumer behavior (Kim, Fiore, and Lee, 99). The research demonstrated that more than fifty percent companies in the United States have adopted social media marketing in order to target new markets and to win new customers. The same research revealed that more than seventy percent of the users used social media in one form or another and it gave them the power and control to do things their way (Kim, Fiore, and Lee, 101). Study conducted by Chiang and Dholakia, concentrated on studying consumer behavior and social media marketing(Chiang and Dholakia, 177). For this purpose, three hundred participants were interviewed. Eighty percent of the users agreed that social media made an impact on their purchase decision. The same study revealed that users of social media are most likely to trust social media more as compared to traditional form of product advertisement and promotion (Chiang and Dholakia, 179). This clearly demonstrates that social media marketing plays an important role in influencing the purchase decisions of the users and therefore, it is important the company employs a strong and robust social media marketing strategy in order to win the loyalties of the new customers. Koufaris, Kambil, and Labarbera conducted a study, in which two hundred marketers were surveyed. Sixty percent of the marketers had employed social media marketing in order target and win new customers (Koufaris, Kambil, and Labarbera, 115). Their study demonstrated that the connection between social media marketing and consumer behavior is directly proportional (Koufaris, Kambil, and Labarbera, 120). A strong, well planned and well structured social media marketing strategy to promote a particular product or service is most likely to win the attention of the consumer. Social media marketing changes and influences the buying behavior of the consumer. The same study demonstrated that the chances of recommending a brand or product by means of social media marketing is higher as compared to traditional forms of marketing (Koufaris, Kambil, and Labarbera, 125). The study demonstrated that more than sixty percent of Facebook fans show the possibility of recommending the brand they use and more than fifty percent of the fans are most likely to buy the product. Conclusion Social media marketing is the contemporary style of marketing as it concentrates on opening new horizons for marketers in order to promote a product or service as compared to conventional media. In recent times, consumer behavior and satisfaction has become an important asset for any organization to attain its position in the market and to increase its profitability. For this purpose, organizations are employing social media technique. From research, it is evident that companies are employing social media marketing in order to interact with the consumers. Social media marketing has given organizations a new way of dealing and changing the buying behavior of the consumers. Work Cited Zarrella, Dan. The Social Media Marketing Book. OReilly Media, November 2009. Kim, Jihyun, Ann M. Fiore, and Hyun-Hwa Lee. Influences of online store perception, shopping enjoyment, and shopping involvement on consumer patronage behavior towards an online retailer. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 14 (March 2007): 95-107. Chiang, Kuan-Pin and Ruby R. Dholakia. Factors Driving Consumer Intention to Shop Online: An Empirical Investigation. Journal of Consumer Psychology 13 (2003): 177-183. Koufaris, Marios, Ajit Kambil, and Priscilla A. Labarbera. Consumer Behavior

The Cosmetic Industry: Selling Illusion :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument

The Cosmetic Industry: Selling Illusion The makeup industry is booming these days. With the ability to make skin appear smoother, eyelashes look longer, and make lips a different color, makeup continues to create a distorted reality for people around the world. The cosmetic industry is still going strong because our culture continues to promote its use. For example, women are expected to wear makeup for certain occasions. They are expected to wear makeup at work, when they go out to eat, and nearly every other situation that involves an appearance in public. If a woman is seen not wearing makeup in public, then she is considered a deviant, and others look down on her. The entire makeup market, the value of eye, lip, nail and face makeup, was $23.7 billion in 1998. This market has also experienced a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7 percent from 1994 to 1998. (Bucalo) One obvious explanation for this large value of the industry is that makeup is extremely appealing to consumers. It is a great way to cover up the imperfections in one's appearance. The "need" to cover the imperfections in our face and skin is magnified by the importance that is placed on looking beautiful. It is sad, but many times people are judged by their appearance. People realize this and strive to improve themselves with makeup. They feel it is necessary to put on a mask when presenting themselves to the public because they fear that they may be inaccurately judged if they do not. Makeup has other uses, too. There are some circumstances that call for the distortion of reality, such as movies. An actor can represent a character much better with a little distortion of his true appearance. Sometimes the story line takes place over an extended period of time. An actor may need to change their appearance from young to old throughout the course of the movie. Makeup can also make it easier for a movie to seem more realistic. Can you imagine how lame Star Wars or Dracula would have been if the actors had played the parts without change from their natural appearance? Clowns also seem to have a convincing argument that makeup is useful in their line of work. In fact, the makeup that a clown wears is characteristic of their job description. A clown without makeup is like a fish out of water. Makeup is so useful for clowns because an unchanging mood can be put on their face.

Enforcing Racial Discrimination Essay

The series of photographs documented by the Farm Security Administration of the Office of War Information photographers were taken between 1937 and 1943, presumably during the years the unit was in operation. These photographers were tasked to document various manifestations of change and continuity in the prevalent American life, and this resulted in a vivid collection of images that particularly focused on the practice of racial segregation. Curiously, while the photographers were not officially acknowledged to have been directed to document specific scenes, the prints produced exhibited a skew toward signs that indicate racial discrimination and segregation (LOC 2004). Among the thirty-one photos included in the series, all depict signs situated in a number of locations such as bus and train stations, restaurants, cafes, bars, movie theaters, stores, and billiard halls. These signs also collectively show the use of words such as â€Å"colored† and â€Å"white’, which clearly validate the existence of segregation between Caucasian Americans and individuals of ethnic origins such as blacks and Indians. True to the era during which they were photographed, the environment and people incidentally present in each picture appear in authentic manners of architecture and fashion. II. Racial Segregation in America The issue on race and discrimination in America can be famously traced centuries back, with the history of Africans being brought into the country as slaves. Though this deplorable condition had been corrected by the gains of the Civil War, thus granting freedom to blacks. However, the occurrence of the Great Depression in the 1920s brought back situations identical to those experienced by African-Americans previously, as the country was beset by the chaos produced by the lack of jobs and sources of income. In 1932, most blacks found themselves without work, and there was increasing pressure from whites to have blacks fired from any job that they believed should be assigned to unemployed whites. Numerous forms of racial violence again ensued, particularly in the South, during the 1930s (LOC 2002). The legal foundation of racial segregation was the Jim Crow laws, which were imposed in the 1860s mainly in railroad cars, and continued to be enforced throughout the decades until the 1960s (McElrath 2008). The effects of segregation on typical American life and society were apparently significant enough to create scenes extraordinary enough to tell their own stories through photographs, which were precisely what the Farm Security collection achieved. III. Beyond the Signs: Marking the Lines of Race The objective of the Farm Security photographs had been to depict regular American life, yet it is clear how the typicality of the images at the time does not lend itself in the same nature today. There is a point of discussion in the deliberate move to show not just groups of whites and ethnic people, but the centering on the signs that limit freedom, that erase the function of choice. The study of signs, known as semiotics, provides the connection between the audience, interpreter, and the sign itself (Littlejohn 2008). The photos, with their studied involvement of the actual sign, venue, and individuals, already form the three-part process; the blacks are the audience and the photographer is the interpreter, within the space covered by the sign. This shows how the photographers aimed to convey a reality, a system that used semiotics as a way to impose discrimination. This they had done with not just a bit of participation on their end, quite like the way Coles (1997) appropriated documentary work with the linking of lives with the subject. The same logic is utilized by Gripsrud (in Gillespie and Toynbee 2006), when he classified a photographer’s work as indexical—the identifying of a specific aspect of a subject—and therefore lends to much subjectivity. IV. Showing Signs of Racial Conflict to an Audience While the audience of the signs were the blacks—and whites, depending on the sign and situation—the photos’ audience are people who would benefit from knowledge of a different period, as was the arguable objective of the Farm Security photographers in documenting change and continuity in American life. Mainly, the photos were for research and evaluation, whether or not the audience would find them appalling or give them their approval. It may be possible that some of those who comprise the audience are people who have lived through the same era, making them mere confirmations of what they already know; but the more relevant audience would be the uninformed, who would find new insight into American society and its management of racial issues in the late 1930s and early 40s. V. Appropriation of Technique and Style in Communicating Racism The black-and-white photography is already significant on its own, referring to the subjects as well; seeing words on the signs captured in the photographs deals a double blow—‘black’, or ‘colored’, and ‘white’ signs in black-and-white photos. The photographers simply captured the signs as they were, specially for those in venues without people milling around, but there were also photos that provided degrees of humanity and emotion. One of the most striking is a photo of a bar showing whites having beer, a sign on the wall above them that says â€Å"Positively no beer sold to Indians†. Though Indians are known for their penchant for alcohol, it is disturbing one clear sign can show how this ethnic group is singled out and discriminated against—an error of generalization. The white people in the photo appear serious and quite professional, which indicates how the sign should not be misconstrued as a joke. Other photos in the collection, though showing signs and places rather than people as subjects, reveal the increasing culture of urbanization—shown by the railroads, buses, and stores where the signs are found. Urbanization, being common ground for both blacks and whites, necessitates signs; these indicate white control over society and economy, and the intent to keep ‘colored’ people away from this power. Works Cited Primary Source: Library of Congress. â€Å"Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination: Documentation by Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographers†. Prints & Photographs Reading Room. April 30, 2004. Secondary Sources: Coles, Robert. â€Å"The Tradition: Fact and Fiction†. Doing Documentary Work. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Gripsrud, Jostein. â€Å"Semiotics: signs, codes and cultures†. In Gillespie, Marie and Jason Toynbee. Analysing Media Texts. Berkshire: Open University Press, 2006. Library of Congress. â€Å"Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945: Race Relations in the 1930s and 1940s†. 2002. McElrath, Jessica. â€Å"Creation of Jim Crow South: Segregation in the South†. About. com. 2008.

Facts About the Element Fermium

Fermium is a heavy, man-made radioactive element on the periodic table. Here is a collection of interesting facts about this metal: Fermium Element Facts Fermium is named for the physicist Enrico Fermi.Fermium is the heaviest element that may be made from neutron bombardment of lighter elements.The element is one of those discovered in the products from the  first hydrogen bomb test at Eniwetok Atoll, the Marshall Islands in 1952. For security reasons, the discovery was not announced until 1955. The discovery is credited to  Albert Ghiorsos group at the University of California.The discovered isotope was Fm-255. which has a  half-life 20.07 hours. The most stable isotope that has been produced is Fm-257, with a half-life of 100.5 days.Fermium is a synthetic transuranium element. It belongs to the actinide element group.Although samples of fermium metal have not been produced for study, it is possible to make a fermium and ytterbium alloy. The resulting metal is shiny and silver-colored.The usual oxidation state of fermium is Fm2, although the Fm3 oxidation state also occurs.The most common fermium compound is fermium chloride, F mCl2.Fermium does not exist naturally in the Earths crust. However, its natural production was once seen from the decay of a sample of einsteinium. At present, there are no practical uses of this element. Fermium or Fm Chemical and Physical Properties Element Name: FermiumSymbol: FmAtomic Number: 100Atomic Weight: 257.0951Element Classification: Radioactive Rare Earth (Actinide)Discovery: Argonne, Los Alamos, U. of California 1953 (United States)Name Origin: Named in honor of the scientist Enrico Fermi.Melting Point (K): 1800Appearance: radioactive, synthetic metalAtomic Radius (pm): 290Pauling Negativity Number: 1.3First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): (630)Oxidation States: 3Electronic Configuration: [Rn] 5f12 7s2 References Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001)Crescent Chemical Company (2001), Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952) CRC Handbook of Chemistry Physics (18th Ed.)