Naser Azad - Faculty of Management & Accounting, Islamic Azad University- South Tehran Branch, Iran
Masoud Vakilinia

The appearance of internet-based social media especially social networking sites such as Facebook has made it feasible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands ofother people about products and the businesses that supply them. Nowadays audiences of traditional media such as newspaper and radio is decreasing while the trend of new social media audiences has been widely increased within last years since Facebook itself has more than 700 million users all around the world. This trend is .also expected to continue. Therefore, the impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been significantly overstated in the market environment. This paper will argue that social media is an undeniable component of the companies' marketing communication mix since in a traditional sense it allows businesses to communicate to their consumers, while in a nontraditional sense it allows consumers tocoiTilnllllicate directly to one another. The content, timing, and frequency of the social networkbasedconversations taking place between customers are outside companies' direct control. Thisput in distinction to the traditional integrated marketing communications model whereby a highamount of control is present. Thus, managers should find out to form customer conversations in away that is integrate with the company's strategic and operational goals. Techniques by which thiscould be done will be explained here. They consist of offering networking platforms and otherpromotional tools to involve consumers.

Brand Communication, lnteg1·ated Marketing Communication, Social NetworkingSites, Customer Generated Media