Social Networks for Marketing: Benefits and Challenges

Social networking sites have become increasingly important in consumer’s purchasing decisions because they can shape the public opinion. Nowadays, customers do not have access to allinformation; also they do not have enough ability to process and evaluate every alternative available for them and choosing the best one. So, an easy way which is economical and intellectual would be trust to other people who they know and are in relation with them in different social networks. These trustworthy people called opinion leaders, individuals that lead in influencing others’ options. Social network theory joining the opinion leadership and word-of-mouth concept can be used to identify opinion leaders in a network. Utilizing interpersonal relationships in a social network is a powerful force in word-of-mouth marketing. Firms and marketers through using social networks for marketing can increase product and brand awareness. Furthermore, they have increased access to customer service and feedback, as well as they can find the customer needs better. In this paper, related studies used social networks for marketing are reviewed. The aim of this paper is to propose a three step process to show how firms can apply social networks for their marketing activities. In addition, the benefits and challenges of finding opinion leaders and utilizing the relationship between people for improving marketing response are categorized

کلیدواژه ها:

social network ، social network analysis ، word-of-mouth marketing ، opinion leader