Introduction
Social media has in the recent years played a significant role in developing a strong attachment of customers to a given brand during marketing. According to Neti (2011), good attachment between a brand and customers comes from support and service following up, direct contacting, feedback implementing, and fast responding. Use of social media in marketing startups opens a channel that enables a company to effectively build a strong relationship with its customers. In the modern day, companies, organizations, and institutions use social media platforms to reach out to the public and different parts of the world. They are, therefore, able to brand themselves, share information, and understand their followers. It is important to note that startups are not usually popular; they get less public attention so they as well get fewer opportunities in the marketplace. Singh and Sonnenburg (2012) posit that the use of social media is a sure way of improving the reputation of startups since it is used by millions of individuals daily. Social media helps such startups to receive information from customers and also to learn areas of improvement. Almost everyone who can access the internet has more than one social media account. Startups can use this big market to connect with potential customers, especially those in the long-distance audience. This research paper aims at analyzing how a startup can efficiently use social media for branding in China. Use of social media can be quite helpful for branding startups in China.
Research questions
This research will seek to answer the following questions.
- How can startups make use of social media for branding?
- What are the benefits of using social media for branding?
Methodology
The research methodology follows a qualitative design where credible published materials will be used. Journals, online publications, and books are used as the sources of data for the study. The sources used are less than five years old to ensure the information given is up to date. The methodology focuses on literature covering social media, internet use, and China’s population of internet users. By focusing on credible academic databases and websites, this research uses credible sources in order to ensure that only relevant information is used to draw reliable and accurate conclusions.
Literature Review
The issue of using social media for branding has continued to be a promising venture for many companies. Facebook, which is the most popular social media platform, has more than 995 million users who use it frequently (We Are Social, 2016). It is also assumed that consumers spend approximately one third of the time they are only online on Facebook. Besides, social media allows likeminded individuals to interact and share their ideas (Neti, 2011). Businesses are encouraged to use social media and to fully take advantage of them. As such, social media helps to connect with people from different parts of the world.
A social media which is made up of a brand community consists of a brand community and social media. It is important to note that there are various platforms used as social media. They include; text messaging, social networking, discussion forums, wikis, photo sharing, and weblogs among others (Neti, 2011). However, such platforms are coined with other internet applications such as Second Life, You Tube, Face Book, Wikipedia, and Twitter. Like other communities, a brand of any company comprises its entities, members, shared resources, and the relationship among all of them. The brand community is important because it facilitates sharing of information, the culture of a brand, cementing the history of a product, assisting consumers, and influencing people to be loyal to the brand. The social media and brand community creates a psychological need on consumers since they feel socially connected to their brands of preference. It, therefore, means that when people join social media and connect with different brands, it fulfils their need for belongingness (Singh & Sonnenburg, 2012). The desire to socially interact with other people and business brands is a major motivation factor for consumers to take part in generation activities.
Over the last for decades, technology has shifted how people cooperate and how businesses are conducted. Neti (2011) states that the use of the internet has brought a large impact on the way organizations promote their operations. Businesses that use new innovative technologies are always ahead in terms of maintaining their clients and reaching out to new ones. Some of the commonly used online business examples include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and eBay. The explosive growth of different mobile computing techniques and smartphone markets has made it easy for people to connect with each other through the social network.
Moreover, previous research has shown that social media is used by different companies all over the world to market their brands. According to Singh and Sonnenburg (2012), both big and small companies use social media as a way of promoting and advertising themselves. Additionally, big brands have made use of social media to build strong customer relationships and show consumers their strong existence. Some of the companies that have used social media to a large extent include Dell, IBM, and Burger King. IBM operates more than one hundred blogs and several official twitter accounts. Most of its videos are published on YouTube while employees also upload their findings on slide share.
Most companies in different parts of the world have learnt about the importance of social media in marketing and harnessed the benefits of blogs. Among the companies surveyed by McKinsey, 39% of them use social media services. Blogs are also important hubs for different social media platforms used for marketing of products. Blogs can be integrated most platforms thus making them an important tool. Big companies having a website also have a blog that helps them to communicate with potential and current consumers (Li & Hu, 2014). Blogs have a conversational tone thus making them a good way of interacting with customers.
Gap and Walmart use crowd sourcingtactics on social media to invite people to shape a strategy or an offer. In 2015, Gap requested its followers on Facebook to make comments on the appearance of its new logo. After Gap got a large proportion of negative feedbacks about its new logo, it requested consumers to come up with their designs. After getting enough feedback from consumers, it finally decided to continue using its original logo. Such a strategy helps businesses owners to know which features of their products are not appealing to consumers and which of them are attractive. The method eventually helps companies to attain the desired level of their brand.
The number of businesses with online communities, twitter feeds, and Facebook pages have grown significantly. Singh and Sonnenburg (2012) show that the primary objective of marketing through social media is to reach consumers through various points of need and to understand their purchasing behaviour. Social media also helps to influence the behaviour of consumers. Social media is also used in different stages from influencing a consumer’s decision, buying a product, and consuming it. It, therefore, means that social media can be used to improve a company’s brand from its initial start-up stage.
Results and Discussion
How Start-ups use of Social Media for Branding
Social media helps to facilitate conversations between customers and a company. Xiaomi Corporation uses social media to interact with its fans. The messages it intends to pass to consumers are transparent to everyone. When fans also post something about the company on the web, other people are able to see. People interacting on Fan centric post both negative and positive comments about Xiaomi Corporation. Since the messages are not a secret to anyone, fans are able to understand what other people feel about the products . The Corporation is also able to improve its services by listening to complaints from consumers. The company also uses Fan Centric to launch new products and to get opinions about the new products launched. For instance, Xiaomi introduced a phone that crashed within a short time (Shih et al. 2014). Through complaints from users, it understood the problem and rectified it.
Through use of social media, start-ups can monitor customer reviews. For example, Xiaomi Corporation uses a hierarchical system so help them manage their customers. The company is quite aware of the loyalty and expertise of its fans. Fans are divided into two categories; ‘pan-fever fans’, and ‘fever fans’. Those people that have a deep understanding of the company’s products are known as fever fans. The opinions given by such fans are highly valued since they are used to improve the business. Fever fans are engage in talks that lead to the company’s development of new products. It is important to note that such fans are used to determine which new products should be developed. The same fans may also be hired as employees or consultants of the company. Pan-fever fans are just loyal customers who understand the products sold by Xiaomi Corporation (Shih et al. 2014). As a result, Xiaomi Corporation has grown significantly since it listens to their fans on social media.
Xiaomi Corporation unites with its fans on social media to create a family-like relationship. Based on a company’s study and observations, consumers’ interacting on social media should be important people that it should commit to regarding sharing information, caring for each other, and being committed to each other. Xiaomi Corporation values it consumers since it interacts with them on social media by giving them giveaways and preferential products. Some of the offers may include free puppets or t-shirts, and discounts among others. Gatherings are also organized for consumers to enjoy. For instance, the Xiaomi fans on social media have special events organized for them to enjoy. Such fan festivals enable them to grow together, to meet, and to share their experiences (Shih et al. 2014). Such activities make the fans loyal to Xiaomi Corporation.
Xiaomi Corpoartion effectively use social media to create awareness of their businesses. Without regards to the niche, startups can transform their business through brand-specific and consistent marketing on social media (Kirtis & Farahan, 2011). Most technology companies use social networks to launch new products. When social media networks are used to increase the awareness of a brand, it is also important to ensure that buyers align with the brand identity. Campaigns held in social media can help startups to educate and entertain their clients on the products and services offered. Influencer marketing can also be done to increase the awareness of the brand.
The other important thing to note is that Xiaomi Corporation gets advice through active participation and enthusiasm of its fans on social media. The company now develops cost effective products so that it may compete well with other companies in China. The company finds it cheap to market and advertise through social media. As a result, its able to offer a 40% discount on its products. Due to such offers, Xiaomi has gained more than one million customers and followers within two years (Shih et al. 2014). Start-ups can therefore use social media for marketing and advertising thus reducing the cost of operation.
The best benefit of using social media for marketing is that the customers can recommend the brand to their friends. Xiaomi Corporation engages a growing community thus expanding the number of consumers served. The number of people using social media increases daily meaning that the number of people reached by a post also increases with time. Startups can take advantage of the situation and market their brand to a growing population. A startup can use social media to engage it consumers why using different interactive elements. Xiaomi interacts with fans on social media to learn about what they need. Through interacting on Fan Centric, the company offers the cheapest services and smart phones.
Durex is a good example of a company that successfully introduced its products in China through vigorous advertisements in Social media. Durex is able to understand the feelings of customers and to make changes of their products through listening to customers. The company has increased blogging and its promotion efforts to raise awareness of its products. Durex uses blogging to clarify to consumers various contradicting issues about their products. Sex was a topic that was rarely talked about by people (Love Operation, 2014). Through microblogging, Durex Company engages people in conversations that lead to purchase of their products and to increase the awareness of their brand.
Startups can use social media to listen to customers and to learn about their competitors. As Lake (2016a) argues, a brand should not only focus on branding itself but also compare its competitors’ advantages and disadvantages in order to be more competitive. As such, Gorry et al. (2011) asserts that an online conversation empowers startups with data about their target influencers and the community which values their products. The business is able to identify different ways that it can effectively communicate with consumers depending on their social profiles. Also, a poll can be created to determine some of the important aspects of buyers and what they want. Important information can also be gotten through using polls. Such information about consumer feelings and other things helps to understand where to make changes and to take precautionary measures. The opinion of the public can be gauged through social media especially during the launch of a new product.
The other important thing that can be done by startups through social media is making online sales. Social platforms can also be used by startups to cut the cost of supply chain and to shorten the supply path to their clients (Kirtis & Farahan, 2011). Xiaomi Corpation increased the size of the company within two years as a result of online sales. Cutting on the amount of money spent on production and supplying products helps the company to grow fast because it is able to moderate its operations.
Marketing using social media leads to high conversion rates. One of the most important conversion rates is the humanization element. The humanization element refers to the situation where different companies make their brands appear humanized as a result of making frequent customer relationships on social media. Durex and Xiaomi Corparation act like real people. This is a very important aspect since people prefer making deals with real people. People get discouraged when they feel that they are making deals with companies. Such companies use social media to interact with consumers so that they may understand their feeling, tastes and preferences. Such interactions enable consumers to feel cared for in since they are able to get immediate feedback (Kirtis & Farahan, 2011). The personalized feeling makes them feel good since they feel that their needs are taken good care of in a timely manner.
Also, research shows that social media forms close customer links that outbound marketing. According to Vries, Gensler, and Leeflang (2012), a large number of consumers believe in the credibility of a brand since there is a social proof of its presence. Xiaomi Corporation builds social media audience thereby improving the number of consumers accessing the services and products offered. While feedback is given to customers, Xiaomi Corporation benefits from increased traffic since more of the users of their products and services will want to ask more about the offers given. Consumers believe in a product that solves their problems. Once the consumers face any challenge, they can use the social media platform to communicate with the company to find a good way of solving their problems. As a result, the company improves its brand since consumers will know it for good features such as reliable feedback and communication.
Start-ups can use social media to create more opportunities for their business. Gorry et al. (2011), posit that the posts made on social media create new opportunities for consumers to convert. When a following is created on social media, there is also increased access to old customers, new customers and new customers. The best thing about it is that the start-up is in a good position to interact with all of them. The connection with such customers increases overall sales thus expanding the size of the business. Every comment, blog, video, or image shared by a start-up on social media is a chance for a customer to react. Each reaction made by a customer leads to increased visits to the site thus resulting to a conversion. It is worth noting that not all interactions lead to a conversion. However, positive interactions lead to conversion. This means that start-ups can use social media to create more opportunities for their businesses. They are able to sell a good name of their brand and also expand the market through reaching out to new customers in other parts. It can also be noted that conversion also helps start-ups to maintain already existing customers.
A start-up can use social media to increase the recognition of its brand. Brands that have a large number of followers on social media tend to create a good impression on customers. Customers believe that brands that have a large number of people are trustworthy. Through use of social media brands can market themselves to get a large number of followers who will attract other followers. Every opportunity a start-up gets to market its products should be maximized so as to increase a brand’s visibility. Social media platforms are new channels for a brand’s content and voice. The social network is important because it can enable startups to access new customers easily. For example, a new user of a certain social network may learn about the products or services offered by a certain startup after immediately signing in to a social network (Kirtis & Farahan, 2011). Once a user of several social networks sees a certain start-up in different networks, he/she develops trust in the brand of the company.
Benefits of Using Social Media for Branding
Social networking sites allow users to connect with each other and companies by inviting friends, creating personal information profiles, instant messaging, and sending emails. Durex and Xiaomi Companies engage their fans through social media. For example, Durex uses microblogging to get information from users. Lipsman et al. (2012) opine that the personal profiles include different types of information such as blogs, photos, audio files, and videos. A companies’ number of fans on social media is a major determinant of its success. Media managers interact and build their fan base by setting up professional marketers and departments that handle the issues raised by users. This implies that social media helps in satisfying the needs of customers since changes can be made after getting feedback from them.
Social media allows businesses to care for their consumers. Xiaomi is a good example of a Chinese company that interacts with consumers to understand their tastes and preferences. Charalambous (2014) posits that for prosperity, a company is supposed to deliver its promises and show its genuine concern to users. A part of the organization is supposed to interact with customers so as to get feedback from them. Interacting with consumers helps to understand their tastes and preferences. Social media also allows consumers to remain loyal to the company since they are able to follow any recent developments made, additional features, and also understand how a certain company operates. Once consumers keep seeing certain adverts about a company, the memory remains on their mind thus enabling them to consider the company in case they want to buy a product.
A starting business is able to stand in the shoes of its consumers thus understanding them deeply. Through communicating with consumers on social media, Durex is in a good position to understand customers’ feelings, tastes and preferences. Xiaomi Corporation on the other hand, has been able to improve the products and services it offers to its fans on social media thus attracting more customers and gaining their loyalty. As Lake (2016b) argues, the goal of branding is to emerge as the best and the only provider and solution for target groups rather than just to be selected over the competition. According to Lipsman et al. (2012), a company is able to understand what the customers prefer, the problems they encounter, and how they integrate the company’s services or products in their life, what the customers expect, and what they dislike about a given company. Such information can be helpful to a startup because it helps to understand what kind of changes can be done in the initial stages before a lot is invested in the business. When businesses make the appropriate changes during the initial stages, they are able to spend less on unnecessary things thus increasing the profits earned. The same company is also able to work according to how consumers want thus attracting a large population.
Social media advertisements are an inexpensive way to distribute content and to promote a startup project. Xiaomi Corporation is able to offer smart phones at a large discount since it incurs reduced marketing and advertising costs (Shih et al. 2014). Products reach the right audience within a short time thus becoming a powerful marketing option. If an advert is run on social media, details such as age, location, connections, demographics, interests and company can be included. Through regular advertisements, Xiaomi is able to gain new customers and retain existing ones through timely customer service and frequent interaction. In 2015, about 75% of businesses that engaged in marketing their products on social media had increased sales in less than one year.
By conducting social media, monitoring Xiaomi gets key information about its competitors in the industry. Such kind of Intel allows the company to start making well informed and strategic business decisions. For instance, search streams in Hootsuite can be created to monitor specific keywords and the names of products and names mentioned. Based on the findings, the company can offer service, content, and product enhancements (Shah et al. 2014). The content generated can also be shared easily and faster.
Social media is a good way of increasing the awareness of a new brand. Content can be syndicated to increase the visibility of a start-up. Once customer frequently sees a certain startup on social media, they tend to start looking at the type of products or services offered. Implementation of social media strategies helps to increase the recognition of different brands since a large audience of potential consumers is engaged. Start-ups should develop profiles on social media for their businesses where they interact with other people. It is important for them to get sponsors, business partners, and employees to check out their page. If a start-up has several people interacting with the content of the business, brand awareness is created thus building the reputation of the business. Every profile on social media is a gateway to the start-ups website. Every post made increases the chances of getting new customers. Social media is also is also a central point where people with different behaviors and from different backgrounds meet (Shih et al. 2014). This means that a start-up can access such individuals thus increasing the size of the market served.
Use of social media helps to improve rankings on social media. Making posts on social media helps startups to get site traffic. Search engine optimization helps to obtain traffic to the website of the business and to achieve high page rankings. For prolonged use of social media to improve business operations, start-ups see improvement in the rankings on search engines. Ranking high in the keywords helps a startup benefit from increased customer base (Kirtis & Farahan, 2011). An increased number of clients will see the business from the keywords thus learning more about it.
Conversion Theory
Majority of a population are not strong believers of their position about a particular subject. To use the theory appropriately, it is important to consider four factors that give power to the minority. Firstly, being consistent in terms of expressing the opinions of the minority helps to show that you can remain stable for a long time. Start-ups should remain consistent when expressing their opinions and the value of their products and services. Secondly, having confidence is also equally important. Through marketing brands in social media, start-ups should show that they are sure about their views and ideas. This also helps the audience to gain trust in them. Being unbiased is also an important aspect when it comes to marketing. The start-ups should appear to be quite reasonable in making people believe in their products and services. It also enables consumers to remain loyal since they tend to have confidence with the ideas presented. The other important thing is to resist the negative force that may be against the products or services offered by the start-ups. Doing so helps companies to win the minority members who do not support them by convincing them. Once a start-up concentrates on negative energy it may fail. It is, therefore, important to remain optimistic, have confidence and to focus on branding the company despite the challenges faced.
Media Dependency Theory
This theory was developed by DeFluer and Ball-Rokeach. The main idea behind the Media Dependency theory is that the information gotten from the media influences the audience to a large extent. The audience uses the information to reach their goals, to meet their needs, and to meet their pressing needs. The media also enables them to interact with others to create interest, motives and needs in the person. It is important to note that the degree of dependence of information on the media is influenced by centrality and the number of information functions. Social stability is also important in terms of maintaining dependence of information on the media.
By understanding such concepts, start-ups should use them accordingly to improve their brands. For instance, social media platforms should help solve the problems faced by the consumers and to also meet their needs. A start-up should use social media to address particular challenges faced in terms of making deliveries to places that are not yet accessed. Providing quality services and products is also a good way of meeting the needs of consumers who do not get access to such products. Also, start-ups can use social media to explain to consumers how their products are used and how to operate new devices in the market. Customer complaints can also be listened to and solved through social media. Interacting with customers on social media helps to make them have a sense of belonging and to make them feel in touch with a human being.
Conclusion
China has numerous active social media platforms with millions of users. The other important thing is that users of social networks in China spend hours of their time online chatting with friends or gaming. The features provided on most social networks in china are similar to those of world famous social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Some of the important features in Chinese social networks include gaming, sharing videos, sharing photos, and viewing people’s profile. Xiaomi and Durex are good examples of companies that have used social media to communicate with consumers through sharing videos, photos and having a one on one conversation. Such features have helped the companies to brand their businesses through marketing the products and services. Therefore, a startup can use features such as video and photo sharing to reach out to their clients. The clients can have a look of the products so that they can as well make well informed decisions.
As seen from the above discussion, social media offers diverse benefits, especially when it comes to selling a new brand. Xiaomi Corporation and Durex have benefited by engaging consumers on social media. China has a large population and there are thousands of companies competing with each other. The other important thing is that there are more than ten social media platforms that have millions of users. Growing companies such as Xiaomi and Durex have effectively used social media to understand their competitors, to get direct feedback from their clients, to reach out to a large growing population, to gain insight from customers, and to interact with clients so that they may gain their loyalty. Since China has all the necessary resources and a wide base of users of social media, it is, therefore, appropriate to say that startups can become successful if they effectively use social media to brand themselves.
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