Market Communication and Grapevine

The growth of Internet-based social media in the twenty-first century has made it possible for one person to communicate with unlimited friends and peers about products and consumer experiences. Most companies also connect to social media platforms on the internet and offer opportunities to share consumer experience. Thus, the impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been greatly magnified in the marketplace. Social media is a hybrid of promotional elements: in a traditional sense it enables companies to interact with their customers, while in a nontraditional sense it enables customers to interact directly with their peers. The content, timing, and frequency of the social media-based conversations occurring between consumers are often beyond a firm’s control, as the communication process takes its independent interactive path in the social media. This stands in contrast to the traditional integrated marketing communications paradigm, whereby a high degree of control is present. Therefore, firms must learn to shape consumer discussions in a manner that is consistent with the organization’s mission and performance goals. Methods by which this can be accomplished include providing consumers with networking platforms, and using blogs, social media tools, and promotional tools to engage customers (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).