Thesis
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The other advantage to having strong social media customer outreach is Search Engine<br />
Optimization (SEO). In recent years the importance of SEO has significantly grown.<br />
Without proper management, negative comments could appear in a search from a<br />
prospective customer (Biederman, 2015). The number of online customer comments<br />
play an important role in electronic word-of-mouth and have a significant effect on<br />
millennials and Generation Y, who prefer online media to more traditional forms (Kima,<br />
Lib, & Brymerb, 2015). Restaurant marketing and customer service on social media<br />
allow for increased brand control, response campaigns to keep help customer care and<br />
ongoing interaction beyond the physical restaurant (Social Hospitality, 2016). It is more<br />
likely that a customer’s first impression of a brand or business in today’s technology<br />
driven world is online, and this further proves the importance of establishing a strong<br />
online presence that is helpful, attentive and appealing for customers.<br />
Social Media in Branding:<br />
The technology and social media age today has forced many brands to evolve their<br />
social media and use it as an extension of branding. About 53 percent of Americans that<br />
follow brands on social platforms are more loyal to those brands (Baer, 2016). This<br />
varies generation to generation, but brands that target younger customers may see a<br />
greater revenue or profit impact from social interaction over time, because 66 percent<br />
of Americans age 18-24 that followed a company are more loyal to the brand (Baer,<br />
2016). Loyalty in social media declines with age, but 60 percent of adults from age 25-34<br />
and 53 percent of adults 35-44 stay loyal to brands they follow on social media (Baer,<br />
2016). To acquire new customers, many marketing professionals believe Facebook is the<br />
best platform, but it is actually a better platform for nurturing exiting and loyal<br />
relationships with current customers. In this sense, Facebook is about retention not<br />
acquisition because it allows companies to show customers why they should come back<br />
for more and increases the likelihood that customers share the brand with friends (Baer,<br />
2016).<br />
In the branding landscape over the last few decades, companies believed they could use<br />
social media to leapfrog over traditional media and communicate directly with<br />
customers (Holt, 2016). While some brands were successful, others continue to miss the<br />
mark because they are unable to personalize the information posted on social media.<br />
Few brands have generated meaningful customer interest online and those that do<br />
succeed are successful because they managed to generate cultural relevance (Holt,<br />
2016). Branded and sponsored content is slowly becoming less successful now that<br />
consumers on some platforms can pay to remove ads (Holt, 2016). Digital technologies<br />
have changed the way culture is created and consumed. Historically, cultural innovation<br />
flowed from margins of society, from fringe groups, social movements and artistic<br />
circles that challenged cultural norms (Holt, 2016). In the past, the mass media acted as<br />
a middleman sharing these ideas into the mass market, but now digital crowds serve as<br />
more effective and prolific innovators of culture (Holt, 2016). The online social media<br />
world seems to be divided into densely networked communities that focus on<br />
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