Thesis

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