BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

Social media: The new hybrid element of thepromotion mix

W. Glynn Mangold a,*, David J. Faulds b

aCollege of Business & Public Affairs, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, U.S.A.bCollege of Business Administration, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, U.S.A.

Business Horizons (2009) xxx, xxx—xxx

www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor

KEYWORDSIntegrated marketingcommunications;Social media;Consumer-generatedmedia;Promotion mix

Abstract The emergence of Internet-based social media has made it possible forone person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people aboutproducts and the companies that provide them. Thus, the impact of consumer-to-consumer communications has been greatlymagnified in themarketplace. This articleargues that social media is a hybrid element of the promotion mix because in atraditional sense it enables companies to talk to their customers, while in a nontra-ditional sense it enables customers to talk directly to one another. The content,timing, and frequency of the social media-based conversations occurring betweenconsumers are outside managers’ direct control. This stands in contrast to thetraditional integrated marketing communications paradigm whereby a high degreeof control is present. Therefore, managers must learn to shape consumer discussionsin a manner that is consistent with the organization’s mission and performance goals.Methods by which this can be accomplished are delineated herein. They includeproviding consumers with networking platforms, and using blogs, social media tools,and promotional tools to engage customers.# 2009 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.

1. Social media, the promotion mix,and integrated marketingcommunications

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is theguiding principle organizations follow to communi-cate with their target markets. Integrated market-ing communications attempts to coordinate andcontrol the various elements of the promotional

* Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: glynn.mangold@murraystate.edu

(W.G. Mangold), djfaul01@louisville.edu (D.J. Faulds).

0007-6813/$ — see front matter # 2009 Kelley School of Business, Idoi:10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002

mix–—advertising, personal selling, public relations,publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion–—toproduce a unified customer-focused message and,therefore, achieve various organizational objec-tives (Boone & Kurtz, 2007, p. 488).

However, the tools and strategies for communi-cating with customers have changed significantlywith the emergence of the phenomenon known associal media, also referred to as consumer-generat-edmedia. This form of media ‘‘describes a variety ofnew sources of online information that are created,initiated, circulated and used by consumers intenton educating each other about products, brands,

ndiana University. All rights reserved.

2 W.G. Mangold, D.J. Faulds

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

services, personalities, and issues’’ (Blackshaw &Nazzaro, 2004, p. 2).

Social media encompasses a wide range of online,word-of-mouth forums including blogs, company-sponsored discussion boards and chat rooms,consumer-to-consumer e-mail, consumer productor service ratings websites and forums, Internetdiscussion boards and forums, moblogs (sites con-taining digital audio, images, movies, or photo-graphs), and social networking websites, to namea few. As illustrated by Table 1, social media outletsare numerous and varied.

The 21st century is witnessing an explosion ofInternet-based messages transmitted through thesemedia. They have become a major factor in influ-encing various aspects of consumer behavior includ-ing awareness, information acquisition, opinions,attitudes, purchase behavior, and post-purchasecommunication and evaluation. Unfortunately, thepopular business press and academic literature of-fers marketing managers very little guidance forincorporating social media into their IMC strategies.

Table 1. Examples of social media

� Social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook,Faceparty)� Creativity works sharing sites:� Video sharing sites (YouTube)� Photo sharing sites (Flickr)� Music sharing sites (Jamendo.com)� Content sharing combined with assistance(Piczo.com)� General intellectual property sharing sites(Creative Commons)

� User-sponsored blogs (The Unofficial AppleWeblog,Cnet.com)� Company-sponsored websites/blogs (Apple.com,P&G’s Vocalpoint)� Company-sponsored cause/help sites (Dove’sCampaign for Real Beauty, click2quit.com)� Invitation-only social networks (ASmallWorld.net)� Business networking sites (LinkedIn)� Collaborative websites (Wikipedia)� Virtual worlds (Second Life)� Commerce communities (eBay, Amazon.com,Craig’s List, iStockphoto, Threadless.com)� Podcasts (‘‘For Immediate Release: The Hobsonand Holtz Report’’)� News delivery sites (Current TV)� Educational materials sharing (MITOpenCourseWare, MERLOT)� Open Source Software communities (Mozilla’sspreadfirefox.com, Linux.org)� Social bookmarking sites allowing users torecommend online news stories, music, videos,etc. (Digg, del.icio.us, Newsvine, Mixx it, Reddit)

Therefore, many managers lack a full appreciationfor social media’s role in the company’s promotionalefforts. Even though social media is magnifying theimpact consumer-to-consumer conversations havein the marketplace, methods for shaping those con-versations have not yet been articulated.

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, wepropose that social media be considered a hybridcomponent of the promotional mix and therefore beincorporated as an integral part of the organiza-tion’s IMC strategy. The second purpose of the arti-cle is to compare and contrast the traditionalcommunications paradigm that relied on the estab-lished promotional mix, elements which were de-veloped and refined over the past 100 years, withthe new communications paradigm which incorpo-rates social media. Finally, we discuss methods bywhich marketing managers can shape the consumer-to-consumer conversations which are now drivingthe marketplace to a greater extent than everbefore.

2. Social media’s hybrid role in thepromotion mix

It has long been acknowledged inmarketingmanage-ment circles that successful IMC strategies clearlyreflect the values articulated in an organization’smission statement and contribute to the fulfillmentof the organization’s performance goals. To accom-plish theseobjectives, theelements of thepromotionmix are carefully coordinated so the informationtransmitted to the marketplace through these ele-ments consistently communicates a unified messagethat broadly reflects the organization’s fundamentalvalues.

For example, the promotional efforts conductedby Procter and Gamble (P&G) or General Electric(GE) illustrate the underlying values of these organ-izations as articulated in their respective missionstatements and statements of strategic principles(General Electric, 2008; Procter and Gamble, 2008).When these two organizations entered the socialmedia arena, they carefully crafted their commu-nications with the marketplace to consistently re-flect their organizational values. By doing so, bothorganizations acknowledged the importance of in-corporating social media into their IMC strategiesand promotional efforts.

GE and P&G’s use of social media demonstratesthat this media has two interrelated promotionalroles in the marketplace. First, social media enablescompanies to talk to their customers, and second, itenables customers to talk to one another. Socialmedia also enables customers to talk to companies;

Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix 3

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

however, this role is market research-related ratherthan promotion-related and, therefore, is outsidethe scope of this article.

The first role of social media is consistent with theuse of traditional IMC tools. That is, companies canuse social media to talk to their customers throughsuch platforms as blogs, as well as Facebook andMySpace groups. These media may either be com-pany-sponsored or sponsored by other individuals ororganizations.

The second promotion-related role of social me-dia is unique: customers can use it to communicatewith one another. In his book The New Influencers,Gillin (2007) points out that ‘‘Conventional market-ing wisdom has long held that a dissatisfied customertells ten people. But that is out of date. In the newage of social media, he or she has the tools to tell 10million’’ (p. 4) consumers virtually overnight. Gillinillustrates this potential power by recounting thestory of Vincent Ferrari, a blogger who posted anaudio recording of his encounter with an AOL cus-tomer service representative. The representative’spersistent attempts to convince Ferrari not to can-cel his account offended listeners’ sensibilities tothe extent that approximately 300,000 of themrequested to download the audio file. The storywent ‘‘viral’’ as it was picked up by thousands ofother bloggers and websites. It eventually drew theattention of such mainstream media as The NewYork Post, The New York Times, and NBC. It can bepresumed that AOL’s management was embar-rassed, to say the least.

In a sense, this second role of social media–—enabling customers to talk to one another–—is anextension of traditional word-of-mouth communica-tion. But as the Vincent Ferrari story illustrates, theuniqueness lies in the magnitude of the communi-cation. Instead of telling a few friends, consumersnow have the ability to tell hundreds or thousands ofother peoplewith a few keystrokes! The question formanagers becomes: ‘‘How can this power be har-nessed for the benefit of the organization?’’ Whilecompanies cannot directly control consumer-to-consumer messages, they do have the ability toinfluence the conversations that consumers havewith one another. Methods for accomplishing thisare presented in section 4.

We argue that social media is a hybrid element ofthe promotion mix because it combines character-istics of traditional IMC tools (companies talking tocustomers) with a highly magnified form of word-of-mouth (customers talking to one another) wherebymarketing managers cannot control the content andfrequency of such information. Social media is also ahybrid in that it springs from mixed technology andmedia origins that enable instantaneous, real-time

communication, and utilizes multi-media formats(audio and visual presentations) and numerous de-livery platforms (Facebook, YouTube, and blogs, toname a few), with global reach capabilities. Theemergence of a highly educated, historically afflu-ent, and an increasingly skeptical and demandingconsumer population facilitates its acceptance inthe marketplace.

Consumers’ ability to communicate with one an-other limits the amount of control companies haveover the content and dissemination of information.Christopher Vollmer and Geoffrey Precourt (2008)underscore this in their book, Always On. As theynote, in the era of social media ‘‘consumers are incontrol; they have greater access to information andgreater command over media consumption thanever before’’ (p. 5).

This shift in the information control needle isdramatically influencing the way consumers receiveand react to market information (Ramsey, 2006;Singh, Veron-Jackson, & Cullinane, 2008). Conse-quently, marketing managers are seeking ways toincorporate social media into their IMC strategies(Li & Bernoff, 2008). The traditional communica-tions paradigm, which relied on the classic promo-tional mix to craft IMC strategies, must give way to anew paradigm that includes all forms of social mediaas potential tools in designing and implementing IMCstrategies. Contemporary marketers cannot ignorethe phenomenon of social media because it hasrapidly become the de facto modus operandi forconsumers who are disseminating information onproducts and services.

3. Paradigms: Traditional vs. newcommunications

In the traditional communications paradigm, theelements of the promotional mix are coordinatedto develop an IMC strategy, and the content, frequen-cy, timing, and medium of communications are dic-tated by the organization in collaboration with itspaid agents (advertising agencies, marketing re-search firms, and public relations consultants).The flow of information outside the boundaries ofthe paradigm has generally been confined to face-to-face,word-of-mouthcommunications among individ-ual consumers, which has had minimal impact on thedynamics of the marketplace due to its limited dis-semination (Mayzlin, 2006). This paradigmhas servedas a framework for developing IMC strategies duringthe post-World War II era (Muniz & Schau, 2007). Itslong shelf life appears to be largely due to the highdegree of control over the communications processthat it affords businesses.

4 W.G. Mangold, D.J. Faulds

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

However, in the era of social media, marketingmanagers’ control over the content, timing, andfrequency of information is being severely eroded.In the new paradigm, information about productsand services also originates in the marketplace. Thisinformation is based on the experiences of individ-ual consumers and is channeled through the tradi-tional promotion mix. However, various social mediaplatforms, many of which are completely indepen-dent of the producing/sponsoring organization or itsagents, magnify consumers’ ability to communicatewith one another. This ‘‘groundswell’’ (Li & Bernh-off, 2008) has profoundly affected all aspects ofconsumer behavior, and has bestowed consumerswith power they have not previously experiencedin the marketplace.

In the new communications paradigm (seeFigure 1), marketing managers should recognizethe power and critical nature of the discussionsbeing carried on by consumers using social media.The impact of the interactions among consumers inthe social media space on the development andexecution of IMC strategies is illustrated by thefollowing points:

� The Internet has become a mass media vehicle forconsumer-sponsored communications. It now rep-resents the number one source of media for con-sumers at work and the number two source ofmedia at home. The Internet reaches more than60% of all United States consumers for an averageweekly usage rate of more than 100 minutes(Rashtchy, Kessler, Bieber, Shindler, & Tzeng,2007).

Figure 1. The new communications paradigm

� Consumers are turning away from the traditionalsources of advertising: radio, television, maga-zines, and newspapers. Consumers also consis-tently demand more control over their mediaconsumption. They require on-demand and im-mediate access to information at their own con-venience (Rashtchy et al., 2007; Vollmer &Precourt, 2008).

� Consumers are turning more frequently to varioustypes of social media to conduct their informationsearches and to make their purchasing decisions(Lempert, 2006; Vollmer & Precourt, 2008).

� Social media is perceived by consumers as a moretrustworthy source of information regardingproducts and services than corporate-sponsoredcommunications transmitted via the traditionalelements of the promotion mix (Foux, 2006).

The above trends have severely diminished theusefulness and practicality of the traditional com-munications paradigm as a framework for develop-ing IMC strategies. The new communicationsparadigm, on the other hand, requires several im-portant changes in management’s attitudes andassumptions about IMC strategy formulation. First,marketing managers must accept the reality that avast amount of information about their productsand services is being communicated by individualconsumers to other consumers via social mediaforums. Second, consumers are responding to thisinformation in ways that directly influence allaspects of consumer behavior, from information

Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix 5

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

acquisition to post-purchase expressions of satisfac-tion and dissatisfaction. Third, consumers are turn-ing away from the traditional elements of thepromotion mix; in particular, they are reducing theirreliance on advertising as a source of information toguide their purchase decision-making. Finally, man-agers who are accustomed to exerting a high level ofcontrol over company-to-consumer messages mustlearn to talk with their customers, as opposed totalking at them, therefore influencing the discus-sions taking place in the social media space.

4. Shaping the discussions

As indicated earlier, social media has amplified thepower of consumer-to-consumer conversations inthe marketplace by enabling one person to commu-nicate with literally hundreds or thousands of otherconsumers quickly and with relatively little effort.Managers cannot directly control these conversa-tions. However, they can use the methods delineat-ed below to influence and shape these discussions ina manner that is consistent with the organization’smission and performance goals. Thesemethods havebeen gleaned from a review of the popular businesspress and academic literature, as well as from dis-cussions with representatives from advertisingagencies, public relations firms, and corporationsthat have begun to use social media successfully.

4.1. Provide networking platforms

Consumers like to network with people who haveinterests and desires that are similar to their own.Organizations can leverage this desire by creatingcommunities of like-minded individuals. These com-munities can center on shared interests and values.For example, Unilever’s Dove (2007) brand beautyproducts launched a ‘‘Campaign for Real Beauty’’ tobring together like-minded people who wish to en-hance girls’ and women’s self-esteem by helping toestablish realistic standards of beauty. RoadrunnerRecords’ website, www.roadrunnerrecords.com, in-cludes a forum section to bring together fans of rockand metal music. The Barack Obama, Hillary Clin-ton, and John McCain 2008 presidential campaignsused their online presence to gather supporterstogether and provide information. Facebook groupsand other forms of online communication havesprung up around Steven Spielberg’s movie IndianaJones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, andother films.

Similarly, a number of online communities existto serve the needs of new mothers, including Baby-Zone.com, Michiganmoms.com, and Kentuckiana-

moms.com. These sites provide various types ofinformation for mothers and parents, along withopportunities for interaction through messageboards, forums, and chat rooms. Companies thatcan benefit from communicating with moms maywant to have their employees contribute to theconversations that are occurring there, under con-ditions of full-disclosure. Such sites may also provideexcellent sponsorship opportunities.

Networking opportunities do not have to be basedin social media in order to be effective. For exam-ple, Harley-Davidson sponsors rallies for motorcycleenthusiasts who are members of the Harley OwnersGroup1, and Jeep sponsors Jeep Jamborees for off-road enthusiasts. A recent Harry Potter book wasreleased in bookstores at 12:01 a.m. to adoring fanswho had lined up for hours waiting to purchase thebook. The experience of participating with like-minded individuals in these highly anticipatedevents becomes memorable and is likely to betalked about for years to come. Many of theseindividuals will choose to talk about their experi-ences through social media as well as through tradi-tional word-of-mouth.

The Harley-Davidson rallies and Jeep Jamborees,like many networking opportunities, are inter-twined with opportunities for consumers to experi-ence the companies’ products, as well as get toknow the people who use them. Such experiencescan also be vicarious in nature. Toyota provides alink from their website to a blog written by a fatherand son team who have embarked on annual 5,000mile adventures to the Arctic Circle, Baja Mexico,and other unusual destinations in their Toyota FJCruiser (Toyota, 2008a). Readers can respond toeach blog by posting their own observations andinsights. They can also post their own stories fromthe road at www.ToyotaOwnersOnline.com.

4.2. Use blogs and other social mediatools to engage customers

Consumers feel more engaged with products andorganizations when they are able to submit feed-back. For example, Toyota enables its customers toprovide feedback on a broad range of issues via its‘‘Open Road Blog’’ (Toyota, 2008b). The feedbackcomes in the form of criticism, accolades, andhelpful suggestions. Taken as a whole, this feedbackcontributes to a sense of community in which honest,open communications are encouraged and customerengagement is enhanced. Interestingly, Toyota iden-tifies the constituency of its blog as extending beyondcustomers to include other bloggers, journalists,automotive enthusiasts, consumers, and even theircompetitors.

6 W.G. Mangold, D.J. Faulds

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

Roadrunner Records’ website enables consumersto submit feedback through a poll section in whichreaders respond to various questions posed by thewebsite administrators. It also enables and encour-ages fans to review concerts and albums, and toeven submit photographs and various forms of visualart.

4.3. Use both traditional and Internet-based promotional tools to engagecustomers

People aremore likely to communicate through bothword-of-mouth and social media when they areengaged with the product, service, or idea. Thisengagement may come naturally for supporters ofcauses, political candidates, and trendy new tech-nological products. However, it can also be creative-ly stimulated for products and services whichgenerate less psychological involvement of custom-ers.

For example, Pepsi (2008) uses its Pepsi Stuffonline customer loyalty program to engage consum-ers by enabling them to redeem points for MP3downloads, television show downloads, CDs, DVDs,electronics, and apparel. Campaign participants arealso allowed to participate in sweepstakes drawingsfor larger prizes, such as home theater systems andtrip giveaways. Coca Cola (2008) has a similar cam-paign entitled ‘‘My Coke Rewards.’’

Contests can be used to engage customers.Procter and Gamble’s Gillette brand sponsoredthe $30,000 GillettePhenom contest, in which on-line participants were asked to create a short videoshowcasing their skill in a ball sport. The sport could‘‘include the biggies–—basketball, baseball, soccer,football, golf, tennis–—the less obvious ones–—vol-leyball, water polo, cricket, rugby, croquet–—andeven the foosballs and Super Balls of the world.’’Videos were submitted and evaluated by a panel ofjudges after being uploaded via the individual’sYouTube account. The top 25 videos were then votedon by website viewers to determine the ultimatewinner.

Such online voting gives Internet users a sense ofownership and increased engagement. AmericanIdol, Dancing with the Stars, and similar televisionshows have successfully engaged their viewers byenabling them to either go online to vote for theirfavorite performer or submit their votes via textmessaging. Dove’s 2007 ‘‘Campaign for Real Beauty’’enabled consumers to create advertisementswhich were voted on by a panel of judges. Onlineviewers were then allowed to vote on the five semi-finalists, with the winning entry being shown duringthe 2008 Oscars (Greenberg, 2007).

Jamba, Inc. and Dole Food Company have joinedtogether to ask customers to submit their favoritesmoothie recipes to the jambafruit.com website.Entrants are eligible for a ‘‘Healthy Escape Get-away’’ at a Four Seasons hotel in Westlake Village,California, where they will be offered spa treat-ments and various healthy living consultations. The7-Eleven convenience store chain successfully droveits Slurpee product’s 18-24 year-old target marketto the Slurpee.com website through a joint promo-tion with Guitar Hero, a product which focuses on asimilar target market. In this campaign, buyers ofthe Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee product wereable to go to Slurpee.com to enter codes found ontheir drink cups. Winning codes were randomlyselected, and the winners received such prizes as‘‘Guitar Hero: Aerosmith’’ games, Xbox 360 con-soles, Microsoft Points, and posters featuring thepromoted products.

Similarly, FLW Outdoors (2008) is a major orga-nizer of fishing tournaments, including the well-known Wal-Mart FLW tour. It also sponsors the $1million online FLW Fantasy Fishing competition inconjunction with the Wal-Mart FLW tour. Partici-pants in the online competition identify the profes-sional anglers they believe will place highest in eachWal-Mart FLW Tour event. The winners of the Fan-tasy Fishing competition are those who most suc-cessfully select the pro anglers.

Enabling consumers to see others using the prod-uct can entertain and engage customers while com-municating product benefits. BMW utilizes both itsown website, www.bmw.com, and YouTube to pro-vide breathtaking pictures and videos of BMW auto-mobiles in use. Some companies have encouragedconsumers to submit photos or recorded footage ofthe product in action. A recent promotion forProcter and Gamble’s quick-clean product Swiffer(2008) challenged consumers to create short videosdescribing ‘‘how they left their old cleaning methodfor a new romance with Swiffer.’’ The contest itselfdrew a considerable amount of attention. Then, thetop 10 videos were posted to YouTube and consumerswere allowed to vote on the winner.

Online games provide a natural and obvious ven-ue for engaging and entertaining. Mattel (2008)makes available a variety of online games for itsHot Wheels1 line of toys. These games are designedto entertain its target audience while selling theproduct. ‘‘Send to a friend’’ links make it easy to tellothers about the games. In addition, a link forparents explains Mattel’s policies regarding thegames and suggests parental guidelines for thoseconcerned about their child’s Internet safety.

Warner Brothers did a masterful job of engagingits young audience in preparation for the release of

Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix 7

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

its 2008 film The Dark Knight. The studio used anapproach sometimes referred to as ‘‘alternate real-ity gaming’’ (ARGN, 2006) to present a complicatedconcoction of multiple websites, a virtual scavengerhunt, a non-virtual scavenger hunt, and role playingto keep the audience engaged and talking to othersabout the movie.

4.4. Provide information

Consumers are more likely to talk about companiesand products when they feel they know a lotabout them. For example, Mattel’s website,www.mattel.com, is replete with informationabout its many toy products. While much of theinformation is intended for the childrenwho use thetoys, an unobtrusive ‘‘Grown-Ups & Parents’’ sec-tion offers valuable information about the com-pany’s website practices and things parents cando to keep their children safe while they are online.

Procter and Gamble’s ‘‘Ask Julia’’ portion of itswebsite, www.pg.com, provides detailed informa-tion on a variety of subjects that may be ofinterest to consumers of the company’s products.Subject categories include personal and beauty,house and home, health and wellness, baby andfamily, and pet nutrition and care. Similarly, the‘‘Science Behind the Brands’’ portion of the web-site provides detailed information about the com-pany’s product innovations, its research anddevelopment efforts, and the scientific foundationsfor products in such categories as hair care anddandruff treatment, skin care, beauty care, andfabric and home care.

DuPont also provides a great deal of detailedinformation about its products, as well as informa-tion related to the use of its products. For instance,consumers seeking information about its Storm-RoomTM in-home shelter product can visit a websiteto find information about the DuPontTM KEVLAR1which reinforces the StormRoomTM (Dupont, 2008).Links are also provided to sites that offer in-depthinformation about storm preparedness.

4.5. Be outrageous

People talk about things they find to be somewhatoutrageous. For example, Burger King played a jokeon its customers by telling them that its lead item,the Whopper, was no longer being sold. Their reac-tions were then recorded on video. Abbreviatedversions of these reactions became the focal pointof a new advertising campaign. Viewers were alsoencouraged to go to the related company website,WhopperFreakout.com, to see expanded video ver-sions of customers’ reactions.

4.6. Provide exclusivity

People like to feel special. Feelings of being specialcan be produced by offering products, information,and special deals that are available exclusively to asubset of consumers. For example, Unilever offersits readers coupons and product samples fromDove’s ‘‘Campaign for Real Beauty.’’ RoadrunnerRecords enables online participants to subscribeto weekly e-newsletters and to preorder new al-bums. It also provides daily news pertaining to theheavy metal music community and an updated listof heavy metal tours. Participants are also allowedto hear new songs before they are released to thegeneral public and to watch various artists’ musicvideos.

4.7. Design products with talking pointsand consumers’ desired self images inmind

Products and services should be designed with talk-ing points in mind, to stimulate word-of-mouth andsocial-media-based conversations. For example, inhis book The Anatomy of Buzz, Emmanuel Rosen(2002) pointed out that Apple intentionally designedthe iMac to be different from Windows-based per-sonal computers. He also suggested that digitalcameras should be designed to look different fromtraditional film cameras in order to leverage thepower of word-of-mouth communication. Similarly,JetBlue Airlines has stimulated a considerableamount of communication by making leather seatsand televisions available to its customers, a practicenot usually encountered on budget airlines.

Products that are fun, intriguing, highly visible,easy to use, and which engage the emotions aremore likely to stimulate conversation than productsthat do not meet these criteria (Dobele, Lindgreen,Beverland, Vanhamme, & van Wijk, 2007; Dobele,Toleman, & Beverland, 2005). Therefore, the com-munication element must be considered when de-ciding on the product concept, as well as colors,shapes, sizes, packaging, and other factors.

Organizations seeking to build talking points intotheir product design should also remember that sim-ple things are easier to remember and communicatethan complicated things. They should also make suretheir competitive advantage is clear. Price, quality,and value propositions often underlie such competi-tive advantage. In fact, some research suggests thatprice, quality, and value are common talking points intraditionalword-of-mouth communication (Mangold,Miller, & Brockway, 1999). If customers clearly un-derstand why they should buy one product insteadof another, their understanding is likely to be

8 W.G. Mangold, D.J. Faulds

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

communicated through consumer-generated media,as well as through traditional word-of-mouth.

Finally, people are more likely to talk to othersabout products when those products support theirdesired self-image, or the way they want others tosee them. For example, the iPhone is likely to bebought, used, and discussed among consumers whowant to be seen as ‘‘cool’’ or comfortable withthe latest technology. BMW automobiles are likelyto be discussed among those auto enthusiasts whovalue performance and ‘‘the ultimate driving expe-rience.’’ This suggests that both product design andpromotion efforts should be undertaken with thedesired self-image in mind.

4.8. Support causes that are important toconsumers

People tell others about things to which theyare emotionally connected. Organizations can le-verage emotional connections by embracing one ormore causes that are important to their customers.For example, ice cream producer Ben and Jerry’s isknown for supporting various causes that are impor-tant to the company’s founders and, presumably, toits customers. These causes center around suchpriorities as investing in the nation’s children, pro-moting social and environmental concerns, support-ing family farms, and avoiding the consumption ofmeat from cloned animals.

‘‘Product Red’’ (2008) is among the best knowncause-related campaigns. Participants in the cam-paign sell products that are red in color and thendedicate a portion of the revenue from those prod-ucts to the Red campaign. The money raised is usedto fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa, and tosupport the communities in which those diseasesare in an epidemic state. Corporate participantsinclude Motorola, American Express, Gap, Converse,Hallmark, and Dell. Specific products and brandsinclude Emporio Armani, Apple iPod, and WindowsVista.

Customers may also be emotionally linked tofinding cures for such diseases as cancer, diabetes,and heart disease. These linkages may be related totheir personal health conditions or to the healthconditions of those around them. Other emotionallinkages include environmental issues, animalrights, education, and child welfare.

4.9. Utilize the power of stories

Stories can be memorable. The more memorablethey are, the more likely they are to be repeated.When one of the authors of this article visited a localshoe repair shop for the first time, its proprietor told

him the story of how he got into the shoe repairbusiness. It seems that as a child, the owner of theshop had an annoying habit of loitering in front of ashoe repair shop in his Chicago neighborhood. Theold Italian cobbler who owned that shop told theboy, ‘‘If you are going to hang around all day, yourtime can be spent more productively inside theshop than outside.’’ Consequently, he began givingthe boy odd jobs after school, which eventually ledto greater involvement in the repair of shoes. Asthe story unfolded, it became clear that the Italiancobbler’s old-world craftsmanship had been trans-mitted to his young apprentice. Such stories createvivid memories that are likely to be repeated insocial media, as well as traditional word-of-mouth.

5. From one-way traffic to multipleavenues

IMC has traditionally been considered to be largelyone-way in nature. In the old paradigm, the organi-zation and its agents developed the message andtransmitted it to potential consumers, who may ormay not have been willing participants in the com-munication process. The control over the dissemi-nation of information was in the hands of themarketing organization. The traditional elementsof the promotion mix–—advertising, personal selling,public relations and publicity, direct marketing, andsales promotion–—were the tools through which con-trol was asserted.

In this article, we argue that marketing managersshould include social media in the promotion mixwhen developing and executing their IMC strategies.This is consistent with Boone and Kurtz’s (2007)assertion that the objective of integrated marketingcommunications is to ‘‘coordinate all [emphasisadded by authors] promotional activities of the firmto produce a unified, customer focused promotionalmessage’’ (p. 488).

Accomplishing this requires the adoption of a newcommunications paradigm that acknowledges thepervasiveness of information now being exchangedamong consumers in the social media space. Thisnew paradigm considers social media to be a hybridelement of the promotion mix in that it combinessome of the characteristics of traditional IMC toolswith a highly magnified form of word-of-mouthcommunications in which marketing managers can-not control the content and frequency of such in-formation. This contrasts sharply with thehegemony managers are accustomed to exercisingover all aspects of information distribution in thetraditional paradigm. However,marketingmanagers

Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix 9

BUSHOR-750; No of Pages 9

do have the ability to shape the discussion by usingthe methods described in this article.

Although marketing managers cannot control in-formation disseminated through social media, ignor-ing the realities of the impact of informationtransmitted through these forums on consumer be-havior is tantamount to surrendering the communi-cations process to the vagaries of the marketplace.By including social media in the promotion mix,these new communication formats are given a homein standard marketing management practices andtheories. This new-found home for social mediaprovides managers with a better understanding ofsocial media and a framework for incorporating itinto their IMC strategies, thus more effectivelycommunicating with their target markets.

References

ARGN. (2006). ARGNet. Retrieved July 7, 2008, from http://www.argn.com/about/

Blackshaw, P., & Nazzaro, M. (2004). Consumer-GeneratedMedia (CGM) 101: Word-of-mouth in the age of the Web-fortified consumer. Retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/whitepapers

Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. (2007). Contemporarymarketing (13th

ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western.Coca Cola. (2008).My Coke rewards. Retrieved July 7, 2008, from

www.mycokerewards.comDobele, A., Lindgreen, A., Beverland, M., Vanhamme, J.,

& van Wijk, R. (2007). Why pass on viral messages? Becausethey connect emotionally. Business Horizons, 50(4), 291—304.

Dobele, A., Toleman, D., & Beverland, M. (2005). Controlledinfection! Spreading the brand message through viral market-ing Business Horizons, 48(2), 143—149.

Dove. (2007). Campaign for real beauty. Retrieved July 7, 2008,from http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/

DuPont. (2008). DuPontTM StormRoomTM with KEVLAR1: Productinformation. Retrieved July 7, 2008, from http://www2.dupont.com/Stormroom/en_US/products/Products_subpages/proven_by_science.html

FLW Outdoors. (2008). Homepage. Retrieved July 7, 2008, fromhttp://www.flwoutdoors.com/

Foux, G. (2006, May 8). Consumer-generated media: Get yourcustomers involved. Brand Strategy, 38—39.

General Electric. (2008). Imagination at work: Our culture.Retrieved August 25, 2008, from http://www.ge.com/company/culture/index.html

Gillin, P. (2007). The new influencers: A marketer’s guide to thenew social media. Sanger, CA: Quill Driver Books.

Greenberg, K. (2007, December 17). Unilever to unveil Dove adwinner during Oscars. Retrieved July 7, 2008, from http://www.brandkeys.com/news/press/MediaPost12177BK.pdf

Lempert, P. (2006). Caught in the Web. Progressive Grocer,85(12), 18.

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a worldtransformed by social technologies. Boston: Harvard BusinessPress.

Mangold, W. G., Miller, F., & Brockway, G. R. (1999). Word-of-mouth communication in the service marketplace. Journal ofServices Marketing, 13(1), 73—89.

Mattel. (2008). Homepage. Retrieved July 7, 2008, fromwww.mattel.com

Mayzlin, D. (2006). Promotional chat on the Internet. MarketingScience, 25(2), 155—163.

Muniz, A. M., & Schau, H. J. (2007). Vigilante marketing andconsumer-created communications. Journal of Advertising,36(3), 35—50.

Pepsi. (2008). Pepsi stuff. Retrieved July 7, 2008, from www.pepsistuff.com

Procter and Gamble. (2008). Purpose, values, and principles.Retrieved August 25, 2008, from http://www.pg.com/company/who_we_are/ppv.shtml

Product Red. (2008). Be part of the solution. Retrieved July 7,2008, from http://www.joinred.com/Home.aspx

Ramsey, G. (2006). Digital marketing strategies in the age ofconsumer control. Retrieved July 28, 2008, from http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1003886&src=article_head_sitesearch

Rashtchy, F., Kessler, A. M., Bieber, P. J., Shindler, N. H., & Tzeng,J. C. (2007, February). The user revolution: The new adver-tising ecosystem and the rise of the Internet as a massmedium. Minneapolis, MN: Piper Jaffray Investment Research.

Rosen, E. (2002). The anatomy of buzz. New York: Doubleday.Singh, T., Veron-Jackson, L., & Cullinane, J. (2008). Blogging:

A new play in your marketing game plan. Business Horizons,51(4), 281—292.

Swiffer. (2008). The official Swiffer challenge. Retrieved July 7,2008, from http://www.youtube.com/SwifferBreakup

Toyota. (2008a). Last great road trip. Retrieved July 7, 2008,from http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/

Toyota. (2008b). Open road blog. Retrieved July 7, 2008, fromhttp://blog.toyota.com/rules-of-the-road.html

Vollmer, C., & Precourt, G. (2008). Always on: Advertising,marketing, and media in an era of consumer control. NewYork: McGraw-Hill.