The new context of marketing in social media (conceptual review)

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the main powerful instrument of marketing – Social media, which altered the environment of marketing, customer’s habits and preferences. The growth of knowledge and experience gave customers more capability and power in the market. This article is based on more than 50 modern publications, websites and blogs. It particularly reviews conceptual aspects of social media marketing and influence marketing. Several surveys have been conducted in Georgia about social media marketing. Unfortunately, scientific work on influencer marketing is almost nonexistent. The work refers to the different steps of the development of digital marketing, the forms and modern methods of social media and influencer marketing. Both of them impact customer’s behavior, their attitude towards different brands and facilitate decision-making process of purchasing. According to the literature, the main differences between social media marketing and influencer marketing are the following: social media marketing concentrates on the rise of popularity of specific brands, while influencer marketing plays its role to influence potential buyers to purchase their product. Influencer marketing positioning brands on social media platform giants like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and etc. The ability of customers to reach the fitting content makes them more mobilized during the decision-making process. Unlike traditional marketing, influencer marketing helps customers make faster and more accurate decisions towards brands and their products. Influencer marketing promotes social advantages and the importance of trust in customers. A lot of researchers think that Influencer marketing has a big potential. It is possible that we witness the substantial increase of influence followers in the near future which will guarantee their financial stability. There is also an idea which promotes the usage of artificial intelligence algorithms and beforehand written texts by companies will be the things of past. Social media is a very important source of communication and marketing. It is always transforming with the ongoing innovations and certainly it is very difficult to predict the future of this field. In the current years, the influencer marketing has been used in many industries, such as design, fashion industry, tourism and medicine. Influencer content is significant and valuable for attracting tourists in the country. Influencer`s impact is high in the buying decision processes of destination places, hotel services, air tickets and tourist agencies. The role of influencer marketing is increasing daily for building effective marketing strategy. Influencers in Georgia are mostly limited to conducting trainings, master classes and writing blogs. There are certain individuals, who aim to inspire a mass brand following, however their income is quite low. How the customers perceive influencer marketing and how correctly and purposefully the latter is used to disseminate information requires further research. This article is the first try to create a conceptual analysis of influencer marketing in Georgia. We think that without methodological and theoretical aspects the research won’t be successful and productive. Considering the importance of this issue, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive research, which should be accessible for marketers working in both practical and academic fields..