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G.B. Muminova,
Senior scientific researcher, TSEU
Social Media as a tool of Innovative Marketing: The case of Uzbekistan
Ҳозирги
кунда
ижтимоий
медианинг
маркетинг
амалиётида
қўлланишининг жадал ўсиши, асосан онлайн ижтимоий тармоқлари,
анъанавий маркетинг фаолиятини тубдан ўзгаришининг асосий сабабидир.
Ушбу илмий мақолада ижтимоий медиаларни маҳаллий корхоналарнинг
маркетинг амалиётида кенг қўллаш имкониятлари ва юзага келиши мумкин
бўлган таҳдидлари тўғрисида илмий ва амалий маълумотлар келтирилган.
В последние годы отмечается впечатляющий рост внедрения социальной
медии в маркетинговой дисциплине, в частности, социальные сети, которая
значительно повлияла на традиционные методы маркетинга, требуя
переосмысления роли маркетинга в новых условиях. В данной статье
рассматриваются потенциальные возможности и угрозы выдвигаемые
развитием социальной медии в осуществлении маркетинговой деятельности
национальных компаний.
Keywords:
Social media, innovative marketing, online social networks, Web 2.0,
digital media.
Introduction
The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT)
have changed the way people communicate and engage with each other almost
beyond recognition. The growing role of online social media have significantly
influenced traditional marketing communication techniques. Recent research on
consumer markets shows that on average 22 percent of online time of consumers are
spent on social media sites, and more than 60 percent of consumers read the customer
reviews online before making purchasing decisions. The recent trends in marketing
discipline, certainly underlines the growing importance of social media on
consumers’ purchasing decisions, and overall, has a great influence on marketing
activities (Gu & Ye, 2014).
Although social media offers tremendous opportunities, any inappropriate
practice of it may lead to negative results that present enormous challenges to
marketing leaders (Mendehall, 2009). Literally, businesses are not able to manage all
information that is released to the Internet through different social media
applications. Currently, one of the top issues in the current marketing age is that
many marketers are lack of knowledge about “social media” and thus, are reluctant to
develop effective social media strategies. Furthermore, gaining success hrough social
media interaction is also influenced by many other different factors, such as
economic, socio-cultural, political and technological (digital divide) conditions in the
country (Ali, 2011). This is the case especially in developing countries, where social
media engagement may have unexpected outcomes because of economic conditions
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and socio-cultural influence. There is a very little research conducted that studies the
perspectives of social media marketing in the context of developing countries.
Prior research on social media has focused on studying the growing role and
influence of social media, defining the concept “social media”, opportunities of social
media use in different areas –such as healthcare (Vance, et al., 2009; Chou, et al.,
2009), education (Moran, et al., 2011), and other.
This paper aims to analyze the literature and provide structured description of
the notion “social media” and its different types; discuss the challenges and
opportunities of implementing social media into marketing strategies of businesses in
developing countries (in the example of Uzbekistan); examines the current socio-
cultural and technological readiness of the country and provide recommendations.
Understanding the concept “Social Media”
Social media are comparatively new media formats and are still in their early
stages of development. Although, businesses seek ways of profitable and appropriate
use of social media in marketing activities, the literature provides limited description
of the concept “social media”. Botha (2012) describe social media as
“the media
designed to facilitate the dissemination of content through social interaction between
individuals, groups, and organizations using Internet and Web-based technologies to
enable the transformation of broadcast monologues (one to many) into social
dialogues (many to many).”
The main purpose of social media is to empower
individuals and promote democratization of knowledge by turning content consumers
into content producers. Perhaps, the most comprehensive definition of the notion
“social media” is provided by Kaplan and Haenlein (2010):
“a group of Internet-
based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of
Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content
(UGC).”
These two related concepts to the term “social media” - “Web 2.0” and
“UGC”, are frequently misunderstood and misused by resarchers and practitioners.
Generally, Web 2.0 is the more socially oriented progression of the previous Internet
technology (Web 1.0). It is a platform on which digital media, social media and other
modern applications and technologies operate. These include search engines
(Google), blogs, SNS (Friendster, Facebook and Twitter), photo and video sharing
sites (Instagram, YouTube and Flickr) and many others. The introduction of Web 2.0
technology extended the width of the internet’s potential, enabling to gather even
such data like what people are doing with technology and how they are using it.
Furthermore, the rapid development of social media and the emergence of internet-
based communities has led to the emergence of global human network, where the
content is created by end-users rather than by servers (UGC). This is where
consumers not only communicate and engage with businesses, but also generate their
own information (comments, customer reviews, blogs) about products, services and
brands (Cova B., 2010).
The introduction of Web 2.0 technology extended the width of the internet’s
potential, enabling to gather even such data like what people are doing with
technology and how they are using it. These advances in the ICT infrastructure has
enabled businesses not only to reach their current customers, but also find new
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customers – when businesses eager to build relationships with potential customers
(Close, 2012).
Types of Social Media
Social media is a relatively new concept and the list of media formats of social
media is constantly improved and fullfilled. Botha describes the common media
formats, which are referred to as social media, as following:
Blogs/Web logs
are the web sites maintained and wirtten by individuas, but
managed and technically owned by a company that provides access to Web space and
a content management system.
Microblogs
are social networking services that enable users to post and read
very short messages, restricted by the number of characters in the message and type
of content that can be posted. For example, users of Twitter can send short text-based
messages/posts of up to 140 characters, called “tweets”.
Video sharing Web sites
(YouTube, Vein) enables users to watch, upload and
share videos with other users..
Picture sharing Web sites
enable users to upload and share pictures and images.
Some of the popular picture sharing Web sites include Flickr, Picasa, Google Images
and Instagram.
Social networking Web sites
enable users to create an individual profile pages,
find and connect to friends/groups/communities, send messages, make posts and so
on. Some of the most popular social networking Web sites include Facebook,
MySpace, LinkedIn and others.
Niche social networking Web sites
is designed for smaller audiences and are
focused on specific topics of interests, such as Sharecipe (for those who like cooking,
shares recipes and cooking tips) and ActiveRain (for real estate professionals).
Social news Web sites
provide users with a range of information, that are usually
attached with links to the main source. The most popular social news Web sites
include Digg and Reddit.
Social bookmarking Web sites
enable users to collect and save interesting links
they have found in order to revisit whenever they need. Some of the most popular
commercial Web sites include Pinterest, StumbleUpon and Diigo.
The social trend in the Marketing discipline
The influence of social media on marketing has led to the development of social
media marketing, which is currently one of the most popular forms of online
marketing. The large audience involved in social media Web sites and the
instantaneous communication possibilities are main reasons of the effectiveness of
social media marketing. So, what is social media marketing?
Argesta et al. (2010) defines social media marketing as the act of creating and
posting content in any and all of the following hosted environments: online, mobile,
virtual and others. It is not about extending existing marketing campaigns into new
channels. Indeed, it is a fundamental shift in how we communicate with the world
around us. Furthermore, social media marketing by describing it as the platform that
removes the usage barrier and provide opportunities to businesses to get closer to
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consumers than ever before. Weinberg (2009) gives a relativele broad description of
social media marketing: “it is a process that empowers individuals to promote their
websites, products, or services through online social channels and to communicate
with and tap into a much larger community that may not have been available via
traditional advertising channels”. Although, many businesses benefit from the
emergence of social media marketing, understanding the outcomes of social media
marketing and mainatining effective strategies in the social media is complex.
Substantial amount of researches were completed with aim to study in depth the
prospective outcomes of social media marketing. This includes reputable works in the
sphere of advertising (Hensel & Michael, 2010), social media marketing in the
context of emerging economies (Borker, 2014), consumer behaviour and perceptions
toward social media marketing (Mendonca, 2016), effective use of library resources
through social media applications (Khan & Bhatti, 2012) and others.
It is obvious that traditional marketing focuses only on advertising, whereas new
marketing aims to build a relationship with consumer. To be clear, the purpose of
new marketing is to deliver the required information to the consumer when he/she is
willing to accept it. Indeed, the web has opened a magnificient opportunity to reach
niche buyers directly with targeted information that is much more effective than most
other traditional marketing approaches. This is usually done through social
networking or blogging, where people or businesses create groups or communities
and start blogging, sharing, liking and poking, while exchanging crucial information
that will influence the potential customer’s buying behaviour.
“Before the web, organizations had only two significant options for attracting
attention: Buy expensive advertising or get third-party ink from the media. But the
web has changed the rules. The web is not TV. Organizations that understand the
New Rules of Marketing and PR develop relationships directly with consumers like
you and me.”
Subsequently, businesses that practice marketing activities through social
networking are gaining higher competitive advantage and generate more profits (). It
is crucial to understand that marketing through social media is not about generating
hype. Indeed, it is about delivering information and ideas to a network of people who
are interested in the company and their products and services.
The social media have made it possible for consumers and buyers to provide
information to others on a worldwide basis about how the products and services they
have acquired meet their expectations and needs. However, a number of stimulating
questions arise in the field of marketing, as the buying and selling behavior of
consumers change. These concerns include issues related to public policy, consumer
welfare, family decision making, security and privacy. Furthermore, although there
are many researches proving the large opportunities that social media marketing
offers, some key questions need more clarification with respect to understanding:
Why? How? When? consumers make their decisions to buy/not buy the product or
service; as well as what happens to brand once it is released to consumer controlled
landscape of social media. Companies are literally unable to control and manage all
information flow about their brands in the social media. Indeed, those businesses
trying to take control of it will need to spent a lot of time to constantly track social
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media websites. This might require employing a group of people, which will
negatively affect the budget of the business.
Today, the popularity of social networking web sites like Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn is phenomenal. People easily create profiles about themselves and use them
to gather virtual networks that combine both online and offline friends. Currently,
Facebook has around 890 miilion active users, whereas Twitter and LinkedIn have
approximately 284 million and 300 million active users. Although, the extensive use
of social media among people first emerged in USA, currently more than 80 percent
of social media users are non USA residents. This statistics once again prove the
growing popularity of social media in the world and its crucial role in the business
world.
Country Profile: The legislative base
Uzbekistan is one of those leading countries, that is focused on innovative
development. The social development strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in the
long-run, is focused on promoting the digital society. The government took number
of actions supporting the adoption and usage of ICT tools, which include: (1) The
Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “About further development of
computerization process and implementation of ICTs”, dated May 30, 2002 and the
ordinance of the Cabinet of Ministers’ on the following matter, which states priority
actions in this field; (2) The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “About
informatization”; (3) Adoption of the Program on further improving ICT and
computerization processes in the Republic for the period of 2002 to 2010, and other
laws and regulations. The pivotal purpose of the current legislative base oriented on
promoting ICT is to create a holistic national system of informatization, through
embedding a high usage of modern ICT and telecommunication tools in all spheres of
economy and public life.
Growing popularity of social media
The Internet and telecommunications industry have considerably improved as a
result of a number of actions taken by the government to improve the ICT sector in
the country. The number of small enterprises and micro-firms operating in the
Transport and Communications sector have increased by 0,2% from 2014 (4,6%) to
2015 (4,8%).
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Figure 1. Revenue received from the main activities of communication service
providers for 2013 and 2014 (actual price; in mlrd. UZS)
Source: “Узбекистон ракамларда”, State Statistics Committee (2015).
The popularity of Internet and mobile communication services are also
increasing. According to the Statistics Committee, Mobile and phone communication
services and Internet network services are the largest revenue producers in the
communications industry of Uzbekistan (see Figure 1). Indeed, the revenue received
from the Internet network provider companies have increased from 10,8% in 2013 up
to 14,0% in 2014. These statistics first of all underline the growing popularity of
implementing the usage of Internet in all spheres of the country’s economy.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Mail services
Telegraph services
Special communication services
Trunk and international phone communications
City and rural phone communications
Registration, control and protecting radiofrequency
Mobile communications
Messenger services
Internet network
Data transmission networks
Transmission of television programs
Radio program broadcast
Other communication services
services
Telegra
ph
services
Special
commu
nication
services
Trunk
and
internat
ional
phone
commu
nication
s
City
and
rural
phone
commu
nication
s
Registr
ation,
control
and
protecti
ng
radiofre
quency
Mobile
commu
nication
s
Messen
ger
services
Internet
networ
k
Data
transmi
ssion
networ
ks
Transm
ission
of
televisi
on
progra
ms
Radio
progra
m
broadca
st
Other
commu
nication
services
2014 150,9
1,1
4,5
588,3
80,9
49,6
2402,3
35
588,4
208,9
53,1
5,3
26,8
2013 132,7
0,9
3,2
533
70,7
49,6
2090,4
0,07
376,9
174,9
43
4,9
23,7
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Figure 2. Revenue received by ICT companies from providing services to the
population for 2013 and 2014 (actual prices; in mlrd. UZS)
Source: “Узбекистон ракамларда”, State Statistics Committee (2015)
It is certainly important to underline that the second highest revenue of
communications companies is generated by providing Internet network services for
the population. The amount of revenue received from providing Internet network
services for the population is almost doubled in one year period. As the social media
is closely related with the availability of the Internet netwrok services, the current
statistics prove the possibility and high potential returns of promoting social media
marketing in the local market.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Mail services
Telegraph services
Trunk and international phone communications
City and rural phone communications
Mobile communications
Messenger services
Data transmission networks (including Internet
networks)
Transmission of television programs
Other communication services
services
Telegraph
services
Trunk and
internation
al phone
communic
ations
City and
rural
phone
communic
ations
Mobile
communic
ations
Messenger
services
Data
transmissi
on
networks
(including
Internet
networks)
Transmissi
on of
television
programs
Other
communic
ation
services
2014
36
0,6
49
49,4
2135,3
0,03
645,3
9,9
0,02
2013
31,2
0,4
42,4
45,3
1890,9
0,05
369,9
5,8
0,02
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Figure 3. The popularity of Social Media Web sites in Uzbekistan in 2015
Source: StatsMonkey (2015), Retrieved on June 5, 2016
There is a lack of researches regarding the adoption of social media marketing in
Uzbekistan. Therefore, the database for understanding the current social media use in
the country is also very little. However, the second data collected by outside Web site
show the general image of current social media use in the country. According to the
data retrieved, Facebook (78,52%) is the most popular social Web site, followed by
Pinterest (5,84%) and VKontakte (4,8%).
Current practices and potential improvements
Although, social media offers large opportunities to businesses, not all of the
local organizations understand the importance of promoting their products or services
through social media. According to the current findings, Facebook is the most
popular social media Web site in the country and companies should consider the
benefits that it might offer to increase their brand awareness. Indeed, some of the
local companies started engaging in social media marketing. Currently, there some
popular social communities on the Facebook (ex. Я мама), brand fan pages (ex.
Pablosky, Beeline) and closed groups for organizations (ex. Inha University in
Tashkent). All of them practice to some extent social media marketing activities in
different ways.
The most popular online community for young mothers in the country is Я
мама. It is owned and maintained by individuals, however they often promote
partnership programs with local maternity and children brands. For example, the local
distributor of Pampers hold a contest for the best family picture by voting through
“likes” in the Я мама group. The holders of the photo that received the most likes
will receive a free pack of “Pampers”. This will definitely cost company a very little
amount of money, but will reach so many potential customers.
Facebo
ok
Pinteres
t
Vkonta
kte
Tumblr Twitter
+
Stumble
Upon
LinkedI
n
Y
Combin
ator
Odnokl
assniki
YouTub
e
Other
Percentage
78,52
5,84
4,8
4,3
3,82
1,19
0,83
0,31
0,17
0,17
0,02
0,02
0,01
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Usa
ge
R
at
e
(in
p
e
rcen
ta
ge
)
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Another example of social media marketing practice by local companies is the
fan page of Pablosky – the Spanish brand producing shoes for kids. The local
distributor of the brand maintains a fan page to promote their products in the local
market. They constantly upload pictures of those kids who buy shoes from their shop.
This is motivating approach. People start giving “likes” to those pictures where there
kids/siblings/cousins are and this will surely increase the brand awareness in
Uzbekistan.
SWOT Analysis: Promoting social media in Uzbekistan
Figure 4. SWOT Analysis.
The wide implementation of new marketing activities, or rather social media
marketing in today’s highly competitive world can be described with the line of
opportunities offered to both companies and customers. The SWOT analysis was
conducted in order to compare potential benefits and threats of promoting social
media marketing in Uzbekistan. Social media marketing will enable local businesses
to further expand their brands awareness and build more tight customer relationship.
However, there are some weaknesses to consider, as maintaining social media
marketing activities in the local businesses require a lot of time from company
marketing managers. Furthermore, cultural insights of local people may result in low
trust levels. Perhaps, security reasons are one of the important questions to consider
as well. Nevertheless, adopting social media marketing activities offer large
opportunities to business, which can be proven by the statistics on increasing
•
Security issues
•
Welfare of consumer
•
Trust related issues
•
Better customer
relationship
opportunities
•
Branding products
without third parties
•
Constantly maintain
online pages and
keep information
updated
•
Less control over the
information
•
Time consuming
•
Less expensive
advertising
•
Connecting directly
to the target
audience
Strengths
Weaknesses
Threats
Opportunities
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popularity of Internet usage levels and social media Web sites. The figure below
presents a general picture of SWOT analysis that describes the potential outcomes of
promoting social media marketing in Uzbekistan.
Concluding Thoughts
To conclude, the rise ICT revolution in the world has transformed all sectors of
the country’s economy. Traditional marketing activities were also influenced by
modern and innovative technologies. The new marketing era introduced social media
marketing that has now become as one of the most powerful marketing approaches in
the world that has totally transformed the way Marketing was viewed before.
Marketing simply meant advertising and branding, where advertising needed to
appeal to the masses and concentrated on one-way: company to consumer
communication. Whereas, social media marketing removes boundaries between
company and customers, building stronger trust and relationship between both parties
eliminating agent services. Furthermore, recent trends in the communications
industry in Uzbekistan underline the increasing importance of Internet based
technologies and the growing popularity of social media marketing in the local
markets. Nevertheless, the adoption of social media marketing approaches require
businesses to totally reconsider their marketing strategies and get prepared for
potential threats that may arise. Overall, the implementation of social media
marketing offers great opportunities for the businesses in the local market, as the new
line of marketing approaches are not widely implemented by businesses, and
innovative approaches have higher potential to attract more customers.
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