Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

Even with these figures, this does not guarantee that the conveyed information was absorbed

by each viewer. ! On the other hand, it is fair to assume that social media marketing has been the primary cause

of Red Bull’s increase in sales. Red Bull’s other marketing tactics, including sport team

sponsorships and hosting athletic events, are minute regarding the amount of awareness that

they spread compared to that of social media. Not to forget, these statistics on their own bear

great significance regarding the ever-changing world of business. Although this cannot be

said for every company, this shift towards technology and networking demonstrates how

marketing (amongst other business functions) has changed over the past few decades. With

numbers of consumers worldwide active on the Internet increasing everyday, there is bound

to be greater changes made by companies regarding how they approach marketing. Red Bull

can act as an example for other firms wishing to implement a social media marketing

strategy: in order to gain followers and build brand awareness, you need to put resources into

creating exciting and innovative content on social media, but the fact is the majority of it will

be ignored. ! Despite their overall success through social media marketing, there are conflicting

perspectives in relation to the general use of social media as a marketing strategy. Mark

Ritson is a marketing professor who has a PhD in marketing from Lancaster University and

has had his research published in the Harvard Business Review (MBS, 2018). Ritson believes

that social media marketing is being highly overrated by firms, suggesting that people are

more likely to trust and absorb the information conveyed by traditional advertisements. He is

heavily against digital marketing, as he believes that it is not a strategy or tactic, but rather a

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