Web 2.0 as a foundation for Social Media Marketing: global perspectives and the local case of Croatia (original) (raw)

2013, Cases on Web 2.0 in Developing Countries: Studies on Implementation, Application, and Use

In the Web 1.0 era users were passive consumers of a read-only web. However, the emergence of the Web 2.0 redefined a way people use information and communication services – users evolved into prosumers which actively participate and collaborate in the ecosystem of a read-write web. Consequently, marketing is one among many areas affected by an advent of the Web 2.0 paradigm. Namely, Web 2.0 enabled global proliferation of a social networking, which again is a foundation for Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing represents a novel Internet marketing paradigm based on spreading brand-related messages directly from one user to another. This is also the reason why Social Media Marketing is often referred as the viral marketing. This chapter will describe: (i) how social networking became the most popular Web 2.0 service, and (ii) how social networking revolutionized Internet marketing. Both issues will be elaborated on two levels – the global and the Croatian level. Namely, the chapter will first present the evolution of social networking phenomenon which has fundamentally changed the way how Internet users utilize web services. During the first decade of 21st century millions of people joined online communities and started using online social platforms, what led towards 1.5 billion members of social networks globally in 2012. Furthermore, the chapter will describe how Internet marketing provided marketers with innovative marketing channels which offer marketing campaign personalization, low-cost global access to consumers and simple, cheap and real-time marketing campaign tracking. Specifically, chapter will focus on Social Media Marketing, the latest step in Internet marketing evolution. Three most popular Social Media Marketing platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare) will be described, as well as examples of successful marketing case studies in Croatia presented.