Digital Darwinism : is traditional internet marketing losing ground to social media in firms in the North West

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to establish if traditional internet marketing is losing ground to social media in firms in the North West of Ireland. This topic was chosen as the author became interested in the idea of Digital Darwinism and wanted to explore how this rapid change in technological advances was impacting upon local businesses. One huge change to the practice of Marketing has been the evolution of internet marketing and subsequently the emergence of social media as a marketing tool. Social Media is changing the way people find information, share knowledge and communicate with each other. The important factor contributing to the growth of these technologies is the ability to easily produce “user-generated content”. Blogs, Twitter, Wikipedia, Flickr and YouTube are just a few examples of Web 2.0 tools that are drastically changing the Internet landscape today. Social media is the new buzz word in Marketing. And for businesses it represents a marketing opportunity that transcends the traditional middleman and connects companies directly with customers. This is why nearly every business on the planet from giants like Starbucks and IBM to your local comer shop are exploring social media marketing initiatives. A year ago, businesses were uncertain about social media. Now it's here to stay and companies are rapidly adopting social media marketing. Much like email and websites first empowered businesses, social media is the next marketing wave. Along with new technology comes a responsibility for marketers to act ethically, social media has made it easier for disreputable marketers to unethically manipulate information in their companies favour, or provide information to consumers that they are aware is not 100% accurate. This research also aims to identify if companies are aware of unethical marketing behaviour and if they are aware of rules and regulations governing internet marketing communications.