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Strategies There are two broad strategies that allow for an effective social media marketing, which are the passive approach and the active approach. Generally speaking, the passive approach and the active approach will require the utilisation of different social media platforms or tools. The passive strategy is quite often used by the majority of businesses that start to implement the marketing strategy in order to create the social media platform that allows the communication to the target market (Berthon et al, 2012). This is a relatively inexpensive and relatively more easily to manage by businesses (Berthon et al, 2012). It is mainly due to the fact that the passive strategy focuses more on the information content posted and communicated to the target market. therefore, De Vries et al (2012) explained that the passive strategy does not require the frequent interaction between the businesses and the target market. some examples of passive social marketing tools used by businesses include blogs, Google +, YouTube, and the official websites of the businesses (De Vries et al, 2012). There are some identified benefits associated with the passive social media marketing strategy. It is explained by Peters et al (2013) that the passive strategy has the advantages of the social media marketing, such as elimination of the time constraints, physical constraints, and financial constraints that are normally faced with the traditional marketing strategy, such as the use of newspapers. This is because the passive strategy is more like to communicate one way to the target market who can access to the online information whenever it is convenient to them by just a click away (Peters et al, 2013). Thus, the businesses that post the information has the ultimate control over the content that is posted on the social media platform, which can be viewed by the target market to achieve the communication purpose (Peters et al, 2013). However, Peters et al (2013) further indicated that the passive strategy will not work effectively without constant updates on the social media platform. This is because useful information is what is valued by target market who will be more likely to be influenced during their purchasing decision process (Peters et al, 2013). In addition, Peters et al (2013) also indicated that another benefits of passive strategy are the elimination of the worries of the businesses, unlike in the active strategy for social media marketing, that there is no need to monitor the responses from the target market as there is no interaction between the businesses and the target market. This might also be a biggest disadvantage for passive strategy, whereby the target market might become more engaged if they are also allowed to contribute and communicate with the business and among themselves through the active social media platform. Therefore, this shows that there are advantages and disadvantages of passive strategy for social media marketing, whereas the passive strategy might be working perfectly for certain businesses but not for other businesses due to the differences in the demand and needs of the target market. Comparatively speaking, the active strategy for social media marketing has its own merits and drawbacks. Kim and Ko (2012) have emphasized that the active strategy allows the interaction between the businesses and its target market, which has extra benefits in addition to the benefits of social media marketing. These extra benefits will create competitive advantages for the business, which is especially true when the engagement by the target market creates the customer value and the customer loyalty accordingly (Kim & Ko, 2012). Based on one study conducted by Hennig-Thurau et al (2013), it is discovered that value can be generated for customers through the social media marketing. For example, Facebook has become one of the most popular social media marketing tools used by businesses that target both domestic and international customers due to the massive use of this social media platform (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2013). The engagement by customers can create the sense of belongingness as the virtual community that allows target customers to share their own experience and communicate among themselves and with the business (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2013). More importantly, the interactive approach between the business and the target customer is strategic as it is perceived by most of the customers as a way to show the business reputation and business image (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2013). This is because customers tend to trust more on the businesses that have the presence. Erdoğmuş and Cicek (2012) have also identified that interactive approach is closely related to the brand loyalty. Hence, it is reasonable for businesses to adopt the active approach to facilitate the communication and collaboration among target market and between the business and the target market. It is further explained by Trainor et al (2014) that such an interactive approach is normally deemed as an effective way for customer relationship management. This is because business has incentives to improve its business image, hence, they will be more responsive to customers on the social media platforms. However, interactive approach might also be a two-edged sword, as the characteristics might also create the biggest challenge for businesses. This shall be referred to Erdoğmuş and Cicek (2012) that it is not preventable for any negative comments to be posted on the social media platform, which will have adverse impact on the business reputation and image. In addition, these negative comments can be viewed by the public, which shows that business might lose their control over what, how, and who can post comments on the social media platform (Erdoğmuş & Cicek, 2012). Ethics of Social Media Marketing Social media marketing has been subject to criticism due to the ethical issues associated with the use of social media platforms. It is explained by Mooney and Slobodian (2016) that the major ethical issue related to social media marketing is the potential threats to the privacy of users. This might lead to ethical debates, as there is no effective or operative legislation or regulation that currently regulate the complete conduct of the users of social media. it is often the case that due to the technical issues or other human issues, the confidential information of the users of social media platforms will be leaked to others (Mooney & Slobodian, 2016). Thus, the leaked confidential information might be used by criminals for fraud or other criminal purposes, which will put the users into a severe danger of facing potential and serious losses as a result. In addition, there is no clear policy to monitor the conduct of the users on social media platform, which might often make certain people the victims of being bullied. This normally creates further social issues, as these conduct cannot be prevented due to the use of social media and only the users will have the access to the posted information. Hence, these ethical issues normally fail to be taken into account by businesses, which will lead to adverse impact on the business reputation and business image. However, the ethical issues might be able to be managed properly by businesses. The approach to manage the ethical issues might include the rights of the business to prohibit certain posts on the social media platform when the post is deemed unethical according to the normal ethical principles. Some suggested strategy that can be adopted by businesses to manage the ethical aspects of the social media marketing is to engage the users of the social media platform that encourage whilst-blower who will be able to report to the business about any observed unethical behaviour. This will also create the value for customers who have the sense of belongingness to the created virtual community by the business. In addition, businesses might also have the agreement signed with the users that allow business to block the access by the users to the social media platform with the social media platform providers. This might also give the control to the businesses regarding the unethical conduct that might potentially damage the reputation and business image. There might be relation between the ethical conduct on the social media marketing and further legal implications. This is because of the efforts by the governments in various countries who are trying to regulate the online conduct of users and businesses. Therefore, it is more likely that there will be punishment on individual and businesses when certain unethical conduct is also considered illegal based on the newly introduced legislation or regulation. Therefore, it is the ultimate responsibility for businesses to take into account of the ethical aspects for their social media marketing. Only if this is done, it is more likely that the business will be able to communicate with its target market by fully realising the benefits of the social media for its marketing strategies, whilst avoiding or preventing the potential damages as a result.

References Berthon, P. R., Pitt, L. F., Plangger, K., & Shapiro, D. (2012). Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business horizons, 55(3), 261-271. De Vries, L., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. (2012). Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26(2), 83-91. Erdoğmuş, İ. E., & Cicek, M. (2012). The impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58, 1353-1360. Hennig-Thurau, T., Hofacker, C. F., & Bloching, B. (2013). Marketing the pinball way: Understanding how social media change the generation of value for consumers and companies. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 237-241. Kim, A. J., & Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1480-1486. Mooney, M., & Slobodian, S. (2016). Seeing the wood for the trees: Fixing large undefined problems in digital marketing. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 3(4), 294-303. Peters, K., Chen, Y., Kaplan, A. M., Ognibeni, B., & Pauwels, K. (2013). Social media metrics—A framework and guidelines for managing social media. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 281-298. Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. M., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201-1208.