The Impact of Information Technology and Social Networks in the Integrated Marketing Communication Process for Products and Services

Abstract

As the internet-based social media spread rapidly in the past few years and the number of users of facebook, twitter and youtube have grown and as this has made it possible for one person to communicate with hundreds or even thousands of other people about products and the companies that provide them, which greatly magnified the impact of consumer to consumer communication; marketers sensed the opportunity and try their best to grasp it. The traditional IMC for any company has to be altered to fit in the new world of rapid changing technology and social media. Marketers can look at this as an opportunity to increase market share or as a threat that may destroy their products or services. This paper argues that the traditional IMC has to be altered to fit in the new marketing techniques depending on the consumers as an important element of the integrated marketing communication paradigm.