Identifying the Unique Characteristics of the Web as a Marketing Medium

There are many characteristics that are unique to the web as a marketing medium which give it an advantage over more traditional and physical marketing, thus more and more companies are using the web to market their product. These characteristics can include:

·Social Media: Social Media is the most important characteristic of the web as a marketing tool which is why thousands of companies choose to use social media as their main way of communicating with their customers. Social media is used by 3.2 of people around the world, which is 42% of the world's population, this makes social media very attractive to companies to market their products. This is done through numerous ways, like setting a business page where companies can market your product and target the audience companies wish to target by following them and getting their attention, a company can also engage with their customers through social media and create a sense of community for them. Companies can also pay celebrities to endorse their products on their social media pages which often have millions of followers and thus generate a large interest in their product almost instantly. A company can also pay the social media platform in question to put up an add on their site, in which the site can then target the audience the company wants to target through the use of data in which user looks at what, therefore they can decide who would be most likely to be interested in their product.

·Pay Per Click: Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a search engine, website owner, or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked, these types of ads are known as banner ads and users will often see them at the top of a webpage they click in to, this is so they won’t miss what product is being advertised. YouTube, the popular video site owned by Google, centres its entire economy around the PPC model in which YouTube pays its uploaders a percentage of what a company pays them every time an ad is displayed on a video.

·24/7 Operations: This is the idea that the web can be used as a marketing tool 24 hours of every day, this is beneficial for companies because they can focus more on the product and the content of the advertisement instead of worrying when would be the best time to reach their target audience.

·Global Nature: This is the idea that the web is used internationally, meaning that a company can reach any one at any place in the world. This means that companies will be able to establish less bases of operations around the globe and still be able to reach a huge audience.

·Speed: The web is an incredibly efficient marketing medium for companies as they can simply and easily market their product without having to go through too many steps, they can just post information about their product on social media should they wish, or they can just pay a site to advertise their content and reach a wider audience at a rapid pace.