Incorporating New Areas of Business into Business Language Studies: Social Media Marketing

Despite the fact that social media marketing has established itself as a vital area of marketing for businesses both large and small, global and local, Business Language Studies (BLS) has yet to turn its full attention to this business activity that requires a keen sense of language, culture, and business. As BLS continues to build and articulate its theoretical and methodological grounds, social media marketing provides rich research and teaching possibilities. However, social media is a dynamic, constantly changing environment that can seem intimidating to BLS educators who are unfamiliar with its platforms and uses. This article serves as an introduction to social media marketing on a few levels. First, it presents definitions and examples of social media and social media marketing. Secondly, it provides an overview of the scarce but important literature on social media marketing. And finally, by using Radio Ambulante as a case study, it focuses on discrete elements of a social media marketing strategy as exemplified in their own social media marketing channels. With examples and resources at hand, perhaps more BLS educators will turn their attention to the linguistic and cultural issues within social media marketing.