We argue that social media is a hybrid element of
the promotion mix because it combines characteristics
of traditional IMC tools (companies talking to
customers) with a highly magnified form of word-ofmouth
(customers talking to one another) whereby
marketing managers cannot control the content and
frequency of such information. Social media is also a
hybrid in that it springs from mixed technology and
media origins that enable instantaneous, real-time
communication, and utilizes multi-media formats
(audio and visual presentations) and numerous delivery
platforms (Facebook, YouTube, and blogs, to
name a few), with global reach capabilities. The
emergence of a highly educated, historically affluent,
and an increasingly skeptical and demanding
consumer population facilitates its acceptance in
the marketplace.