Exploring the Influence: A Bibliometric Analysis of Social Media Marketing in the Digital Era

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the term "social media marketing" to explore the growing trends, key contributors, and thematic focus in the academic literature. Social media marketing represents the integration of social media utilization practices and principles into marketing strategies and activities, highlighting the growing importance of technological developments to economic practices in the use of social media. This research examined 980 articles with themes related to marketing management. In the context of this study, we concluded that marketing management articles were classified into twelve clusters. Marketing management research trends related to social media are of great interest to research on the marketing side. There are several topics that frequently appear in publications, such as the social media marketing perspective of one variable against another.


INTRODUCTION
The development of web 2.0 has changed everyone's view on how to communicate, cooperate and disseminate information.The increasing number of social media that have emerged recently, such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter, means that users spend more time communicating online than meeting in person.Social media, also known as 'user-generated communication', now represents a prevalent source of information; it has changed the tools and strategies companies use to communicate, highlighting that control of information is now in the hands of customers [1].
Marketing itself is a well-developed science that constantly changes its rules according to the needs and developments that occur in and around it.The role of marketing in business development has changed radically since communication with the internet became widespread, especially with the emergence of social media.Web technologies create and upload their own content through social media.The content they upload can be seen by millions of people for free and advertisers do not need to pay large sums of money when they are going to embed their ads on social media [2].Companies have now penetrated online social networks by offering direct links from their company websites to Facebook and Twitter, and use these tools to promote their brands and support the formation of their brand communities [3].
The utilization of social media marketing in the progress of the company can provide benefits, among others: 1) Identifying Trends and Patterns: Social media marketing can help to track and identify trends, patterns, and changes in user behavior.By monitoring user activity in real-time, researchers can identify new trends, consumer tendencies, and evolving preferences [1].2) Studying User Interactions and Behavior: Social media marketing makes it possible to study user interactions and behavior in depth.By analyzing comments, content sharing, and other social interactions, it is possible to understand the dynamics of online communities and learn how users interact with a particular brand, product, or topic [4].3) Reaching Specific Target Groups: Social media marketing can make it possible to reach specific target groups, including minority groups, specific communities, or populations that have a special interest in sustainability.Research by [5] highlights the ability of social media to connect brands with smaller, specific target groups, such as ethnic minority groups or environmental communities.By identifying relevant interests and values, social media marketing can send precisely tailored messages to such groups, build closer relationships, and influence their behavior towards sustainable purchasing.
[6] Describe a study that examines social media marketing research using a bibliometric methodology.Their findings indicate that there has been a notable rise in recent years in the quantity of scholarly papers on social media marketing.[7] conducted bibliometric research to estimate the usefulness and economic impact of product reviews on social media.They used text processing techniques and characteristics of review authors to analyze the data.This research provides a better understanding of how product reviews influence consumer purchasing decisions.[8] did a literature study on the connection between customer behavior and social media marketing strategies.This study offers a thorough knowledge of how social media marketing initiatives, such as content campaigns and brand interactions with customers, affect consumer attitudes and behavior.There are bibliometric analysis studies on social media marketing, which include:  The Network Visualizations revealed that there (2022) [13] were seven distinct clusters.In addition, Density Visualization highlights certain research that is connected to social media marketing.This study includes medium, company, social structure, advertising, digital marketing, and measurement.
In the meanwhile, the niche study focuses on topics such as consumer behavior, return on investment (ROI), digital marketing, performance, the quick fashion business, and luxury fashion brand.This carries with it the implication that there is potential for more investigation in this area by researchers in the future.
To the best of our knowledge, no bibliometric analysis of the social media marketing topics has been conducted from several databases which has been searched in the time.The following questions will be addressed in this paper, (1) How are publications about social media marketing categorized?(2) What is the current research trend in social media marketing?(3) What areas of study have generated the most publications?moreover, ( 4) what are potential future study areas for social media marketing?
Based on the findings of earlier research, a literature review of the phrase "social media marketing" was developed to introduce this study.Additionally, Section 1 also includes a presentation of the study's goals.The concept of social media marketing and the current analysis of the word are presented in Section 2. the bibliometric analysis process, including the processes involved in using the databases from the three journals in Section 3. The findings are shown in Section 4 using VOSviewer.Section 5 contains research suggestions, conclusions, and limitations.

A. Social Media Marketing
In particular, emphasize how social media has had a revolutionary influence on consumer connections [14].Through the prism of social media marketing, the research investigates how customer-brand relationships are evolving.It draws attention to how social media encourages participation, co-creation, and word-of-mouth marketing, all of which strengthen consumer connections.The writers go through how to use social media platforms to their full potential in order to increase client interaction and establish enduring bonds.
Examine social media as an integral component of the promotion mix in marketing.They emphasize the unique characteristics of social media that distinguish it from traditional marketing channels, such as interactivity, user-generated content, and network effects [1].The writers offer insights on how social media may be used to increase brand loyalty, raise brand awareness, and shape favourable customer perceptions.
Give a thorough review of social media and its effects on businesses [3].In their discussion of social media platforms, the writers cover a range of platforms such as blogs, social networking sites, and online forums.They draw attention to the advantages and drawbacks of social media marketing, including the necessity for efficient measuring metrics, the control of user-generated material, and how social media affects company culture.
proposes a method for performing social media analytics that uses a framework for evaluating Twitter data.In order to understand consumer behavior, preferences, and attitude, the study underlines the value of utilizing user-generated material on social media platforms.The authors outline a step-by-step process for conducting social media analytics using Twitter data, demonstrating its potential for understanding market trends and developing effective marketing strategies [15].
Look at how social media marketing affects the hotel sector's brand equity and consumer feedback [16].The research investigates the effects of social media initiatives on consumer perceptions and engagement, including online reviews, user-generated content, and brand sites.The results show a substantial correlation between social media marketing and brand equity, underscoring the significance of effective social media activities for establishing long-lasting relationships between brands and consumers.

METHODOLOGY: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS
This essay will examine how social media marketing articles are categorized.Then, to understand the direction of social media marketing research, to understand which study areas have generated more publications, and to assess whether upcoming social media marketing issues will present chances for more research.

a. Search for specific journals on the topic of social media marketing
Bibliometric reviews are typically employed in scientific fields and concentrate on a quantitative analysis of journal articles, books, or other written communications [17].Work begins with searching in Google databases related to journals that specifically address the topic of social media marketing.

b. Journal Metrics Information
This section describes explicitly the profiles and metrics of term social media marketing.
Table 3 shows some important things to know about metrics information of the term.This metric information is obtained from metadata information using the Publish or Perish (PoP) application on june 19, 2023.Based on Figure 1, there are several groups marked with blue, purple, yellow, red green.
Based on the total articles, some words in the cluster, and appear most often.These clusters are an indication that, to date, there are five classifications of articles.In more detail can be seen through table 3.
covid, data, pandemic, social marketing campaign, social marketing strategy, strategy Then, to answer what is trending in social media marketing research, we can see the answer is actually from the cluster itself.Figure 2 shows a visualization of article density.Cluster 1, with the word's social media marketing, business and tourism being the words that appear most often.

Figure 2. Density Visualization Map of Keywords
There is a cluster of results of this mapping that appears at least in the keyword, namely cluster 6.This cluster covers topics on marketing and economics.In addition, some words rarely appear in keywords, such as, in each as municipal finance management act or sustainable development.That is, there are still research gaps that are very likely to become trends in the future, which are certainly adjusted to current and future world conditions.From the researchers' side, there are also six clusters, as presented in Figure 3.The future of social media in marketing It can be seen that in the period 2010 -2021 were the years in which the social media marketing document was the most explicitly cited.Recent material tends not to be widely cited, except for authors who have researched the field before, and they are quite famous.Then, to see which research topics are the subject of more publications, we can look at them through Table 5.In addition to explaining which topics appear most frequently in publications, Table 6 also explains the ultimate goal of this research, which is future social media marketing topics that provide opportunities for further research.The issues that could be an opportunity for further exploration are more specific and lead to implications or measurements of the venture or business that has been run.While topics like social media marketing, how one variable affects another, and those linked to marketing management have been extensively investigated.Systems, market management, and functional technology are also developing as areas connected to marketing management itself.

Conclusions
This study looked at 980 articles with social media marketing-related topics.We grouped the social media marketing articles into 11 clusters for the sake of this study.Numerous scholars have discussed the trends in social media marketing research.In social media marketing, a number of subjects are frequently discussed, including activities, social media marketing tactics, and brand loyalty.Topics that rarely appear are tourism, digital marketing, consumer behavior.The current study has at least two limitations.By using formal tools (PoP, VOSviewer, and Mendeley software), the subjective judgment of the authors remains and can still lead to the recognition of errors.Future research should use a larger sample size that includes other journals, even if they are not Scopusindexed.In addition, comparison of analysis results using different bibliometric analysis software (such as BibExcel and HistCite) is also recommended.
users with the ability to present the goods or services they provide.not only for the purpose of conducting business transactions, but also for the purpose of being in a position to present the goods or services that marketers provide to potential consumers and more focused on the process of brand presentation (branding) by marketers to potential consumers and more towards the process of brand recognition, known as branding.When it comes to social media research topics, the apparel and beauty products industries get the most attention and conversation.The next areas of focus for social media research include the market location industry and the food and beverage findings, there were a total of 997 papers discussing viral marketing, which received a total of 51135 citations and 10227 citations annually.According to the findings of the bibliometric study, there are five main groups of information.This article includes information related to research issues that have not been widely conducted so that it can provide benefits to stakeholders who may need it for further study.The research topics covered in this article have generally not been that during the period 2015 to 2022, there was an increase in the number of publications dealing with the topic of marketing communication.The United States is the country that contributes the most to research on marketing communication.According to the results of the keyword analysis, marketing communication studies from the past two years have referred to marketing through social media.refers to marketing done using social media.This is a form of utilizing technology in marketing communication, and is considered more successful in selling its products to customers.communication in the field of marketing.The bibliometric studies that have been provided offer pertinent information about the most important aspects of the advantages provided by improved technology and social media platforms.that the vast majority of the social media marketing study development focused on SMEs as the object.However, the majority of the pieces were authored by Eunju Ko.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Network Visualization Map of Authors

Table 1 .
Some Bibliometric Analyses That Have Been Done by Previous Researchers on The Topic