The Inclusion of Social Media as a Marketing Tool - Case Study Example

Business Proposal Overview Social media in recent scenario has emerged to be an important tool for marketers to establish communication with s and promote their products and services. Extensive acceleration of shopping from online sources has given a new height to the social media. With the involvement of innovations in the field pertaining to the social media has dramatically changing the perception of the customers’ and has laid a greater impact on their preferences and tastes. On further explanation related to the social media application, it is considered as infancy but its use in the modern day envisages its acceleration in the future (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2014). This study intends to discuss about the ideas pertaining to the inclusion of social media as a marketing tool. Besides, the study intends to propose a new social media policy to executive management of Stone Goose Company. Company Background Stone Goose Company mainly deals with marketing and selling of wide range of retail products. The product category of the company includes apparel, home furnishing and kitchen utensils along with the combo offers. The company also deals with the products related to jewelries. It has been established in the year 2008, with profit figures only for two years, the company suffered loss, which is raise several issues regarding its sustainability. Therefore, with a motive to sustain amidst the highly competitive market scenario and to earn sustainable profit, it has become urgent need for the company to adopt innovative strategies particularly related with its marketing activities. Proposal for a New Social Media Policy In the midst of competitive scenario, use of social media assists the organization in improvising the operational efficiencies. As discussed by Aggarwal & Buggarapu (n.d.), billions of users associated with the IT-savvy are widely involved in using social media application. In-fact social media is considered as the prospect for converting the innovative ideas into business opportunities. The authors have further discussed that relevant feedbacks are ascertained from the use of social media that provides information about the loyal customers’. Accordingly, it has been identified that many retail oriented companies have incorporated online sale medium for making it easy for the customer to shop without visiting to physical retail location and simultaneously achieving the broad business goals. In this regard, it can be well judged that by using social media within Stone Goose Company, it will be able to expand its network to a larger area. If the company adapts the online technology for selling its products, it will aid the company to accelerate its productivity as well as profitability. Responding to current lifestyle of people, it can be viewed that people usually do not get ample time to shop. Therefore, online shopping will provide them the scope to browse through the list of products available and ordered accordingly the required particulars. The company can make use of the social media to convey the latest offers and its Unique selling preposition to the valued customers’. In this regard the entire operations are executed within short tenure and also involve low costs. Besides, the inclusion of social media as a means of marketing tool is also expected increase the ability of Stone Goose Company to develop strong relationships with customers that will facilitate in attaining loyal customer base. In accordance to the traditional method of sales and marketing involves high amount of budget and cost. However, with the advent of social media, the entire scenario has changed. In this regard, it has been observed that social media provides one of the cheapest mode for marketers to promote and market their products and services. Correspondingly, it is proposed to Stone Goose Company to adopt social media as a primary tool for communicating and marketing its activities. It is expected that such inclusion of social media will promote in saving considerable amount which would have otherwise not possible with the use of traditional modes of marketing channels. In addition, customers in the current world usually depend upon the reviews of other people before opting for any kind of purchase. In this regard, this trend has given a new way to organizations to understand the changes in their tastes and the preferences In-fact, it has been observed from various reports that use of Twitters and the Facebook among others have been beneficial in deriving better results related with the selection of offerings made by the company to customers. Thus, the application of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook by Stone Goose Company will facilitate in deriving precise understanding regarding the customers’ needs and preferences which will ultimately promote the efficiency of the company in terms of dealing with customers. Furthermore, it has also been mentioned that by advertising thorough social media, cost is reduced to a greater extent by forming a larger customer base (Heussner, 2010). In viewing this benefit, Stone Goose Company can also save money by changing the trading advertising method to new technological development. In this regard the company can adapt social media with a view to reduce the advertising cost and utilize it in some other operational activities. This will increase the efficiency and productivity of the firm with lower cost being incurred. Application of social media has shown remarkable results for the organizations adopting it in terms of their revenue generation capability. It has been further observed that 5.6% of revenue pertaining to any given company is mainly the contribution of the use of social media. Sending of updates at a regular interval and personalized messages among others are considered to be the key factor that attract the customers’ and indulge them in buying thereby accelerating the revenue (Phys.org, 2013). Considering, the above mentioned factor, Stone Goose Company can also ensure accelerated revenue by applying social media. Being a departmental store the company provides all the latest trends and fashionable products pertaining to the apparel section. In order to attract the customers’, the company can use social media to promote their latest fashionable trend for conveying the message to a larger customer base at a reasonable cost. With regard to the application of social media, it can be further mentioned that customers’ opt for the product that ensure quality and after services. It is important to understand the tastes and the preference of the customers’ to reshape the strategies for better results. For deriving information, customers review is given importance. In order to know about the details of the company, the people are spending much time in getting details about the product range and reviews. This reflects about the engagement of customers’ (Gallahar, 2013). In the midst of the global trend, social media has been considered as the most important tool to satisfy customers’ at a broader aspect. The effective strategies possible with the implementation of social media within the company are to respond quickly to the customers’ queries. Apart from this, transparency must be maintained to build up trust and faith amidst the customers’. In this regard, Stone Goose Company can also enjoy higher profit margins and wider customer base with the application of social media. On further note, it can be determined that the use of social media ensures fulfillment of CSR responsibilities. CSR responsibilities mainly assist in the development of social impact, establishment of reliable communications along with the sustainable business strategies. In-fact, social media is considered to be an effective communication tool for conveying the CSR messages to the valuable customers’. It is expected from the organizations that it will follow transparency about their processes and services being executed. In this regard it has also been ascertained that use of social media also engages the stakeholders pertaining to the information of the business activities (Bradley, 2013). Stone Goose Company can adapt this method to ensure proper mitigation of issues pertaining to CSR activities. Stone Goose Company is a departmental store that follows traditional method of buying and selling. In order to survive in the midst of competitive market scenario, application of social media is important and necessary for the company. In this regard, if the company wants to accelerate its brand awareness amidst the wider base of customers’, social media is a necessary requirement. Social media is considered as similar to word-of-mouth that ultimately ensures establishment of brand awareness amidst the customers’ (Lithium, n.d.). Organizational Structure after the Implementation of Social Media Stone Goose Company follows the traditional structure. But inclusion of social media as an important operation, the entire organizational structure will be changed. The proposed structure of the organization has been mentioned hereunder. Organizational Structure As given in the structure mentioned above the head of the company is Chief Executive Officer. Under the purview of CEO, the two officers are mentioned as Chief Information Officer and the Board of Directors. The responsibility of the CIO is to monitor the activities undertaken by Store Managers and Operation Managers. In this regard the responsibility Operation Managers will be to ensure execution of all the organizational operations including social media as a marketing tool of the company. On the other hand, the responsibility Store Managers will be to ensure proper functioning of the store. Whereas, considering the functional departments, it comes under the responsibilities of the Board of Directors. Thus, implementation of social media within Stone Goose Company will ensure higher profitable margins and wider customer base. References Aggarwal, N., & Buggarapu, G. (n.d.). Using social media to improve efficiency and productivity in IT organizations. CA Technologies, 1-5. Bradley, D. (2013). Corporate social responsibility strategy & social media. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/DanielBradley4/corporate-social-responsibility-strategy-social-media-csrdb Guardian News and Media Limited. (2014). Social media is a highly valuable tool for retailers. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media-network-partner-zone-ebay/social-media-retail-brands-ebay Gallahar, S. (2013). Use social media to improve customer satisfaction. Retrieved from http://www.i7marketing.com/internetmarketing/understanding-how-social-media-can-improve-customer-satisfaction/ Heussner, K. M. (2010). 5 social media secrets to saving money. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/social-media-secrets-saving-money/story?id=10106542 Lithium. (n.d.). Nailing social media marketing ROI. Retrieved from http://www.lithium.com/pdfs/whitepapers/Lithium-Nailing-Social-Media-ROI_i6KG5OsY.pdf Phys.org. (2013). Businesses increase revenue with social media. Retrieved from http://phys.org/news/2013-03-businesses-revenue-social-media.html Read More