The Importance of Social Media in the Society Today - Case Study Example

The Importance of Social Media in the Society Today Social media is significant in the world day. Various sectors of the economy embrace the social media platform to communicate their ideas fast and precise. Society uses social network sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter in their daily activities. The use of social networking is increasing across the world because of its nature of accessibility. According to the Wired article (Silver 1) describes Twitter, as the first a place to enlighten everyone about the best meals and refreshment. Twitter promotes both companys image and product. Social media is significantly introducing a dynamic atmosphere in which communication, collaboration and coordination exist free of interference. Small investors get opportunities to compete with major companies using the social media platform because large enterprises do not spend much time on social media. The use of social media among young generation is increasing making any firm that uses social platforms relevant and more attractive to youthful generation. The report according to Information week, from 2007 to June 2009, Dell a small business attracted sum of $2 million in direct sales of refurbished products and $1 million in indirect sales of their new systems using Twitter as the primary source of advertisement. Dell used @DellOutlet to reach customers (Gonsalves 1). Businesspersons such as Wal-Mart Mart and Gap are using crowdsourcing tactics on Facebook to attract large groups to take part in improving an offer or plan. Wal-Mart uses Crowd Saver program to appeal to its potential clients in Facebook to like their page to compete in promotions where the tyranny of numbers is a factor. Wal-Mart used the social network by asking their fans to vote for them through Facebook that made them emerge victorious in Groupon’s model. Gap requested its Facebook fans to recommend on its new logo designs. Gap engaged customers to create the logo, which appeals to brand users. Customers will feel part of an organization whenever management incorporates their views during key decision arrangements. Individual firms use social media to study behaviors of their stakeholders. For example, some traders value their customers to an extent that they cannot affect any decision until they check out with their loyalists. Facebook agreements allow retailers to provide electronic coupons and loyalty points whenever a customer checks in at arrival, boosting store traffic and turnover rates. According to Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi, REI drove traffic to its store by offered $ 1 donations charity for every check-in, with a ceiling of $ 100,000 (4). America Eagle also offered 20% discounts to customers who visit its stores. Most businesses encourage clients to visit frequently their social media pages to develop a niche and facilitate their eventual sale volumes Entrepreneurs engage social media in marketing strategies to meet with potential customers. It is justifiable that social media platform I striving towards rewarding institutions reputable images to the public. Hubspot researchers indicate that 92% of the marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing played a significant role in their success. Social Media Examiner shows 97% of marketers are currently participating in social media (DeMers 1).As the social media platform attract many users so as the business to gain mileage for expansion. Big Brands widely use social media for promotional purposes. Major brands in the market use social media platforms to relay their healthy existence and create a friendly relationship atmosphere. Saravanakumar & SuganthaLakshmi quotes that IBM owns more than 100 different blogs, a dozen islands in the virtual world, many Twitter accounts and Forum of Developer Works. It publishes a machine series on YouTube, and most of its workers upload presentations on media-Sharing- site Slide Share. Employees find social daises more convenient and efficient in communicating their views. Cases of happy of companies that often use social media platforms Martell Home Builders Martell is a firm in Atlantic Canadian that performs the art of building and contraction businesses. Management explains the significant impact of social media to their businesses. Martell created a direct-to-consumer model where they eliminated the position of intermediaries in conducting their business activities. Martell started a content design targeting local buyers. Martell created a site of blogging with a topic such as, “14 Must –HAVE Tools for New Homeowners". “Home Staging Tips & Techniques,” Martell attracted the attention of homebuyers and become a major shareholder in property management business in the market. Currently, Martell has about 86% of all the company’s leads come from customers of social media. Martell studied keenly and found out that a majority of internet users subscribe to blogs by email than RSS feed readers. A firm used the concept of a blog- RSS research to design a placement where images come below an email capture box as well as their social media channel button. The primary aim of strategically placing components of advertising is to attract the attention of readers and encouraging interaction concurrently. Martell uses GPS tracking devices on their contractors’ machines, which would make it easy for customers to always, track and know where about their contractor while on duty. Customers get tracking technology easy and efficient thus helps the company to outspread its activities to a wider region. Customers often interact with a corporation very often and freely consequently producing a mutual ground of creating a reputable public relation- a critical factor for success. Martell is exceedingly making use of Facebook Like box by continuously updating company’s profile. The Like box shows how many individuals prefer the page, and more importantly, it displays the faces of page fans. The company keeps on posting the images of houses they construct which is continuing attracting various views and many people comment positively on structures. Although some customers criticize buildings, which management is considering a challenge but not a weakness thus tentatively working tirelessly to improve on such encounters? A business essence of having a widget is that there are higher probabilities that people who become fans are likely to remain loyalists to the company’s brand. Martell is persistently encouraging people to stay longer on their website. Zappos Zappos sells shoes, clothing and accessories at retail, using online platform. Zappos group vigorously lays emphasis on creating a solid relationship with their fans and customers on the social media podium. They use Catchy that states, “Let’s be in a Like-Like relationship” which explains reasons as to why they enjoy a massive following. Zappos team uses an approach of asking their employees first to like their page and invite new fans to join their mail list. More interestingly, once one clicks a Like button, the custom tab changes automatically one would call the user to sign up for their email lists to interact with company’s products. Zappos creates a strategy of “fans –only content that only reveals the product of the company to fans who already liked their page” (Porterfield 1). Many customers develop anxiety to know about the product thus do not hesitate to register to access that site. Once a client becomes a fan, he or she would obtain images such as fashions and comment on them as they so wish. Comment widgets allow customers to post on the company’s products, and such comments will pop to users profile or page, telling his or her followers what he or she likes most about the Zappos. Indeed, the Zappos utilizes social professionally. Cranium Cranium is a game by Hasbro that includes fun activities such as drawing, singing, acting and trivia questions. Cranium engages their fans through social media to share their experiences. Cranium posts factoids that exist in their games to the audience, which will significantly attract the attention of their fans. Cranium introduced a podium of involving their fans in playing the game through social media. Cranium created an administrator who controls activities on their social media page. An administrator would interact with fan one-on- one asking them questions such as which character they are. Fans may response by choosing the style they feel would suit their personalities. Cranium smartly embraces the use of video spirit to converge and play together with their fans. For example, Cranium team would have someone in the video humming a song, and fans need to guess what song is humming. The essence of humming sounds is purposeful to engage fans in participating in the game. Cranium uses video on their game because videos are more pleasing to internet users hence creates a greater chance of playing videos than static images. Videos have an embed code on the website, blog or anywhere outside the Facebook (Porterfield 1). When one clicks a video on Facebook, it would automatically bring forth the Like button with it. The automatic process would enable someone who surfs the web for they will find a video, and if they are no yet fans, they can quickly become fans by clicking a like button on videos. Works Cited DeMers, Jayson. The Top 10 Benefits of social Media Marketing. Entrepreneurs. Aug 11, 2014. Web. June 15, 2015 Accessed from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/2/ Gonsalves, Antonne. Dell makes $3 million from Twitter-related sales. Information Week. June 12, 2009. Web. June 15, 2015 Accessed from http://www.informationweek.com/desktop/dell-makes-$3-million-from-twitter-related-sales/d/d-id/1080465? Porterfield, Army. 9 companies Doing social media right and Why social media Examiner. Social Media Examiner. April 12 2012.Web June 15 2015. Accessed from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-companies-doing-social-media-right-and-why/ Saravanakumar, M., and T. SuganthaLakshmi. "Social media marketing." Life Science Journal 9.4 (2012): 4444-4451. Silver, Curtis. Organized chaos: Viral marketing, meet social media. Wired. October 29, 2009. Web. June 15 2015.Accessed from http://www.wired.com/2009/10/organized-chaos-2/ Read More