Social Media Critique: Apple - Report Example

Running Head: SOCIAL MEDIA CRITIQUE: APPLE Social Media Critique: Apple Introduction Businesses are embracing social media and mobile technologies not only to promote their products but also to develop a sense of engagement with their customers to help establish brand loyalty and a true community of consumers. The purpose of this report is to evaluate how Apple Inc. (Apple) uses social media and mobile technologies to engage its consumers. The report presents a brief overview of the company and its current social media techniques as well as their purpose and analysis of the effectiveness of these strategies. This is followed by suggestions on how company can improve in the future and how it can measure the technologies’ effectiveness. The report also gives details of the most innovative social media concept that has been demonstrated by Apple, followed an analysis on how the company leverages on a mobile engagement strategy. Apple: Mandate and overview Apple is a company that designs, makes and sells personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, as well as portable digital music players. The company also sells a wide array of peripherals, services, networking solutions, related software, and third-party digital applications and content. Apple’s products and services include iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, iPod, Mac, a range of professional and consumer software applications that includes OS X and iOS operating systems, iCloud and a variety of accessory, support and service offerings. The corporation also vends and provides digital content and applications through a variety of applications: iTunes Store, Mac App Store, App StoreSM and iBookstoreSM. The firm sells its services and products globally via its retail stores, direct sales, online stores, and through third-party mobile communication service providers, retailers, wholesalers, as well as value-added resellers (Forbes, 2014). Apple’s current social media techniques and their purpose Apparently, existing literature (Moth, 2012; Protalinski, 2012; Munford, 2013) indicates that Apple does not actively engage in social media or social media marketing activities. Although in recent times many companies and brands have attempted to increase their presence across the globe by engaging consumers on social media, Apple seems to have decided to remain ‘silent’ and let its customers do the social talking (Munford, 2013). According to Munford (2013), it is not easy to find Apple on Facebook or Twitter, and whereas the corporation has an incredibly active page on LinkedIn, the page is used largely for posting advertisements at the company (most of the posts on the page at http://www.linkedin.com/company/apple are about “Apple is hiring”). As well, although the company has a presence on Google+, the page has a community of about 70,000 people and is mainly moderated by these members rather than Apple itself. A search for ‘Apple’ on Facebook does not return any results about the company on Facebook. Only a search for ‘Apple Inc.’ leads to the company’s Facebook page but not much consumer engagement is seen on this page. Even though Apple does not actively engage in social media marketing, it operates several Facebook and Twitter accounts for its different sub-brands such as App Store, iBook and iTunes (Moth, 2012). App Store and iTunes had 4.36 million and 20.69 million likes respectively by 2012 (Protalinski, 2012). Currently, iTunes has 31.5 million likes while App Store has slightly over 9 million likes. Both pages have active updates, implying that the company uses them to keep customers informed about new events. For instance, on 16 March 2014, a post on the App Store Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/AppStore) informed users on how they can teach their kids to code using Tynker (a new iPad app aimed at teaching kids to code (Dredge, 2014)). Ironically, Apple is not a fan of the App Store, iBook and iTunes social media pages. According to Munford (2013), the reason why Apple does not actively engage in social media marketing is that it engenders loyalty in its consumers. Thus, despite the buzz created by the use of social media platforms in marketing, the company believes that there is no better marketing strategy than word of mouth. As such, the company endeavors to be ‘cool and funky’ and to remain different from its rivals like Samsung which actively uses social media to market its products (Munford, 2013; Moth, 2012). Further, Apple’s limited involvement in social media is because getting involved on social media means that the company cannot control the environment. It is argued that social media is crowded and controlled by the people on such platforms. Apple wants to avoid this in order to control its environment by letting consumers market its products via word of mouth (Munford, 2013). Effectiveness of the current social media tactics It is worth noting that even though Apple does not engage vigorously in social media activities, the company still follows what is happening on the social media. For instance, in December 2013 the company bought Topsy Labs, a social media analytics company. Topsy Labs uses Twitter information to analyze user concerns about brands, and this is notable given that Apple is one of the brands (Munford, 2013). In addition, although Apple does not actively engage in social media activities as a company, it has Twitter accounts for iTunesMusic, iTunesTrailers, and AppStore, which have millions of followers (Langer, 2014). According to Langer (2014), the company has over 13 million followers on its Twitter accounts for various products. It also has 1.8 million YouTube subscribers as well as 1.4 million LinkedIn fans who receive announcements about job openings. Taken together, this is no doubt a good number given that the company’s Facebook account and others for different products such as App Store and iTunes have millions of fans. Hence, even though the company does not have an official voice in sites like Twitter, it is still able to reach its customers to some extent. The effectiveness of Apple’s social media tactics lies in the point that it wants to be seen as the premium company it is. As such, the company wants customers to go to it rather than for it (Apple) to go to the customers as noted by Langer (2014). The company releases new products on a set schedule and would like to command all its communication with outsiders (Langer, 2014). This is a good way of ensuring that it avoids some of the negative comments associated with some outsiders who may want to tarnish the company’s name. Although the company can be seen to be avoiding criticism (for instance it has disabled comments on is YouTube clips (Langer, 2014)), this is not necessarily true as it has already been noted that the company follows what is happening on social media sites like Twitter. How the company could improve in the future Given that Apple wants to maintain itself as a premium company, it is doing a good thing to control its media environment. In the future, the company should continue opening pages of its products on sites such as Twitter and Facebook and post video clips on YouTube and monitor them to see what customers are saying about its products (mainly for Facebook and Twitter accounts). This is because the company is doing well in terms of product sales (its profits were bigger than Google’s in 2012 as noted by Moth (2012)). It has also been said that Apple has nothing to gain by engaging more actively in social media marketing (Langer, 2014) since its customer word of mouth marketing is doing exceptionally well. Therefore, the most important step in the future is for the company to monitor what its consumers are saying on its product’s pages as well as what others are saying through social media analytics such as Topsy Labs. This will enable the company to be in touch with what people are saying about its services and products while at the same time being able to control its environment. How the company can measure the effectiveness of its strategy Apple already has a measuring tool in terms of Topsy Labs, which it acquired specifically to analyze people’s information on Twitter regarding different brands as discussed above. Such a tool is important for getting to know what people are saying on Twitter about the company and its products. Apple also has numerous Facebook accounts for its various products, and using these pages, the company can monitor customers’ concerns without necessarily having to engage in confrontations with some outsiders. Apple can also acquire other online reputation monitoring software or develop its own tools to monitor what people are saying on various social media sites. This strategy will ensure that the company gets to know what different people are saying about its services and products in blogs, discussion forums and popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The company can then use that information to improve its products and services to ensure that it maintains its premium image. Most innovative social media concept demonstrated by the company The most innovative social media concept demonstrated by Apple can be said to be that of being on a number of social networks albeit not engaging the public actively. This ensures that the company does not have to constantly engage in discussions with dissatisfied customers or other people who give negative comments about the company. For instance in a review of Apple’s rather unused Facebook page, one customer posted the message shown below on 20 March 2014. (Note that review pages are automatically generated for Facebook accounts whose owners (businesses) include the details of their physical location (Sophy, 2013)), hence the comment was not in response to a post by Apple). Figure 1: An Apple Facebook rated review and post by a customer Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Inc/137947732957611 Even though criticism is good in any marketing campaign, some negative comments can be devastating and hence it is appropriate to avoid them. One of the ways suggested for dealing with negative comments when having a presence on social media is to delete them or to hide them so that the person who posted them and their friends can see the posts, but the fans of the page cannot (Bertsch, 2013; Moyers, 2014). However, it is also possible to avoid such messages by not writing any posts on the social media pages since such people will then have nothing to comment about. Apple is known to have a strict policy as a mechanism to prevent negative feedback from ever appearing and it also deletes posts on its forums if they negatively showcase its products (Bertsch, 2013). Therefore, the very first step of avoiding too much presence on social media helps the company avoid instances of negative comments. Apple’s mobile engagement strategy Apple does not advertise its products and services directly through mobile strategies like short messages to customers but engages customers with new apps. Apps like Tynker which was mentioned earlier in this report ensure that customers continue using their Apple devices such as the iPad and that new customers emerge to purchase such products. The company also engages mobile phone operators, who promote their networks with Apple devices and services and thus end up advertising for the company because of the reputation of its products (McCormack, 2013). Conclusion Apple manufactures and sells a wide range of products and services including personal computers, mobile communication and media devices and software. The company does not engage actively in social media marketing and thus relies on word of mouth marketing for its premium products. Basically, the company aims to ensure that customers look for it as opposed to taking itself to the customers. Even then, it has a Facebook page on which it rarely engages fans, as well as several Twitter and Facebook accounts for different products like App Store, iBook, iTunes, iTunesMusic and iTunesTrailers. Despite this, the company constantly monitors what happens on social media and even has an analytic tool (Topsy Labs) to analyze consumer concerns on Twitter. This way, the company is able to evaluate its effectiveness through comments posted by different people in various social media sites. This has been found to be an effective strategy because it enables the company to avoid direct confrontations with people who post negative comments about it, which would adversely affect its position as a premium corporation. Also, Apple does not market its products directly through mobile marketing but uses different varieties of apps for mobile devices to ensure that its products are purchased. The company also deals with mobile phone operators, who end up advertising on its behalf because of its reputation. References Bertsch, T. (2013, 18 March). How to handle negative reviews on social media. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://blog.evolvecreativegroup.com/post/2013/03/18/How-To-Handle-Negative-Reviews-On-Social-Media.aspx Dredge, S. (2014, 13 March). Tynker is the latest iPad app aiming to teach kids to code. The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/13/tynker-ipad-app-children-kids-coding-programming Forbes (2014). Apple. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/companies/apple/. Langer, E. (2014, 23 February). Why isn’t @Apple on Twitter? CNBC. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://www.cnbc.com/id/101433491 McCormack, F. (2013, 27 October). Apple’s iPhone marketing strategy exposed. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://www.business2community.com/marketing/apples-iphone-marketing-strategy-exposed-0661613#!AGgWE Moth, D. (2012, 18 July). The Apple approach to social media: Just ignore it. Econsultancy. Retrieved 18 March 2014, from https://econsultancy.com/blog/10364-the-apple-approach-to-social-media-just-ignore-it Moyers, S. (2014). Dominate social media results by smartly handling negative comments. Retrieved 18 March 2014, from http://www.techwyse.com/blog/social-media-marketing/dominate-social-media-results-by-smartly-handling-negative-comments/ Munford, M. (2013, 31 December). Apple doesn't really do social media, so why should other brands? The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/10542575/Apple-doesnt-really-do-social-media-so-why-should-other-brands.html Protalinski, E. (2012, 6 March). Where’s Apple's Facebook page? ZDNet. Retrieved 18 March 2014, from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/wheres-apples-facebook-page/10063 Sophy, J. (2013, 13 November). Facebook Enables Starred Reviews for Some Businesses. Small Business Trends. Retrieved 20 March 2014, from http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/11/facebook-starred-reviews.html Read More

A search for ‘Apple’ on Facebook does not return any results about the company on Facebook. Only a search for ‘Apple Inc.’ leads to the company’s Facebook page but not much consumer engagement is seen on this page. Even though Apple does not actively engage in social media marketing, it operates several Facebook and Twitter accounts for its different sub-brands such as App Store, iBook and iTunes (Moth, 2012). App Store and iTunes had 4.36 million and 20.69 million likes respectively by 2012 (Protalinski, 2012).

Currently, iTunes has 31.5 million likes while App Store has slightly over 9 million likes. Both pages have active updates, implying that the company uses them to keep customers informed about new events. For instance, on 16 March 2014, a post on the App Store Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/AppStore) informed users on how they can teach their kids to code using Tynker (a new iPad app aimed at teaching kids to code (Dredge, 2014)). Ironically, Apple is not a fan of the App Store, iBook and iTunes social media pages.

According to Munford (2013), the reason why Apple does not actively engage in social media marketing is that it engenders loyalty in its consumers. Thus, despite the buzz created by the use of social media platforms in marketing, the company believes that there is no better marketing strategy than word of mouth. As such, the company endeavors to be ‘cool and funky’ and to remain different from its rivals like Samsung which actively uses social media to market its products (Munford, 2013; Moth, 2012).

Further, Apple’s limited involvement in social media is because getting involved on social media means that the company cannot control the environment. It is argued that social media is crowded and controlled by the people on such platforms. Apple wants to avoid this in order to control its environment by letting consumers market its products via word of mouth (Munford, 2013). Effectiveness of the current social media tactics It is worth noting that even though Apple does not engage vigorously in social media activities, the company still follows what is happening on the social media.

For instance, in December 2013 the company bought Topsy Labs, a social media analytics company. Topsy Labs uses Twitter information to analyze user concerns about brands, and this is notable given that Apple is one of the brands (Munford, 2013). In addition, although Apple does not actively engage in social media activities as a company, it has Twitter accounts for iTunesMusic, iTunesTrailers, and AppStore, which have millions of followers (Langer, 2014). According to Langer (2014), the company has over 13 million followers on its Twitter accounts for various products.

It also has 1.8 million YouTube subscribers as well as 1.4 million LinkedIn fans who receive announcements about job openings. Taken together, this is no doubt a good number given that the company’s Facebook account and others for different products such as App Store and iTunes have millions of fans. Hence, even though the company does not have an official voice in sites like Twitter, it is still able to reach its customers to some extent. The effectiveness of Apple’s social media tactics lies in the point that it wants to be seen as the premium company it is.

As such, the company wants customers to go to it rather than for it (Apple) to go to the customers as noted by Langer (2014). The company releases new products on a set schedule and would like to command all its communication with outsiders (Langer, 2014). This is a good way of ensuring that it avoids some of the negative comments associated with some outsiders who may want to tarnish the company’s name. Although the company can be seen to be avoiding criticism (for instance it has disabled comments on is YouTube clips (Langer, 2014)), this is not necessarily true as it has already been noted that the company follows what is happening on social media sites like Twitter.

How the company could improve in the future Given that Apple wants to maintain itself as a premium company, it is doing a good thing to control its media environment.

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