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Running Head: Social Networking Use of social networking and how it affects marketing Social networking tools such as MySpace twitter and face book have become increasingly important to both small and large businesses, we will explore what and impact social networking has had on companies, how it is used and the benefits and risks associated with this new form of doing business and promotion. How are large corporations using social media as a marketing tool? Office Max: “Marketing is all about change.
There’s a saying that ‘if you don’t create change, change will create you. ‘ It’s a great thought. I’m continually open to new ideas and new media and new approaches and new methodologies. At OfficeMax, we’ve embraced social media and incorporated it into our marketing strategy to reach today’s digital consumer through humor, entertainment and personalization. ” ??? Bob Thacker, senior vice president of marketing and advertising Will the use of Social Media change the relationship companies have with their customers and the public at large?
According to twitter “The conversational nature of the medium lets you build relationships with customers, partners and other people important to your business…. Twitter gives your constituents direct access to employees and a way to contribute to your company; as marketers say, it shrinks the emotional distance between your company and your customers. ” (Twitter for Business 101, 4) So in a way it personalizes a company makes the consumer feel valued and listened to instead of just another bank account or number.
This in turn makes the customer feel listened to and a part of a reciprocal relationship. What are the dangers of Social Media for a company, large or small? Some of the dangers can be that anyone can post on your site and people will follow suit for example, you can receive tons of negative advertising along with the positive. Starbucks coffee is one of the first large companies to jump into the social media networks. Recently Starbucks launched of their own social network that pathetically backfired on them.
The same week a political filmmaker was releasing a film about Starbucks anti -union labor policies. He encouraged his followers to post on encouraging people to take pictures in front of Starbucks stores holding signs that criticized the company’s “anti-labor practices. ” Then he invited users to upload the photos onto Twitter and tweet them out to followers, within hours many dozens of photos of Starbucks haters with their signs started to flow through Twitter from all around the country. The Hartman group, ??2) How much damage this had on Starbucks overall is unknown, however a smaller business could be severely damaged by a disgruntled employee or a complaining customer. The use of social networking in small local businesses. Social networking has become increasingly important to not just the large businesses, but small local businesses in the SLC area. A local specialty vegan/ vegetarian restaurant was used as an example to determine the usefulness of networking platforms like twitter and face book on local businesses.
Diner employee David Berg, who posts diner ideas on twitter regularly, reports that social media networking “keeps the diner fresh in people’s minds”, he gives appetizing descriptions of daily specials, informs customers what is going on behind the scenes such as specialty ingredients ,promotes local events, celebrity sightings such as The Marley family frequenting the diner and touring musicians. He reports that it has a positive impact on customers and is a great marketing tool as the diner has a limited advertising budget.
He also expanded that in addition to what the diner puts out on face book and twitter, often an “echo effect” meaning customers that receive “tweets” from vertical diner will repeat the info and reach potential customers no currently following them. Nelson has learned when starting a new account on Twitter; it’s smart to reach out to your current customer base. They’re already interested in chatting with you, and they’ll tell other people about you. But no matter who’s following you on Twitter, she says, “offering relevant information that people are interested in is key. “
Employee of the diner David Berg, who posts the menu ideas reports that social media networking keeps the diner fresh in people’s minds, post appetizing descriptions of daily specials, informs what is going on behind the scenes, the diner. such as specialty ingredients special and is relevant to the overall community and promotes local events ,celebrity sightings such as The Marley family frequenting the diner and touring musicians. There is often an echo effect where customers that receive “tweets” from vertical diner will repeat the info and reach potential customers no currently following them. Outline References
The Hartman Group. Tuesday, May 26, 2009. Starbucks social networking campaign goes awryhttp://spark. hartman-group. com/2009/05/starbucks-social-networking-campaign-goes-awry. html Twitter for Business 101 http://business. twitter. com/twitter101, accessed on 10/20/09 Personal Interview David Berg Employee of Vertical Diner 10/21/09 Fisher- Zable, M. (2009, September) What you don’t know about marketing to women; Marketing Trends September2009, accessed 9/20/09http://smallbiztrends. com /2009/09/marketing-to-women. html Etzel M. , Walker B. , Stanton W. (2007) Marketing. 14th Ed, New York, NY. Mc Graw Hill Publishing