Social media and business
With the rapid evolution of the internet and its associated world wide web, the shopping has also evolved. The net was static in the beginning but now anyone can modify information on the web. It is a living, social thing(Arnaboldi and Coget 2016). The social web signifies that the people have a voice. This interaction facility between customers and businesses means that retail businesses can no longer ignore their customers(Trainor et al.2014). It is about time that they start engaging with people and discuss their brand. Social media gives businesses a significant boost in earnings, in addition to spending more awareness about their brand(Murray 2017). The growth of data , with the advent of major technological breakthroughs has placed a significant importance on the growth of retail industry in Australia. Maintaining data allows companies to be more customer oriented and increases efficiency in maintaining workflows and customer processes.
Social media brands give the retailing brands a chance to interact with millions of customers all over the world. With more people spending money and shopping on the net, the online retail trades have amplified by 14% from previous term to more than $ 50 billion presently(Scott 2015). The retail brands have certainly reacted well to the growing social age.Almost every retail brand in Australia has a facebook page, a twitter handle or a pintrest board(Scott 2015). Although, there is a traditional mindset and a definite skills gap in implementing a social strategy, yet there are many brands that use social media most effectively Some of them include:
- Mcdonalds-Mcdonalds have made snapchat their primary social media tool for enticing younger customers.In the month of May,2016 this enterprise started two brand quotes-one with the catch phrase” I’m Loving It” and the other saying” Every day is Friday”.Those filtered taglines lasted only for a day but peaked the popularity of the snapchat account of Mcdonalds (com.au, 2018).
- Red bull-Red bull is one of the first ones to take advantage of the accessible dissemination platform called Periscope.Red bull have managed to acquire over 74 k active followers(Dootson, Beatson and Drennan 2016).The company uses the app to broadcast their live events .This app streams everything- from live events to party events(Australianbusiness.com.au, 2018).
- Tourism Australia- The network of social media channels of Tourism Australia are used to stimulate vacationers and tourists all over the world to visit Australia. Figuring out that they did not have the necessary content to interest their fans , they queried their twenty two million customers for assistance.Presently more than 90% of TourismAustralia’s facebook content is generated by user(Australianbusiness.com.au, 2018).They have amassed enough content to last them for a lifetime.
Data is slowly but steadily replacing the traditional mould of doing business.It has already proven its worth in different sectors like finance, healthcare and of course retail.Customers can have millions of versions of a single store to suit their own needs(Bradlow et al.2017). This drives sales to a huge amount.Some of the opportunities that data sector provides to retail industry are as follows:
- Data makes customer centric-A company needs to know everything about a customer in order to serve their needs better. Collecting personal data is often considered intrusive but there should be a line that bridges the gap between intrusion and helpful. Data tracks previous searches and order histories and suggests complimentary products(Bradlow et al.2017).This helps retail companies to get to know customers better.
- Data improves the supply chain-Data, with the help of stock analysis can help retail companies to avoid oversupply of items and ensure that they have the best selling items available(Li and Wang,2017).With the help of predictive analysis which considers trends, seasonality and other factors, this can help retailers het the right number of products or the right amount of raw materials.
- Cost reduction-.With the help of business process reengineering, there is a possibility of reducing costs and freeing up more time to focus on the main tasks instead of doing the admin work(Lipton et al.2015).
- Strategic planning-Data analysis can power long term planning as well. By viewing the buying patterns, retailers can create better pricing models and break free from the traditional year end sales. Dynamic promotions and strategic sales on less desirable products could increase revenue and profits by a large amount(Rehman et al.2016).
Conclusion
From the report, it is evident that social media has a huge role to play in modern businesses. Snapchat,facebook,twitter and social media platforms are a major marketing tool. The usage of these social media platforms enables a business to access different market segments, boost revenue, increase awareness and promote brand loyalty. Companies are facing increased pressure to keep up to date with the major social media trends in a bid to keep their customers engaged and interested. Some of the retail companies in Australia have made a significant inroads to social media strategy and have formulated innovative and unique ways to boost their brand and consequently their earnings. Using data in business is an effective way to reduce costs and improve overall efficiency and operations. More and more companies need to follow this trend of maintaining data in business. At present however not many companies in the retail sector are using data in business.
References:
Arnaboldi, M. and Coget, J.F., 2016. Social media and business. Organizational Dynamics, 1(45), pp.47-54.
Australianbusiness.com.au. (2018). News. [online] Available at: https://www.australianbusiness.com.au/marketing/news/11-brands-that-are-killing-it-on-social-media [Accessed 15 Aug. 2018].
Bradlow, E.T., Gangwar, M., Kopalle, P. and Voleti, S., 2017. The role of big data and predictive analytics in retailing. Journal of Retailing, 93(1), pp.79-95.
Dootson, P., Beatson, A. and Drennan, J., 2016. Financial institutions using social media–do consumers perceive value?. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 34(1), pp.9-36.
Goworek, H., McGoldrick, P.J. and McGoldrick, P.J., 2015. Retail marketing management: Principles and practice. Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Li, D. and Wang, X., 2017. Dynamic supply chain decisions based on networked sensor data: an application in the chilled food retail chain. International Journal of Production Research, 55(17), pp.5127-5141.
Lipton, A.J., Venetianer, P.L., Haering, N., Brewer, P.C., Yin, W., Zhang, Z., Yu, L., Hu, Y., Myers, G.W., Chosak, A.J. and Cutting, R.A., 2015. Video analytics for retail business process monitoring. U.S. Patent 9,158,975.
Murray, G., 2017. Capitalist networks and social power in Australia and New Zealand. Routledge.
Rehman, M.H., Chang, V., Batool, A. and Wah, T.Y., 2016. Big data reduction framework for value creation in sustainable enterprises. International Journal of Information Management, 36(6), pp.917-928.
Scott, D.M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. John Wiley & Sons.
Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., 2014. Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), pp.1201-1208.
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