Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media & e-Business

Future of Internet & SM Business

- 3 billion people worldwide use the internet (40%), so there is a possibility for a huge growth in internet/web users. - 86% of US uses the WWW, so there is little growth potential in the US. - 17% of the world uses Facebook, so there is growth to be expected. - Data mining allows firms to search data records looking for information about you & can include confidential information. - Electronic beacons allow firms to track your movements online & in-stores, & cookies collect data about your online usage. THESE ARE ALL ETHICAL CONCERNS DEPENDING UPON HOW THE DATA IS USED. - Malware, viruses, fraud, & hacking financial data are also concerns.

SM is used by firms because it allows them to... (Jet Blue example.)

1) Build community, & influence or impact on community/said product. 2) Connect with customers. 3) Listen to stakeholders (people having an interest in a business doing well). 4) Provide customer service. 5) Crisis & Reputation Management. (Nike example.) 6) Develop valuable content. // Photos, videos, gifs, memes, blogs, podcasts, ratings, & reviews. (Whole foods example.) 7) Target customers. 8) Engage customers in product development.

What are firm goals with SM?

1) Building Community. 2) Crisis & Reputation Management. 3) Listening to Stakeholders. 4) Targeting Customers. 5) Marketing.

What are the five (5) Marketing concerns in SM?

1) Inbound Marketing. 2) Using SM to sell, invite feedback, & reinforce positive brand image. 3) PR online. 4) Generating new product ideas. 5) Recruiting employees.

What are the steps in building a SM Plan?

1) Listen & Determine Opportunities. 2) Establish Social Media Objectives. 3) Segment & Target Customers. 4) Select Social Media Tools. 5) Implement & Integrate the Plan.

What is content?

A way of sharing information about their product in ways that are useful to consumers.

Crisis & Reputation Management

Companies have employees trained in SM etiquette to post carefully worded posts in response to complaints & provide customer services.

Inbound Marketing

Creating content on SM sites that pull customers into your website so you can make a contact, & perhaps a sale. - Needs to be interestting enough & can be done via links.

Generating New Product Ideas

Crowdsourcing: outsourcing tasks to a group of people (firm's customers) in order to tap into ideas of the crowd. - Asking for ideas for new products or improvements to existing tasks. - EX: Lay's Chip Flavor Contest, Starbucks' Cup Logo.

What is General Information?

Demographic information. // Age, gender, occupation, income, religion, etc..

Select SM Tools

Depends on the objectives & target(s) defined in Step 2.

Building Community

Developing fans, follower, or likes, & getting these fans to post about your business.

What are Identifying Factors?

Factors outlining what is important to you, how do you spend your time, what types of products do you buy, how often do you buy or shop, etc..

Segment & Target Customers

General Information, Identifying Factors, & SM Usage.

Establish SM Objectives (What is Attempting to be Achieved)

Increasing brand awareness, acquiring/getting new customers or retaining old customers, introducing new products, retaining current customers, gaining customer insight, & increasing sales.

Implement & Integrate the SM Plan

Into your overall marketing plan.

Listen & Determine Opportunities

Listening to customers & competition on SM. - Reading customer feedback & the competition's SM.

Targeting Customers

Millennials are a very valuable target market. - 60% of the world's consumers are under 30.

Listening to Stakeholders

Monitoring SM to see what customers like & do not like, & responding.

Developing a Social Media Plan

Needs to be very specific.

What does Social Media represent?

Online interactions (i.e., interacting with customers) that allow people & business to communicate, share ideas, personal information, & information about products. - COMMUNICATING INFORMATION TO CONSUMERS.

Using SM to sell, invite feedback, & reinforce positive brand image.

Positive associations with your brand that make a sale more likely to occur.

Marketing

SM accounts for 26% of online spending.

What do firms use SM for?

To share information about their products to their consumers, to learn about the consumers' likes & dislikes, & to seek public input about products or marketing campaigns. - Learn common tastes & preferences. - Share ideas, make sales.

What does SM allow firms to be?

Very responsive to complaints & compliments in a public forum.

What is SM Usage?

What sites you visit, how often you use SM, if you create videos or blogs, if you read ratings & reviews, & other factors.