...The relatively new social media site Pinterest exploded on to the scene in 2010, and in the course of a few short years became the third-largest social media site, behind Facebook and Twitter. The site now connects millions of users by allowing them to share photos and other items of interest in a pin board style format. As Pinterest has grown, businesses and entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the unique site to reach out to new potential revenue streams. While Pinterest has no sales system set up within their site itself, it has proven to be a valuable promotional tool for businesses of all sizes. The picture-oriented nature of the pin system easily facilitates the sharing of products that are visually exciting or remarkable. As users pin something they like, it becomes visible to their friends, who may in turn pin it, allowing the pinned items to spread virally. This medium works especially well for individuals looking to get attention to items like hand-made crafts that can then be sold via a virtual storefront such as Etsy. Larger entities are also using the tools afforded them by Pinterest to create content for those wishing to follow them and reach out to customers in a less than traditional way. Southwest airlines, a perennial leader in customer relations, has created a Pinterest business account with a number of boards that allow users to view and pin things like pictures of their fleet of jets, their employees and their travel destinations. Fossil uses the...
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...Lately I've been seeing more and more articles discussiing which department controls the message of Social Media: Marketing or PR? I actually was asking that question a year ago in an article entitled "Who leads the charge in Social Media? Marketing, PR, Sales, Customer Service, Who Knows?" It's a year later and the various Social Media platforms have evolved with massive increases in adoption rates and a larger glaring problem has emerged: The very concept that Social Media is 'Marketing'. It's not. It's a communications tool. As the platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and now G+ have evolved more and more marketing people have started to develop strategies to utilize the various platforms functionality. Strategy is useless without a tactical implementation plan. So marketers have developed Social Media editorial calendars that are built with the hope that the platforms don't change their API's and the dashboards actually post the message. The concern is more about will the technology continue to work when the real tactical quesiton is "how will it be utilized by our COMPANY. This is where large company heirarchical structures tend to impede rather than help the effort. The reason Social Media works so well for smaller companies is because of the mere fact that they are smaller. The decision making and internal communications structure all lie with one or two people wearing multiple hats. Large corporations tend to silo who controls what. The idea that...
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...their design teams. It should come as no surprise that Tate Limited is trailing its competitors in overall sales. Product quality is not in question. Tate’s outerwear designs are leading edge and rival anything competitors produce. The problem is in their access to a much larger customer base through their Internet sales site as compared to Tate’s reliance on its retail model alone to drive its revenues. LT1 has identified a consumer need that your competitors do not currently meet – using social networking to increase customer loyalty. The first step in our business plan is to increase your company’s website sophistication from that of an informational site with basic interactive features to a fully interactive site as a precursor to launching a transactional site. Tate must first offer its products to online customers so that it can have an Internet presence similar to that of its competitors. Once your Web presence is established, we will enter the second phase of our business plan – social networking. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter offer the opportunity for your customers to feel ownership – at the least inclusion – in the lifestyle...
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...SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN E-COMMERCE Social Media Tools in E-Commerce Richard Weyers, James Conner, Roselyn Singh University Of Phoenix Communicating in the Virtual Workplace Comm/470 Brooke Linderman July 05, 2010 Social Media Tools in E-Commerce Introduction Successful businesses are built on a common theme; customers! As is the case with just about everything in the world, the way in which businesses expand their customer base is an ever-evolving process. How does a business build a brand name with a strong reputation, and once they’ve achieved those qualities how do they spread that word for all to hear? For a long time businesses used tools such as door-to-door salesman, radio, print, and television ads as their means of spreading word about their product. And while those tools remain alive today, the explosion of the internet has broadened the horizon of the common business. With the internet came electronic commerce, or simply e-commerce. E-commerce is simply the conducting of business over the internet and it is becoming a major part of the business world today (UMSL Online, n.d.). It’s important that businesses embrace the new possibilities or find themselves at a disadvantage. “The successful adaptation of e-commerce can lead to improved efficiencies, growth in market share, expansion into new markets, or simply survival in competitive markets” (Ferguson, Finn, Hall, & Pinnuck, 2010, p. 80). The internet has also provided new methods of spreading the...
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...Social Media Tools in E-Commerce The Internet allows individuals, companies, and entire organizations the ability to interact and socialize. Typically individuals are consumers on the web, looking for information, researching, and purchasing products. Through social media, consumers are advancing from content consumers to content producers. Instead of researching, people can post their ideas, their personal or business information online on websites such as Face-book, twitter, My-space, blogging, and video marketing on You Tube. One of the largest consumers of social media is the Business to Business marketing that is currently ahead of the curve. “Marketing researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth have released the results of a survey, showing that U.S. companies overwhelmingly use at least one social media tool in their marketing efforts” (Komarketing, 2009, p. 3). The research also pointed out that 62% of executives surveyed reported using or being familiar with Twitter. The report also showed that over half of the 500 companies were already using the popular micro blogging service as a part of their online marketing campaigns. An overwhelming 80% of the companies surveyed in the report use social media networks (Komarketing, 2009). Tools for Effective Messaging An analyst of social media, Jordan Julien who wrote the article the Social Media Achilles Heel, suggests that when blogging or marketing through any social media there are two important concepts...
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...Social media as a KM tool for supporting innovation and sharing Social media has rapidly evolved and plays an important role in today’s business world. Organizations recognized the power of social media and tried to find ways to use social media to help grow their business. Social media can be incorporated in business practices in areas such as recruiting, advertising, and branding within an organization. According to the Social Media Risks and Rewards report (2013) that contain surveys of more than 100 senior-executives, 38 percent of executives said their organizations used social media for brand awareness, 27 percent use for recruiting purposes, and 14 percent use for customer profiling (Bramwell, 2013). In this section of the paper, effective usage of social media as well as the controversial issues of social media will be explored. According to Razmerita, Phillips-Wren, and Jain (2016), “Social media opens innovative avenues to manage knowledge processes by facilitating new ways to externalize, share, create knowledge and innovation through co-creation processes, crowdsourcing or synergistic articulation of personal into collective knowledge” (p. 4). The successful adoption of social media requires social media strategy to be aligned with the organization’s goals. In this strategic alignment, organizations are able to improve knowledge-sharing, transform business processes, and increase overall performance. Effective Usage of Social Media Being able to successfully...
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...Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 7 (A) Social Media 7 (B) Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) 9 (C) Social Media and SMEs 10 Methodology 12 Findings 13 Discussion 21 Conclusion 25 Recommendation 26 Reference 27 Abstract The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of social media as marketing tool for Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) Companies in Malaysia. The objectives of the study are, first, to determine the level of influence social media on customer knowledge towards the Malaysian SMEs companies brand, products and services and second, to investigate the causes and effects of the usage social media as marketing strategies for SMEs companies in Malaysia. The study was conducted based on a quantitative approach. A set of questionnaire was distributed to 30 random respondents. In addition, the research pointed out that there are a lot of factors influencing the success of social media as a marketing strategy. The conclusion drawn from the research was that internal and external factors are affecting the effectiveness of social media as one of the marketing tools. One of the major limitations encountered in the research was time constraint. Future researchers are advised to conduct this research for a longer period of time in order to collect more data. Keywords: effectiveness, social media, SMEs in Malaysia, quantitative Introduction In today’s technology driven world, social media have become a venue where retailers most of them use...
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...The Development of Instagram as a Social Media Tool Introduction More than twenty years after its commercial launch, the internet is now an important distribution channel, as well as an essential basis for consumer information and empowerment. The rise of the social and digital media has revolutionized the online environment tremendously. Novel applications for social correspondence are replacing the traditional mass print media. The social media landscape is an ephemeral place. New networks emerge every time, and it is almost impossible to keep track of what works and what does not work. With the many social media applications, the rise of online visual content sharing has brought about further changes in the social media landscape across various industries (Christiansen, B., Yildiz, S., & Yildiz, E. 2014, 213). The rapid growth of visual content sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Vine, and Twitter demonstrates how visual content has become widespread in social media, particularly in industries such as beauty and fashion, which rely heavily on visual representations and aesthetics. In the current social media landscape, brands are trying out the power of visual content in encouraging consumer engagement. Concurrent to this trend, Instagram is now growing faster than any other social networking site (SNS). According to Pew Research, while Facebook continues to be the most popular social networking site, Instagram appears to the fastest growing (Southern, M. 2014...
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...22 Social Media Marketing Management Tools By Lee Odden With every online marketing channel and discipline, there must be tools to make the task of marketing more efficient and effective. Social Media Marketing is no different. Over the past 6-9 months, I’ve been researching and reviewing a variety of social media management tools that help with everything from source network connections to campaign & social content management to monitoring & measurement. While there numerous tools that manage single platforms (like Twitter) this list includes services that manage multiple social network accounts, content and measurement. At some point we’ll do more with individual reviews, but in the meantime, here is a list of 22 different social media marketing management tools, platforms and services to help manage and scale your online marketing efforts on the social web: [pic] Shoutlet – Manages social media marketing communications with one platform for building, engaging and measuring social media. Includes multiple account and platform support, social CRM and ecommerce for Facebook, email marketing and mobile features. [pic] Direct Message Lab – Provides consulting, implementation and a platform (REACH) for centralized management of social media promotions & contests, advertising and measurement. [pic] Objective Marketer – Offers social media marketing and analytics with integrated campaign management (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, YouTube), multi-channel execution, engagement reports...
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...Principles of mARKETING APPLIED RESEARCH (SOCIAL MEDIA AS A MARKETING TOOL AROUND THE WORLD) Professor Paul Ford Park University Internet Campus A course paper presented to the School for Arts and Sciences and Distance Learning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Baccalaureate Principles of Marketing Park University January, 2014 This paper or presentation is my own work. Any assistance I received in its preparation is acknowledged within the paper or presentation, in accordance with Park University academic honesty policies. If I used data, ideas, words, diagrams, pictures, or other information from any source, I have cited the sources fully and completely in a citation within the paper and also listed on the reference page. This includes sources which I have quoted or that I have paraphrased. Furthermore, I certify that this paper or presentation was prepared by me specifically for this class and has not been submitted, in whole or in part, to any other class in this University or elsewhere, or used for any purpose other than satisfying the requirements of this class, except that I am allowed to submit the paper or presentation to a professional publication, peer reviewed journal, or professional conference. This is not a draft, and is submitted for grading to satisfy in part the requirements for this course and the program(s) in which I am enrolled. In typing my name following the word 'Signature', I intend that this certification will...
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...As more companies effectively use social-media tools for customer care, it also is becoming easier to shift customer-relations resources to the U.S. and feed into the fledgling "homeshoring" trend. Home-based workers have become de rigueur among employers to take advantage of better technology and gain more productivity. When a Stanley Cup broadcast suddenly went black in late April, many Comcast subscribers simply scooted to Twitter to find out why. It was there -- not on a phone system with multiple options -- they discovered that a lightning storm in Atlanta had caused a power outage during the Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins hockey playoff game, and that the transmission would be restored soon. "I did a search on Twitter as soon as the game went off the air," says Dave Decker, 31, a Web developer in Pittsburgh who regularly tweets while watching sporting events. "The mystery was resolved in minutes. Before Twitter, it would have been a nightmare trying to find out what happened on the phone." Comcast's deft use of Twitter underscores what is becoming a staple in modern-day customer service. Increasingly, corporate giants such as Comcast, PepsiCo, JetBlue Airways, Whole Foods Market and others are beefing up direct communications with customers through social-media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The popular communications technology has helped companies quickly and inexpensively respond to customer complaints, answer questions and tailor products...
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...EG1413 Critical Thinking and Writing Assignment 2: Position Paper Social Media: An Unexplored Marketing Tool by local SMEs E12 Team Members: Anthoni Giam (A0085111U) Chen Ziyang (A0086387M) Ying Chuan Ong (A0074798H) 1. Background Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have always been crucial for the case of Singapore and as seen from Figure 1, they make up about 99% of the enterprises in Singapore (Singstat, n.d.). SMEs here refer to businesses with annual sales turnover of not more than $100 million or employing no more than 200 staff (SPRING, 2011). Moreover, the importance of SMEs in Singapore’s economic landscape is highlighted by how SMEs “form an important pillar of the city-state's economy, employing 56 percent of workforce and contributing 42 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).” (People, 2007) If the SMEs lose their competitiveness, many workers in the SMEs can be adversely affected and even lose their jobs which could destabilize the society. This is also highlighted by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam who said that the transformation of Singapore's SMEs is also essential to the incomes and living standards for Singaporeans (TodayOnline, 2012). Note: Adapted from “Composition of Enterprise Size,” by Singstat (n.d.). Social media has a huge role in the marketing field today as it allows companies to interact with in a casual manner while publicizing the companies’ products. It is defined to be...
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...Ma. Patricia C. Janiola Ms. Annie Lazaro BSAT-BA201P March 19, 2015 “Social Media is a tool not a lifestyle” Today, Social Media is becoming very popular all over the world. We can see many people holding their phones, surfing and chatting in some social websites such as, Facebook, Twitter and My Space. It is obvious that we are letting social media become a part of our daily life and at the same time, allowing our lives revolve around it. Social media is a tool not a kind of lifestyle. It is a great tool for good socialization, strong communication and reliable information. Socialization is a genuine and wholesome identification of a person with the welfare of other people. Considering that social media help us to socialize with others, being socially active can make us inept. But still, it helps us to foster one’s individual identity and unique social skills to communicate. As an act of communicating, we’re using telephone, television, radio and computer. In this day, social media offers us the opportunity to re-connect with our old friends and acquaintances, make new friends, trade ideas, share content and pictures, and many other activities. Strong communication is the key for good social relationships. We might be able to help someone out by sending them a message and give them an advice or reliable information that can assist them. Given that social media venues have mobile application, we can find reliable information and we will have enhanced opportunities...
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...THE IMPACT THAT SOCIAL MEDIA HAS HAD ON MARKETING For the business market in the 21st century there is a need to reach a very large customer base, since many production companies have been introduced in the market. Innovative ways of reaching huge group members in the public have to be created. The need to satisfy market demand is fulfilled through the introduction of using social media such as; Facebook, Twitter, Google, snap marketing, YouTube in the marketing profession. Social media have basically acted as a substitute for the use of word of mouth as a business marketing tool. It has enabled companies to interact and to share their products and services to the consumers who are in need of the goods and services. Social media has provided a platform where the users of the social sites are able to research on the varieties of the products that they may require to use or have information about. Multiple of internet users has acquired information on the products and the retailers of the product online, which has made sales transactions easier It has enabled product users to create reviews and counter reviews on various products and enable other consumers to read the posted reviews on a product online and view the product rating by other consumers. The reviews and ratings have provided the brand ambassadors with the perfect platform to protect the brand through brand communication. It has also provided a platform for brand protection by the consumers who have felt a need for...
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...Comparison of Social Network Analysis Tools What is Social Network :? Social network is a social structure made up of many actors, for example firms, or people which are all tied up in relationships, connections, or interactions(1). The social network perspective is made up to employ the structure of a social group, how they interact with each other, how this structure has an influence on other variables and how it changes as time passes. What is Social Networking Analysis? Social network analysis is the mapping and measuring of all the factors that make up the social network, it is the measuring of relationships and flows between people, groups, organizations, computers, URL, and other connected information entries(3). The nodes in the network are represented as people and the links show their direct relationships with each other. To have deeper understanding of networks and their participants , we evaluate the location of actors in the network which basically means finding the centrality of a node . These measures give us insight into the various roles and groupings in a network -- who are the connectors, mavens, leaders, bridges, isolates, where are the clusters and who is in them, who is in the core of the network, and who is on the periphery? In order to evaluate and understand these networks and the relationships between their actors we use social network analysis tools. We will be discussing three different SNA tools, compare between them, talk about their...
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