Social media interaction initiative

One of the main initiatives in the campaign I will be conducting is increasing, changing and enhancing customer to company communications through social medias. This is to increase customer overall perception, and to make consumers feel like they are influences the business to make decisions for the better.. This is because of an increased customer perception of a company, the better word of mouth you will receive which in turn, leads to increased profits, new customers and even new customers. Edgecomb (2017) said that communicating with your customer shows that you as a company are not disconnected from their own audience and shows that you are “listening, understanding and caring about their concerns”. She also goes on to say that it helps in showing your brands personality, showing the culture of the company and also their expertise.

Potential risk factors

With any campaign their will always be a number of missteps that can happen, and some will happen but it’s about how you choose to handle these when they happen. With social media communications, most of the mishaps will be damaging to the company and can be shared across the world with minutes. This is why companies need to make sure that they are creating an environment that their consumers can thrive, communicate with each other and most importantly communicate with the company themselves.

(Statista, 2018)

Above shows the number of users on social media and also predicts the future numbers, this just highlights the number of users who could see you mistakes online.

The highlighted risk factors of using social media communications are:

Human errors – Social media accounts are not run by robots, I know hard to believe, but are run by people, these people can make mistakes which can be to a damaged reputation.

Reputation – reputation is also on the line while using social media, you can never be too sure how you consumers will take your messages until you’ve posted it and waited for replies.

DATA – This is very important, your consumer’s data will be on your system you need to keep this save at all times, as leaked data can have unimaginable consequences, and these consequences can be the catalyst to a downward spiral.

Being left behind – in a market that’s constantly moving you need to try and be ahead of the pact you cannot be left behind and become old news, many companies have done this and now have a small social media front print compared to their competitors. For example Google, they created their own social media to compete with the likes of the heavyweight Facebook but fell short and now have a small social media front print because of this.

Rules and regulations – understanding what rules and regulations is essential; no company is above rules and regulations so you have to adhere to them.

A plethora of social media – There are a ton of social media out there and having to concentrate on the most important ones should be a top priority, but also consider balancing that with the smaller ones to make sure you’re reaching all your customers can be difficult.

Research

Looking online I have noticed that there is plenty of research going into what makes a social media communications so important, most that you can reach out to millions of people in no times. The problem with social media communications isn’t getting it right once or twice, it’s getting a clear message to your consumers and getting positive feedback on a consistent basis which is harder than it seems but there are many companies who get it right.

Companies that get it right consistently:

Wendys:

(Twitter, 2017)

Sainsburys:

(Twitter, 2015)

These companies show that they can have fun with their audience which is a great thing to show customers your company can do.

References

Edgecomb, C. (2017). Social Media Marketing: The Importance of a Two-Way Conversation. [online] Impactbnd.com. Available at: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/social-media-marketing-the-importance-of-a-two-way-conversation [Accessed 14 Apr. 2018].

statista (2018). Number of worldwide social network users 2010-2021 | Statistic. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ [Accessed 14 Apr. 2018].

Articles and readings used as research for this assignment:

Carolyn Edgecomb article can be found here: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/social-media-marketing-the-importance-of-a-two-way-conversation

Article on risks of social media: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannabelbey/2015/05/21/protect-your-firm-from-the-13-risks-of-social-media/#eaff92e331ef

Company mishaps on social media:
https://www.inc.com/rebecca-borison/top-10-social-media-fails-2014.html

Ways to communicate with your audience: http://www.pewinternet.org/2007/12/19/communications-and-social-media/

Social media strategies: https://www.gallucci.net/blog/six-social-media-strategy-errors/2015/12/13