Question

1. Consider a business for which you are a customer. Explore the ways in which it uses social media to stay connected with its customers.
2. Research and list the social media types with which it interacts. Include professional networking social media, such as LinkedIn (Links to an external site.); personal social media, such as Facebook (Links to an external site.) or Snapchat (Links to an external site.); and commercial social media, such as Yelp (Links to an external site.).
3. Research and explore the presence on each of the previously listed social media sites.
4. discuss the following:

Based on the above tasks, discuss:

a. the business and its strategy,

b. the ways and effectiveness in which it interacts with customers via various social media platforms,

c. recommendations for maintaining or improving communication with its customers and potential customers

Answer 1

This paper is about how the e-commerce player "Amazon" uses Social media to stay connected with its customers like me. Amazon uses various social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and LinkedIn to stay connected with customers. This is called 'Cross-Marketing'. The reason why Amazon uses such a wide variety of channels is because their target audience span across age group and demographiesAs mentioned earlier, Amazon uses cross-marketing to advertise and to stay connected with the customers. Let's look at few examples below

Facebook: Amazon realizes that their customers are active in Facebook, one of the biggest and most famous Social Media sites. Hence, they make optimum use of this channel to connect with their customers. From responding to comments on News Feed to re-inforced advertizing, Amazon is the leader in Social Marketing Success. Amazon uses Facebook to highlight offers, sale day, date-related coupons (like Father's Day, Mother's Day, etc).
Twitter: While Amazon uses Twitter for advertising, Twitter also serves as a medium of cross-selling for Amazon. For example, directing customers to their other services, like, Alexa, Prime Video and Music.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a platform where users browse for recommenations for online buying. So Amazon enables users to click on the pin that directs to their respective page.

a. the business and its strategy,

It is evident from the above that Amazon uses Social Media to its utmost advantage. It is also proven that Amazon is in the forefront in engaging with customers using Social Media. There are various programs like Amazon Influecer and Amazon affiliates program that they advertise in Social Media. For example, in Instagram, you can add the Amazon product link to your story that would lead the customers to Amazon product page.

b. the ways and effectiveness in which it interacts with customers via various social media platforms,

Amazon not only uses social media to advertise, but also to connect with customers. There are various ways in which Amazon connects with customers, From answering customer concerns on Social media feed to publishing blogs. With millions of followers on Social Media channels, Amazon realises its responsibility in staying connected with customers.

c. recommendations for maintaining or improving communication with its customers and potential customers

Invest more in digital analytics to what exactly a customer wants is something Amazon can do more. A company as big as Amazon will sure have a huge digital team. However, concentration should be more on connecting with target audience.