Facebook for Retail.

1. In reference to the Figure 2.4 (An online marketplace map) in page 49 of your textbook, explain what would be the role of a social network like Facebook in the online marketplace for a retail chain (for example Best Buy). The professor is expecting the role’s description and a personal example. A good explanation must include a personal experience of this with other networks like Twitter and Snapchat. The extension for this answer should be no more than a page. (45 points)

The role that a social network like Facebook has on retail chain stores can be defined as many things. First, social media is everywhere. Customers use social media at all times and it is a place where we express ourselves. For retail stores, the way a customer thinks about a brand or certain products or services its really important, this is why they listen to their customer’s needs and desires. Companies can use customer’s opinions as future guidelines of what they need and this leads to having a good reputation. Consumers will feel like they are being taken into account and therefore increase their loyalty towards the brand itself.

As a personal example, a member of the group went to a restaurant in Germany and had a bad experience with a manager, she asked for her name and posted a comment about her attitude on Facebook and they replied that the situation was going to be handled correctly.  This gave her the feeling that they actually cared about her satisfaction and that they would improve their customer service. This is a huge advantage that social networks have; they create a direct way of communication between the customers and the brand. Another social network, which is a good example for this, is Twitter, if you have a certain question, comment or complain you can always “tweet” a company and with this create a direct answer between customer and brand.

Second of all, social networks like Facebook help increase retail stores sales. This is done in two ways: First, Facebook helps increase foot traffic into stores by posting special promotions or discounts in the Facebook Page in order to attract customers to a store. A good example of this is now with Pokemon Go that a lot of small businesses are using the app as a way to attract customers. Second, Facebook helps you drive your online sales by advertising your brand and targeting directly at the type of customer you’re looking for, besides, you can show direct links to your online store by buying advertisement space in Facebook’s newsfeed.

References

• Facebook for Retail & Ecommerce Businesses: Ads & Marketing Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved August 26, 2016, from https://www.facebook.com/business/a/retail-ecommerce-industry

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