Digital Communities Use of Social Media
Question :
The research leading social media strategies and offer ways in which your chosen company can implement similar strategies in order to improve their online engagement.
Answer :
1 Introduction
Through community websites positive experiences can be generated which add value to a business (Grizane & Jurgelane-Kaldava, 2017). Also, developing community cultures creates brand loyalty which is different from an offline presence. On social media community members identify themselves with the business or the brand as they feel a deeper connection which goes beyond the purchase of the product or service as they are familiarized with contents in relation to the product or service. Online community presence helps a business create consumer awareness about the products and services of the business and provides general knowledge about such products and services. Social media is now an integral part of brand positioning. While it helps a business to spread the messages beyond the communities it also keeps the control in the hands of the company. One of the major reasons for success of online or social media business strategies is that it bridges the gap between products and consumers (Nadaraja & Dr. Yazdanifard, 2013). This report has been prepared to present strategies and recommendations for the social media issues faced by First Rite Clothing. The following sections would represent the company’s problem and requirement, and provide suitable strategy alternatives and recommendations to tackle the online media issues.
2 Online Media Strategies
2.1 Target Consumers
Formulation of effective online strategies begin with the identification of target customers and their needs. First Rite’s target consumers are women. The unique nature of this target population is that it caters to only those women who prefer simply designed dresses which are unique as well, so that these set them apart from the crowd. Simplicity, elegance and uniqueness of the dresses are the key requirements of the target consumer group and the company has sufficient resources to cater to this target group. The online media strategies should be able to attract these women who are interested in such products.
2.2 Adding Value to Target Customers
Since the target group of consumers have been identified, the next step would be to determine online activities to increase consumer engagement by adding value to their needs. Few popular choices are available to add value. The chosen social media platforms can portray photos and videos of models wearing the brand’s dresses. Links may be posted which would re-direct the users to the company’s sales page when they look for descriptions of the products advertised through photos and videos. Value would be added to the consumers’ needs when product promotion and sales are not always projected as the company’s sole purpose for social media presence (Jenkins, Ford, & Green, 2013). It could be achieved through activities such as celebrity comic videos in relation to fashion statements. These videos should clearly portray the brand’s intention to entertain customers. It is important that company’s sales motives do not reflect in such videos. Also. The customers need to feel that they are being heard by the brand and therefore periodic responses are necessary to customers’ comments or queries. These activities would have a visual effect on the customers, the linked reference would provide purchase directions and the comic videos would increase their engagement on the company’s social media pages.
2.3 Key Strategies
Three main strategies should be kept at focus to solve the issues at hand. Firstly, user engagement should be increased on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for existing users. Secondly, the follower base should be increased on all social media platforms. Lastly, the followers should be directed on the sales landing page on the websites. The following elaborate actions could be taken to implement the three key strategies:
Community Management
Reward system could play an important role in community management. These could be product related, monetary or non-monetary rewards. More than one reward programs need to be in place. There can be an organic reward process where users can be asked to leave reviews and a token reward in the form of loyalty points or product discounts can be e-mailed to them later as a surprise. On the other hand, instant loyalty points can be awarded to new members who sign up or buy anything for the first time (Buss & Strauss, 2009). This can be optimized beyond a mere referral program by asking the users to contribute any useful content. Scrapbook templates could be used for this purpose. Also, each reward must be accompanied by a reasonable period of time, for example, 6 months from the date of issue. Once this method brings successful community engagement, the launch strategy of the website would be effective.
2.3.1 Profiting from Online Community
In the current scenario third party advertising might have a repulsive effect but since revenue generation is also important the targeted community platforms on all the three chosen media could be used for advertising. It would control the company’s costs and also integrate advertising in community engagement. The type of advertising would also determine the amount of generated revenue. Given the target population, the women would prefer advertisements which are either informative or interactive or both. Also, click-bait advertisements would not serve the company’s purpose of increasing and engaging followers (Jenkins, Ford, & Green, 2013).
2.3.2 Keeping the Platforms Fresh
The world of fashion is continuously evolving. Hence the content that is posted online should be relevant at all times. Market research would play an important role here. It is important to understand that online content have fleeting trends similar to those of products. Once again, competition analysis and own website data analysis would reveal the trend and success statistics. Community participation in the comment sections reveal the true preferences of the customers and this data is more valuable than ongoing trends . Yes, trends must be considered but the voices of the customers should be heard first. Each time the community needs are met it would add to the credibility of the brand and from word-of-mouth publicity real-time online organic content shares would take place.
2.3.3 Internationalizing
When the company’s target is to increase online followers and traffic international online presence is a compulsory strategy. Besides broadening the customer base this option would also give the company more alternatives to work with. This strategy could be used at a later stage when the site is ready to manage the cultural and currency differences. First Rite can develop country based dedicated web pages on the website and Facebook, separate Instagram and Pinterest accounts are not needed as these are mini content based and too many of these would only create confusion. A mandatory online post translation option would be an added advantage for non-English speaking customers. In other words, no member of the target population should face any cultural or language barriers that would prevent their engagement.
2.3.4 The $1.80 Strategy
The $1.80 Strategy was designed by Gary Vaynerchuk to increase the Instagram market base. This method works as a push to the users and make them focus on targeted hashtags and they leave comments on those hashtag posts depending on their time of posting. The most recent post would get the maximum comments (Vaynerchuk, 2020). These could also be the best performing posts. Well-researched hashtags would influence the target population to check out the brand’s Instagram page and they would follow it if they find engaging content on the page. For this method to work the researcher have to look for at least ten hashtags relevant to the company’s products and for each hashtag, leave a comment on the top nine posts. Once the hashtags are chosen, the researcher should spend enough time to check out the Instagram accounts from where the top nine posts have come. The ideal account to comment on would be the ones with 250 followers or less and having less engagement. These account users are most likely to notice the comments. However, the comment should be a genuine one, it would reflect that the researcher has taken considerable amount of time to go through the content and the content creator’s profile. Under no circumstances a bot-like generic comment should be posted as that would cause all the efforts to fail.
3 Conclusion and Recommendations
Regular content posting and increasing the followers on the social media pages, and then directing them to the website with periodic offers can ensure continued traffic on the website and social media platforms. There are a few justifications behind the recommended key strategies. Increase in social media followers would help the brand project the available products to a larger audience, percentage of re-direct links could be less but fruitful in increasing product knowledge and sales. The key points to remember from the above report are the importance of content relevance, difference between organic promotion and push sales and the importance of hearing the voice of the online community. Following the implementation of above strategies would solve the online needs of the company while keeping risks and costs under control.
4 References
Buss, A., & Strauss, N. (2009). THE ONLINE COMMUNITIES HANDBOOK: BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS AND BRAND ON THE WEB. Berkeley: New Riders.
Grizane, T., & Jurgelane-Kaldava, I. (2017). Social Media Impact on Business Evaluation. Procedia Computer Science, 190-196.
Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media : creating value and meaning in a networked culture. New York: New York University Press.
Nadaraja, R., & Dr. Yazdanifard, R. (2013). SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.
Vaynerchuk, G. (2020, July 25). THE $1.80 INSTAGRAM STRATEGY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS OR BRAND. Retrieved from Gary Vaynerchuk: https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/instagram-for-business-180-strategy-grow-business-brand/
