social media-twitter

New social media, like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, are being adopted by a growing number of entrepreneurs who seek to deploy them for the benefit of their business.( Fischer,Reuber,2010)Twitter Inc. was founded in 2006 and the company has recently been valued at over one billion dollars (Corkery and Vascellaro,2009). In the year betweenMay 2008 andMay 2009 the number of users jumped from1.6 million to 32.1 million (Vascellaro, 2009); In April 2010 Twitter reported that they had more than 105.7 million registered users (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/twitter-user-statistics-r_n_537992.html).

What is the difference between Facebook and twitter？

Compared with Facebook，twitter is quite new and it enables social interaction that is more dynamic and less time-consuming, yet oriented less than Facebook towards the entrepreneur's personal network( Fischer,Reuber,2010). Fischer and Reuber(2010) did a study which believed that Facebook involved more personal commitment and less wide-scale public exposure compared with Twitter; for example, one stated:

“Facebook is a cocktail party and so when you are engaged in Facebook you're surrounded, sometimes very peripherally but surrounded, by people that you know and you like and that are part of your social graph. Twitter's not that. Twitter is more like somebody standing on the street corner with a megaphone saying, “(( Fischer,Reuber,2010,Informant 11)

According to these characteristics, the social media marketing strategies of twitter could be more special compared with Facebook.

1).Twitter is more suitable for the not-well-known brand, while Facebook is more used for the well-known brand such as ZARA, H&M.

Because twitter spreads more fast and more wilder, it is a fabulous channel for retailers to build up the brand image and brand awareness. But for Facebook,people who have know the brand and the company, would possibly have a look at the website and even be a fans of the brand.Twitter is used innovatively by established firms to perform core business functions that existed before Twitter, such as sales, customer service and branding. (Fischer,Reuber,2010)

2).Twitter could get more wilder and faster promotion effect.

For Facebook, people who have some common characteristic would be in one group or would be the fans of one retailer. So, the promotion through Facebook could only be spread in one specific group but for twitter, tweet is easily post and broadcasted. So even more people could see the promotion and events.

Dell and Starbucks offer coupons through Twitter to promote sales (Miller, 2009).

3). Complains online about Poor service are easily broadcasted by disgruntled customers.

Because of the fast spreading and wild using, complains are easily broadcasted in a large scale. So companies such as Pizza Hut, Comcast, and Southwest Airlines are hiring people tomonitor the Twittersphere for negative comments and respond instantaneously (Reisner, 2009).

These 3 points above are only some of my personal thoughts and Scholarly research on social media in general has now largely focused on how it may be used by companies as a marketing tool to monitor a marketplace (e.g. Berinato, 2010) or increase marketing communication effectiveness (e.g. Dholakia and Durham, 2010;Kozinets et al., 2010; Trusov et al., 2009). So, more functions would be discovered in the not- far- future.

Week7.E-marketing:a new form of promotion,socail media

“The world is a Twitter with Google’s launch of Buzz, the newest social media vehicle intended to entice both consumers and marketers” (Dennis Pitta,2010). Social media, which ‘describes a variety of new sources of online information that are created, initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services, personalities, and issues’ (Blackshaw &Nazzaro, 2004). The UK, for example, 20 percent of all online visitors admit to regularly logging on to pioneering sites like Facebook,

MySpace and Bebo That is to say the new media are dramatically changing people’s life, especially the shopping behavior.

With this emergence of the phenomenon, the online retailers have changed their online marketing strategies. Socail media, as a new hybrid element of the promotion mix, has been playing a significant role in e-commerce. I am going to use Facebook-chanel to discuss the functions of social media.

provide information. It is a main function for retailers to express information, broadcast new evens and release new product, by using this plateform.

"I do not like when one speaks of the Chanel fashion. Chanel is above all a style. Fashion passes, style remains." Gabrielle Chanel

It is a sentence from Gabrielle Chanel which is post on the Facebook-chanel. This simple statement captures the essence of her revolutionary contribution to culture. CHANEL continues, after almost a century, to inspire women of all ages all over the world with its timeless modernity. I can feel the brand strength from the mission and I think customers will be more loyal when they know more about the company and the brand. So, in some instants,Facebook as a new form, provides a plate to build up brand loyalty.

advertising

‘More features around the Ready-to-Wear Spring-Summer 2011 show: backstage pictures, Karl Lagerfeld interviews and celebrities... on http://www.chanel-news.com/’

‘To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the J12 watch, CHANEL launches its new mini 29mm version. Pure and understated. Beautifully designed and stylish.’

You can easily find these kind of post on Facebook-chanel and product pictures and videos are posted. consumers could receive the latest information and see the ads as well. It is not a kind of push ads which make me awful, but a attractive ads pulling me to click the site.

3.a new communication tool for customers

Social media provide the possibility for customers to talk directly to one another. people share information and tips together. conventional marketing wisdom has long held that a dissatisfied customer tells ten people. But that is out of date. In the new age of social media, However, the conversations between consumers are out of the retailers control.

2319881 people like this site

So,social media provide the opportunity as well as the challenge

Week 5 - Website design watch

Lanvin for H&M - The Show (Promo 2011)

Website design has been a main interface for a customer of e-store. Buschke(1997)pointed out that poor interface design had been a key element in a number of high profile site failures. I am going to use Lavin as an example to discuss the website design for fashion.

Navigability is the basic function for consumers but Navigability is not easily evaluated because users differ in types with their own experience and opinion. As the navigability for lavin , I would like to use simplistic but funny to describe it. Because as you can see the picture below, it is clear, simple to display the images of their products by using white as the background color. Not a number of pictures putting together to force the customers to watch them, but applying a quiet environment to make people think and choose whatever they like; But not as that simple as I mentioned. There are also something “silly and tricky” elements used in the navigation. ”silly and tricky ” I like these two words to make you feel that funny. "hey,am i cool ?"

"not at all"

"oh,look at you two silly women!"

These face emotiones are so intersting,which make the clothes alive.

I like this section very much as well as the lavin window.Different windows are displayed in every month.

so funny,right?

Another outstanding is the fashion show display. From the pics, you could find out the details of what  the model are wearing. It is more easy to instill the product image to customers and make them feel like the super star.

Lawrence and Tavakol(2007)described a homepage as "the entrance door to a shop that invites people to come in and browse and find what they are looking for" and I would like to describe Lavin website as the window to this brand to make more deep understanding. A large numbers of videos can be found to show the product as well as to explain the  design concept for the famous designer. Besides, a special platform  is also put on homepage ,which is called Lavin house. It is not the store in FAUBOURG, but a platform to introduce Lavin and the history.

From the biography of Jeanne lavin, customers could have a more deep understanding of this brand and the brand loyalty could be built at the same time.

Jeanne saw fashion as a lifestyle and she inaugurated this brand principle and extended it across different product line which all together make the lavin world today.

But, there are still some drawbacks on the website. Interactivity is limited and socail media is not wildly used to build customer relationship. I cannot find any blogs and links to facebook or twitter ,or even any place for customer to make a comment.