Connecting with consumers via social media

Zappos and its Use of Social Media

According to reports, when compared to other online shops, Zappos has the most active social media profiles. With around 2.7 million followers, the company's CEO Tony Hsieh is one among the figures that most people follow on Twitter (Stampler, 2013). In order to keep its devoted clients and attract new ones to purchase the business's goods and services, the company has made considerable use of the social media platform.

Utilizing Twitter for Marketing and Customer Interaction

Twitter is seen by the business as a crucial marketing medium and a venue for the corporation to interact more personally with its audience. In the beginning, Zappos used Twitter to assist the staff in creating a business culture. However, they later realized that the social media platform was a great way to connect with clients. It is important to note that the organization has more than 440 tweeting employees (Stampler, 2013). The firm offers Twitter classes to its employees where they are guided on how to interact with the customers online. Zappos acknowledges that its success is derived from its corporate culture, relationship marketing strategy, and loyalty. The management believes that happiness at home is equated to happiness at work. This is why the company does not introduce any social media policy to the employees in their twitter classes. The CEO wants the employees to use their judgment in networking in social media platforms but the customers should come first. They are advised not to tweet posts that would likely contradict the core values of the company.

Social Media as a Tool for Building Relationships

One of the intriguing facts about Zappos use of social media is the firm's efforts in social media are concerned with investment returns. The business does not sell its products through social networking, but rather use the social media platform to measure the reactions and engage with the customers. The major intention of using social media is to build a life-long relationship with the clients. The concrete focus on social media has led to Zappos gaining over 400,000 Facebook "likes" (Stampler, 2013, p.4). The firm encourages its customers to "like" and tweet about their recent purchases. "The language used to just be something like, 'Share your order on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest'" (Stampler, 2013, p.4).

Fostering Transparency and Openness

The Twitter page dedicated by Zappos to its loyal consumers has links with the words "What are Zappos employees doing right now?" (Kirkpatrick, 2008, p.6). Upon clicking on the link, the customers will find all the most recent messages twitted by Zappos's employees. The employees tweet about the interesting resources in the site and the activities they engage in the office. Additionally, in all its social media sites, the company aggregates all its public mentions for the users. This greatly fosters transparency and openness – something that the company does to maintain trust between itself and the loyal customers.

Motivating Employees and Maintaining Good Customer Service

Moreover, Zappos has tracking pages on Twitter special for its favorite outside fans. It is a great little way of appreciating the Twitter savvy super fans of the brand. It is through such initiatives on social media platforms that have made Zappos to reach a mass audience across the world. The company's leadership has led from the front in motivating employees to use social media in maintaining loyal customers and attract new buyers. The CEO has about 2.7 million followers on Twitter. Zappos has not set any social media policy to guide employees conduct on social media platforms (Stampler, 2013). Instead, the company guides them on how to maintain good customer service on these platforms.

References

Stampler, L. (2013). Why Zappos Sees Sponsored Posts on Facebook as ‘A Necessary Evil.’ Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/zappos-on-facebook- and-social-media-2013-2?IR=T

Kirkpatrick, M. (2008). Zappos Shows how Social Media is done. Adwrite. Retrieved from https://readwrite.com/2008/04/30/zappos_twitter/