Impact of Social Media on Brand Image of UK Coffee Shops - Dissertation Example

Social media has been successful at rediscovering the association between companies, employees, suppliers as well as regulators, minimizing the implementation of methods that were generally identified as quite time-consuming in the traditional era concerning public relations. Most of the companies are making use of social media so that their efficiencies can be enhanced with respect to the supply chain (Lew & Fung, 2010). In a similar context, others are making use of social media so that they can create innovative business models and develop relationships with the customers, employees, investors as well as other interested stakeholders gaining the identification of a socially responsible corporate entity.

A handful of the companies are making use of social media sites so that they can boost the morale of the employees and hence enhance efficiency in terms of communication within the organizational setting. The companies striving to strengthen their brand, customer loyalty as well as increase the market share are also making use of the social media sites (Insead, 2012). Although, social media users are basically found to belong from the young age group of the society, an increasing number of middle-aged users, especially those possessing a higher level of discretionary income.

It has been noted that nearly 67% of the users of social media believe that the information rendered online imposes a significant impact on their purchasing decision. In the recent phenomenon, it has further been observed that this trend is likely to continue, majorly owing to the underlying fact that advances in technology continue to increase the impact of social media. This trend has permitted the consumers to access numerous mobile devices that comprise smartphones through which consumers can attain the virtues of seamless communication and transfer of data.

In this regard, it was noted through the survey conducted by Ernst & Young in the United Kingdom in the year 2011 that approximately 80% of the social media consumers attempt to involve themselves with the social media sites so that they can associate with their friends and relatives, to read the reviews and ratings of the product and services offering feedbacks. It can be mentioned in this regard that social media is making an attempt to play a more powerful role so that it can assist in shaping the buyer's behavior (Ernst & Young, 2011).

Social media is progressively being utilized by a majority of people to form communities and attain the virtues of networking with community members. In this regard, various reasons have been identified to motivate users to avail the services of social networking sites among which, the most prominent reason has been stated to be personal or individual desires to mingle with the community participants. It is worth mentioning in this regard that consumers find social media sites a convenient place to express their beliefs and to explore issues as well as interests.

Based on these aspects, companies have been identified to extensively make use of social media so that they can build an identity as well as brand image amid a wide array of customers all around the world. For instance, social media has been observed to play a virtuous role in facilitating coffee shops all around the world as service-oriented firms so that they can experience their business online gaining persuasive brand awareness among the targeted customers.