Application of Twitter as an Interactional Tool for Customers at Wal-Mart - Case Study Example

Marketing Channel AFFILIATION: Contents Introduction 2 Societal Costs of too Much Internet Usage 3Strategic Value of Social Media 4 Changing Marketing Industry 5 Some Beliefs about Products Marketed on the Internet 6 Application of Twitter as an interactional tool for customers at Wal-Mart 8 Internet and Globalization 9 Intelligential Services and Social Media 10 Fluxing Consumer Behavior 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 The Role of Twitter in Managing Customer Relations at Wal-Mart Introduction The information technology has become an integral part of common man’s life throughout the world and therefore, the companies have to adapt their practices in order to accommodate changing and fluxing preferences of the customers (Edvardsson & Gruber 2011). The internet has grown as a notable and major means of doing business in the modern era of the 21st century. The e-commerce is effectively allowing the smaller firms to compete the larger ones in the global marketplace and because of this reason, the playing field has been leveled and that is allowing the organizational and managerial focus to shift from growing in size to efficiency (Kima & Ko 2012). The core business philosophy that is currently being followed in all walks of life is to drive down the costs so that product and service quality can be improved while, experiencing significant growth in terms of profitability (Thackeray, Neiger, Hanson, & McKenzie 2008). The modern times have also witnessed a massive level of knowledge explosion that has indeed made all of the world’s knowledge available on the web and therefore, every business has the ability to avail the information against minimal costs and this information is then, implemented in the several fields. The Chinese nation has developed as an economic superpower because it managed to gather the knowledge that was created and implemented in the west. After gathering the information, Chinese government provided an infrastructure that supported and helped the local scholars in the process of contextualizing the knowledge and that very effort made the information and concepts applicable in the local setting. The practice of testing theories and constructs in various cultural and normative settings became an accepted and encouraged practice in the field of social sciences. The companies across the world are using internet as a strategic marketing and advertising tool in order to drive down the overall costs. Secondly, the internet is no doubt an efficient method of getting the word across to the customers. Societal Costs of too Much Internet Usage The lack of communal and societal relations has been noticed to lead towards the development of suicidal tendencies and sadistic behaviors. The beautiful moments of friendships and romantic acts of intimacy have been lost somewhere in the past. The warmth of a relation that fueled human willingness to grow and inspire has become the story of the past (Meadows-Klue 2008). All the next generation has left with are computers, laptops and shiny handhelds. All of these things are happening because humans have finally forgotten the basic and fundamental concept of humanity that is compassion. The compassion is defined as an explicit concern and love for others and a compassionate self is going to strive to cause spiritual growth in others. The internet’s headless growth has caused an irreparable damage to the society as it unduly supported economic rationality in all fields (Fischer & Reuber 2011). This trend of thinking made the professions that were considered divine in the past look like businesses. The educational and healthcare industries are a few examples. The online social media is identified and treated as a big shopping mall where the companies advertised their products and services in the past (Jarrar 2011). The ideas and terminologies remained the same and the technique through which the marketing is being done has undergone changes that are significantly important. The computer literacy has become essential and if anybody is not proficient at using computers then, he or she is going to be treated as illiterate. The value of computers and devices has overgrown over the past few years and therefore, the companies were facing difficulties in regard with the need of communicating with the customers. The advent of e-commerce model compelled the companies to communicate with the customers through internet because it is the place where large proportion of human population spends much of their waking hours. The companies were looking to implement sophisticated customer services at the time that witnessed the booming incorporation of information in daily lives. The management and organizational scholars were of the view that companies must treat customers as if they were stakeholders. The idea was not applicable because when companies attempted to communicate and wanted to have feedback of the customers then, it was revealed that they leave their homes occasionally and in major number of cases, they do that in order to complete their professional and educational responsibilities. Strategic Value of Social Media As a response, the companies initiated to look for gaining entry in offices and educational institutions that was the era when business to business marketing had become a defining practice in the corporate world. After few years, the companies were exposed to the reality that customer feedbacks that were taken in the office and educational setting differ a lot in comparison with those that were taken during the leisure and private time of the respondent. The unexplained changes and irregularities in the responses were then decoded by years of research in the field of sociology and finally, it was concluded that societal and peer pressures were responsible for changing the quality of the feedback (Pang & Lee 2008). The institutional theory supported the fact that humans as social animals tend to seek legitimacy from the society and therefore, they invest energy in terms of making themselves appear as a legitimate member of a group and thusly, need to seek social attachment guide humans’ outward responses to the world. However, the companies kept on seeking an effective way to communicate with the customers and the main idea was to minimize social pressures that led to biasness. The search continued and ultimately another study strengthened the ray of hope by highlighting the findings that responses gathered by an online survey are not significantly differentiated and divergent from those that are gathered in one’s personal time. The aforementioned result shook the world of marketing and that was the time, when management scholars’ idea of electronic word of mouth was recognized and the process of its institutionalization initiated its due course (Jansen, Zhang, Sobel, & Chowdury 2009). The internet industry did not grow and fall out of the blue sky because it was the result of deliberate planning and concise measurements and above all it was a reaction to the corporate need to communicate with the customers. The previous argument validates the value of applied research that is performed in order fulfill the need of the industrialist. The companies like Microsoft, Apple, and HP sniffed the change in the environment and developed their web presence on an immediate basis. The IBM on the other hand, was slow to the changes that it considered unimportant and insignificant in the initial days and the company that was the leader at one point in time is facing difficulties regarding maintenance of adequate market share in the present. Changing Marketing Industry The induction of internet has changed the ground rules of doing business and the companies and trades that were not even considered legitimate a few years back, are the ones that are leading the show at major stock exchanges of the world such as Wal-Mart. Furthermore, to fulfill the need to have an active link with the customers, the companies are paying obscene amounts of money to Twitter for placing their e-banners on the websites (Newman, Stem, & Sprott, 2004). The only platform where politics and diplomacy is not practiced is the social media and therefore, one can find others’ true colors and selves on the internet. The premise of unbelievable truthfulness in the e-world is being used by secret services to gather new and in-depth insights in human attitudes and behaviors. The profiling is now being done on the internet and because of this reason; the intelligence agencies are known to make arrests in response to suspicious internet behavior. The right to privacy is also compromised because the content shared on a social media is for everyone in the world. The modern human life is without the time honored traditional values of privacy sand secretiveness. Literally, nothing in the modern era is private and it is painful to know that people share their feelings and emotions with bunch of strangers on the internet while, feeling reluctant to do so with their close ones. The family is an essential unit of the society and it has disintegrated as a result of overgrown and undermanaged practice of e-socializing (Ellison, Vitak, Steinfield, Gray, & Lampe 2011). The idea of economic rationality is permitting the corporate world to emotionally motivate people to purchase what they do not need and this kind of consumer behavior is destructive because youngsters waste the financial muscle that has to be invested in education in buying of clothes. The companies that promote their brands on the internet are notorious for having substandard merchandize whereas, the suppliers are not willing to entertain any consumer claims. Therefore, many people in developed and developing nations are finding it safe to do traditional buying in the stores because it allows them to ascertain the level of product quality before making a final decision. Some Beliefs about Products Marketed on the Internet The customers are also waking to the fact that the products that are retailed on the internet have low qualities and high prices. The online advertisement was suggested by the management scholars because it can drive down the costs of the companies and they can engage in product augmentation and development. The practitioners got greedy and he is pocketing all of the cost savings and attempting to lollypop the customers with old products in the new packaging. The online advertisement is indeed destroying the clientele of the companies as the customer loyalty is going down because they are overpromised and under-delivered. The customers in developed parts are already returning to the traditional and conventional purchasing. Still, the online marketing and advertisement is on the rise in developing nations as the international companies are planning to cater growing consumer product demand in the featured geographical region. The emergent markets include India and adjacent economies that are becoming the hub for businesses because multinationals have outsourced their production to developing nations of Asia and therefore, the local quality of life is getting better and better in the area. The companies are responding to the change again and this time they are doing it with vigor. The developing nations are not having people with exceptional literacy and therefore, they are easy to fool. Most number of companies that are operating online have the experience of doing global business. The experience of global marketplace gives the international companies an advantage in terms of fooling the population. Additionally, the international companies offer better products and services than the local ones and because of this very reason, the local clientele is very significantly committed towards usage of foreign products and it is also considered as status symbol in the developing economies. The Indian nation is profoundly deploying e-commerce model and has successfully eliminated the middleman because the government and citizens are well aware of the fact that the deal settlers are the ones who make most out the deals. The Twitter also provides a suitable platform for the buyers and sellers to meet and settle price. The secondhand products are also sold and purchased on the web. The costs of travelling and transaction are significantly higher in the developing nations such as India. This fact is significantly contributing towards the growth of online commerce and the idea of e-business is also being promoted in the country as India is one of the most internet using nations in the overall area of the Asia. The Asian continent in primarily made of developing nations and a few are developed ones. The transportation industry in the featured geographical location can be characterized as hardly sophisticated. The lower degree of sophistication is resulted in supportive environment for e-commerce because it significantly reduces transaction cost that is the prime issue that businesses are facing in the developing nations and economies. The human need to have noticeable cost savings is the basic and fundamental cause that is leading to the developing of borderless organizations. The multinationals have been known to develop web applications in order to manage their internal affairs and in this way, the companies are growingly becoming e-businesses that are promoting telecommuting throughout the world. The internet in business has played very important role of eliminating negative behaviors that used to stem from nationalism and finally, it is the internet that made the concept of globalization possible in the first place. Application of Twitter as an interactional tool for customers at Wal-Mart The companies that are operating in the field of technology cannot survive without integrating Twitter as an elementary method for communicating with the customers. The prestigious organizations like Wal-Mart and Amazon have already developed strong and significant presence at the featured site. The Wal-Mart is using Twitter as a means of promoting new products. The Amazon on the other hand, has been using Twitter as a platform to promote digital products such as e-books. The Twitter is excessively being used as a marketing and advertising channel by retailing companies and therefore, it is the ideal method of promoting products and services in the youth. The platform of Twitter is much more suitable to promote digital products because impulsive buying behavior can motivate the buyers to purchase the products from Amazon’s official website. In case of Wal-Mart, the products retailed are physical nature because of this reason, the company is using the social site as a source of telling people about new products and sales offers. However, the social media site is no doubt an effective method of keeping the clients apprised of new developments. Internet and Globalization The nations are tending to operate like organizations and they are working to develop their national competitive advantage that is the essence of survival in the upcoming version of world order. The nationalism was the core cause of many disputes in the human history and the development of internet as a communication means helped all the nations to see the similarities of problems that they are collectively facing. The internet technology helped the geologists to highlight problems that are being caused by industrial operations. The issues of water pollution and ozone layer degradation have also been come to the front as a result of internet’s positive and constructive use. The internet usage is a double-edged sword because it can be used in a positive way as the abovementioned examples explained whereas, this same technology can be applied to spread negative concepts such as terrorism and adultery in the next generation of any nation. The internet profoundly changed the dynamics of the competition in every field of life because each product and service in the world is being offered through a website and sales services are also provided in a conventional manner as well. Furthermore, the social media sites like Twitter are used as a source of recruitment and selection. The profiles of Twitter and other similar platforms are used as CVs in the modern organization. Finally, the social media is repeatedly deployed as a means of conducting psychological studies while, getting filled online questionnaires. The reliability and validity of these kinds of studies are considered higher than those that are conducted through conventional means of printed questionnaires. The printed questionnaires lead to problems due to spillover effect between various items and then, peer and social pressures also play their hands in terms of influencing the opinion of the respondents. The humans are always seeking recognition from the society and therefore, their responses are affected by the group dynamics. In case of online surveys and analysis of posts on social media is perfectly efficient method of knowing the real person and his or her perceptions about the world because the statements given on Twitter is virtually free of any external influence (Baird & Parasnis, 2011). The Twitter is always considered as ideal platforms to conduct consumer research because the opinion obtained by this method is given without the fear of cross-questioning and the true sentiments are revealed. Intelligential Services and Social Media Every comment, like and statement on the social media get recorded somewhere, and it is assumed by people that CIA and FBI are using this data in order to build profiles. This data is supposedly applied in the framework of deciding who can or cannot be involved in destructive activities that have the tendency to hurt or negatively influence the proceedings of the society. The governments are criticized for obtaining the sensitive information and use them to make arrests (Ellison, Vitak, Steinfield, Gray, & Lampe 2011). However, the arrests made on the basis of profiling cannot stand in the court of law but it is the point to start the investigation. Moreover, the governments are of the view that users at that time when they share something on the social media then, it can be viewed by anyone in the world. The right to privacy gets waived off at the moment when contribution on the web is made on the social media. Ultimately, the whether or not people like it but profiling is a reality and the national security agencies have a very strong logic that they use to defend the practice. The security condition after 9/11 has made privacy a secondary issue in comparison to that of national issue. The concept of social media is being used in various aspects of modern human life in the modern era of the 21st century. The social media is a necessity in modern life but it should not be used as an essential of life. The customers are strongly suggested to scrutinize the merchandize and purchase by conventional means whenever possible (Edvardsson & Gruber 2011). The social media must be considered and treated as an official platform and one should only share relevant and superficial level of information on the web so that any deep psychological assumptions and deductions cannot be derived from the available data. Secondly, the users must refrain from chatting and contacting with strangers on the internet. According to recent report of Twitter the company acknowledged the fact that millions of accounts and profiles are fake and therefore, people should act with caution while, using social media. The company also added that they are in reality hosting another million accounts that have inversed credentials such as males posing as females and vice versa. The presumption that the consumer surveys that are filled online have higher reliability is becoming wrong because people are growingly developing an instinct to be deceitful and manipulative. The customers all over the world are becoming more and more secretive and they are not willing to share any information with others. Every person is living behind a mask and this mask is covering the darkest secrets of their lives. The negative customer behaviors are also becoming significant because the consumers when dissatisfied tend to close all business ties with the company and move on. The competition is getting stronger on a day by day basis and because of this reason, the customer does not want to share information with the company on the issue of product and service quality. The customers feels very satisfied by moving forward and leaving the troubled company behind and same goes with the employees who keep on finding new jobs and leave the old one upon success. The idea of considering customers and employees as stakeholders is a challenging need of the business whereas, it is quite essential as well. The companies have to show and give some incentive in order to gain information from the customers because in current times, people are reluctant to share information without an incentive. The era when customer services gathered information without incurring a cost is gone and nowadays, companies have to arrange hi-teas and parties in order to get an opportunity to interact with the customer base. The urge to have social exchanges is growing in humans as the assumptions of economic and societal benefits are becoming basis of human relations in the current times (Hennig-Thurau 2010). The companies face a significant challenge in terms of gathering information about the changing preferences and tastes in the global village. The global village is based on the concept of bringing people closer and together but it is very painful to know that most of human relations are based on false identities and information and therefore, the companies have to face a significant level of difficulties and hardships regarding knowing what customers’ wants are actually. Fluxing Consumer Behavior The customers on the other hand, do not know that what they want because humans have external locus of control, they seek legitimacy from the society, and as a result, the internal thinking process has become defected or halted in people. The companies spend obscene amounts of money in order to develop products and they fail because the sample of customers upon which the products were tried was unable to represent the total variation in the public’s choice and therefore, it is safe to assume that customers are notoriously known for being unreliable in the matter of judging a product. In the light of above argument, it can be established and argued that the companies have to use conventional face to face meetings in order to get true idea about current consumer preferences. The online method of getting in touch with customers is ill-advised due to its proneness to misunderstanding and confusion. The focus group discussions through sophisticated application of internet technologies are also recommendable in this regard. The online surveys through Twitter are considered boring by customers and furthermore, the respondents leave them incomplete as well. Conclusion This paper has reviewed and analyzed the evolution of e-commerce and how it caused the importance and value of social media to increase in past few decades. The companies found out a short way of interacting with the customers and it served them well in the short run as well. But the problems started to originate as the quality of information that customers provided on the social media, started to diminish. The countermeasures that are suggested for managing the featured dilemma include traditional consumer seminars and focus groups and the services of psychologists are needed in order to provide help to the customers in finding what they really and truly want. References Baird, C., & Parasnis, G. (2011). From social media to social customer relationship management. Emerald Vol 39 (1), 326-338 Edvardsson, B., & Gruber, T. (2011). Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: a social construction approach. 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