Business

Social media has changed the way people review and recommend products and organizations. It has changed the way we interact with organizations. How we get help and report issues. If used right social media can boost an organization’s reputation.

An organization can post news and initiatives that promote a good image. It can increase the transparency of organization. Since social media is incredibly fast organizations also have less control of what gets out there. Organizations may have policies that do not allow employees to post to social media however employees can post about their organization using anonymous accounts to get the word out. Organization information can be leaked and once it is out there it is there to stay, be coped, forwarded and re-tweeted. Rumors spread. Consumers can backlash.

Consumers make their decisions of what products to buy and what factors have lead them to make their decisions. In order to be successful companies must try to understand all that they can about how consumers make buying decisions. They must also know how to segment consumers into groups that are most likely to buy certain products.

A focus group is a research technique to collect feedback from a small group of people. It is done in a group discussion where group members respond to questions given by the researcher/group moderator. It allows for the collection of qualitative data.

A survey for example is designed to get large number of responses to often closed ended questions where respondents pick from set answers. This gives numbers that can be charted and analyzed to get a representation of a larger group. Focus groups on the other hand delve deeper to expand on issues.

You cannot sell your products or services to every single customer. It is just too expensive to try and reach everyone. What you can do is focus on smaller groups of customers who are more likely to buy your products therefore increasing the efficiency of your marketing efforts. One way to do this is by segmenting your customers by age. Grouping the customers by age allows you to identify those customers who are more likely to share common interests, priorities and needs. You must also consider the six Macro Market Environment Influencers as each affects age demographics differently which also causes changes to your marketing decisions.

Resistance to change if ignored can quickly slow or make change efforts fail altogether. This paper will first go through a case study from a well-known organization and discuss how they dealt with change in order to survive. Then it will discuss common motivations for change, causes of resistance and provide some solutions to resistance.

In some organizations, chronically resistant employees occur, who will consistently resist any change initiatives. These employees are afraid of change, attacking all things that are outside their comfort.

Toxic employees use social hacking to manipulate others using rumors, silent treatment and intimidation. These employees need the environment not to change so they can hold onto their informal power.

Retail is advancing at the pace of technological evolution and is now looking towards a growing trend. Discover here how Artificial Intelligence is helping retailers.

When the e-commerce took off in the way it did, all those responsible for the retail predicted the end of physical purchases as we knew them. The novelty and glamor associated with physical purchases were replaced by the endless conveniences and corridors that retail e-commerce brought.