Week 2b: Communication - Business & Consumer

Apple

https://apple.com

https://www.instagram.com/officialapple_inc/?hl=en  

https://www.linkedin.com/company/apple        9/21/2016

https://www.facebook.com/Google      9/21/2016

https://www.pinterest.com/AAPL/       

Google

https://www.google.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Google      9/21/2016

https://twitter.com/google        9/21/2016

https://www.linkedin.com/company/google     9/21/2016

ESPN

http://www.espn.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ESPN          9/21/2016

https://twitter.com/espn            9/21/2016

https://www.snapchat.com/discover/ESPN/7296089122                             

https://www.linkedin.com/company/espn         8/22/2016

Stone Brewing

http://www.stonebrewing.com/

https://twitter.com/StoneBrewingCo    9/21/2016

https://www.youtube.com/user/StoneBrewingCo         7/21/2016

https://plus.google.com/+StoneBrewingCo        9/16/2016

https://untappd.com/StoneBrewingCo 9/21/2016

https://www.pinterest.com/stonebrewingco/ 

Best Buy

http://www.bestbuy.com/

https://twitter.com/BestBuy      9/21/2016

https://www.facebook.com/bestbuy/   9/20/2016/

https://www.instagram.com/bestbuy/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/best-buy 9/21/2016

What I was able to determine is that most of these companies, although they are in different industries, utilize social media. When you take a look at the various companies, along with which social sites they frequent and their posted comment, I think that it is easy to form an opinion on which companies are practicing good utilization of their social pages versus which are just trying to “keep up with the Jones family” or doing it “because everyone else is”. The latter in my mind is a mistake when you take into account the costs associated with maintaining these social sites on a large scale.

When speaking in terms of “costs” to maintain these social accounts, I think that some of the main contributing factor are going to depend on the scope, the scale and the nature of your business. Once these factors are considered, it will not only help determine which social sites to use but also to best use them to increase your overall business.

Let me use Apple as an example. We all know that Apple is the Company name and brand. However, when you search for their social sites that are frequently used, you will find that they are normally tied to a specific product in their case such as iPhone, iPad, MacBook, etc. So in this instance there are several different “Apple” social sites associated with many products. The same can be said about ESPN as a broadcasting channel and all of their different shows, which all have their own social sites and uses.

In conclusion I do not believe that there is a one size fits all concept to how businesses should use social media. Similar to putting together a business plan, I think that all companies have to determine what their needs are and then follow that up with the research necessary to figure out which social sites to use and what their approach should be.

Commented on the following group 4 student posts:

Lena McMaster, Katie Nolte,