Effectiveness Of Woolworths Social Media Presence

Question

Task: Complete the following:
1. An overview of academic literature relating to communication practices/styles/recent research about business communication in Australia. The research in your academic literature should be no more than 5 years old.
2. Give recommendations for the most appropriate use of the communication mode you have chosen in the industry nominated, then justify your choice, backing it up with references to the relevant academic literature.

Answer

Executive summary
The project focuses on the importance of communication for the growth and development of Woolworths social media which is a retail industry in Australia. It is said in the project that the promotion of the products of Woolworths depends on the use of “social media” as the mode of communication with the clients. The report says that Woolworths will be able to grow in future if it makes use of the social media as their mode of communication. The project or the report comprises of the Literature Review of social websites that include affordances, limitations of social media, individual factors as well as work related factors. The report also consists of some recommendations on using Woolworths social media in business communications.

Introduction
Attention-getting statement: Social media website is the most widely available mode of communication in the digital world nowadays.

· Statement of Ethos:  Social media is the most hassle-free way to interact with each other and hence, there is a huge demand for Woolworths social media communication in which is a retail industry of Australia. Nowadays, it is found that nine out of ten people are using social media as a mode of communication across the world.

· Statement of Exigence
Apart from personal purposes, social media is useful for business purposes as well. Retail stores can advertise and market their products properly on social media which will help reach the target audience all over the world. People can share their opinions on social media very easily as they can see the products visually. The marketing of the products becomes more interesting and eye-catchy on social media. 

· Thesis:
“Social media” is the only mode of communication that acts as a catalyst for the growth and development of a business and as a digital platform; it makes communication among people much easier and clearer.

· Introduction for the communication mode:
Woolworths social media is the only mode of communication for the chosen company that builds more trust and makes the relationship among the people much better and stronger. It is used for personal and business purposes both. It is the only mode of communication that links and connects more than a hundred people at a time. Distance does not matter when people are communicating over social media. One forgets the distance while communicating on social media. The communication taking place among the people living in different parts of the world is possible only when they are interacting with each other on social media as it is the only mode of communication that makes people forget about the distance.

Literature Review

• Affordances

Global researchers have identified the affordance and relevance of social media which enables organisations to build network for the effortless connections among individuals. Researchers have divided the 'social media communications' in two perspectives- one is personal and another is commercial. People use social media for different purposes. According to the authors, through social media one can expand its business rapidly and can attract clients easily. Social website communication is very essential nowadays as it builds more trust among people and gives a clear understanding with much more clarity.

It is further said that social website communication is very effective and productive in making relationships much better and stronger (Schivinski & Dabrowski, 2016). It is required to understand the basic needs of humans to make the social website communication the most effective one. Social website service is the most used mode of communication in the written text category as well since one can even communicate and chat with each other by messaging or texting. Social website service has the highest reading rate and a huge number of active users because people can see the products sold at online Woolworths social media platforms and judge the quality of the products.

· Individual factors
Social website communication is the simplest form of communication and defines all the other modes of communication in short as it is the beginning of interaction among the people. Social website communication is mostly preferred in the retail industry as the thoughts and demands of the customers and employees can be expressed well as they can directly give their comments, suggestions, and opinions regarding the products online (Swani, Milne, Brown, Assaf, & Donthu, 2017). Studies related to the research upon the usage of Social website service shows that this service is broadly accepted than other contemporary modes of communication and easier to understand.

• Work-related Factors-

Through social websites the sharing of information is easy and can reach the users easily. In last few decades, organisations focus more on global networking where social media platforms plays crucial role in building business to business and business to customer relationship. This is one of the factors of social websites. Demands and reviews of the customers and employees of the company can be expressed better by a Woolworths social media communication. Many large groups in various industries like retail stores have been using this service to send huge information mentioning their marketing plans and offers to attract the consumer (Guo & Saxton, 2018). It is also cheaper and more effective compared to other modes of communication.

· Limitations
Social media is very useful for B2C markets. Leaders use this as a companion for branding their products in the markets. When it comes to B2B markets, Social media is not that useful. The main reason for this limitation is that the usability of the 'social media platform' is very low in 'B2B' marketing officials. They show low interest in adopting digital methods. Social website communication is not effective for those people who do not feel comfortable in digital world and are not that tech-savvy (Cawsey & Rowley, 2016). One of the major drawbacks of social media websites is that the conversations and comments taking place among the customers regarding the products can be seen by everyone and remains public. Privacy gets hampered.

· Comparison among the research findings
From the research done on the affordances of social media, the global researchers have derived that social media has become an essential part of business communication and promotion for the last few decades whereas the researchers who have researched on the drawbacks of social media have said that there are many demerits of social media as well. While few researches have concluded the fact that social media is the most effective way of promoting brands and products of a business, other researches have also described what drawbacks or limitations social media can have for communicating with clients.

Recommendations
The main aim of the 'social websites' is to make communications among people all over the world easy. So, for this reason, it is also used for commercial purposes. Retailers can forecast their offers through social websites. Woolworths social media platforms can improve the performance of selling their product by targeting their regular customers and focusing on their daily needs.

In an urbanized country like Australia, there is a trend of ordering items through online platforms. So for that, the company has their personalized Woolworths social media platforms to connect with the customers and to receive orders. They should update that website frequently so that they can attend a good rank in the competition of the retail industry (Duffett, 2017). The role of social media websites played crucial role in case of understanding the customer preferences and global trend. Hence, it is very important to share proper information and have an agenda while communicating through social websites. Secondly, it is essential to use proper words and has the right visuals during social website communication as it makes the conversation more genuine, presentable and clearer. It is recommended to stand out of the crowd to make the communication interesting and eye-catching to other people who are involved in the conversation.

The rapid increase in internet usage enables people to use 'smart' technologies for effective and convenient communication. The management of the chosen company used Woolworths social media platforms for,

• Fast Response Rate: Social website is the most effective and time-efficient communication service which enables retailers to send commercial information to their customers.
• Personal and Simple: Social website is always authentic and uses regular informal words. Retailers attract their consumers’ attention and get engaged with them in the first place.
• Affordable and Maximum Reach: Social website service is cheaper than other modes of communication. Retailers send huge information to their customers at once. It applies to both domestic and international reach.
• Transparency: Social website is authentic and used by every big retailer store including 'Woolworths'.

As a retailer shop, it is recommended to develop Woolworths social media presence as the mode of communication to communicate with the clients. Social media is regarded as the most effective and productive mode as it can attract number of customers and reach the target audience beyond a particular geographical territory. As social media websites can be accessed by anyone from any part of the world, the chance of maximizing profits for any retailer store increases (Alalwan, Rana, Dwivedi, & Algharabat, 2017). This is possible because many people all over the get to know about the products available in a different part of the country. Customers visiting Woolworths social media will be able to give their reviews and suggestions regarding the products. Good reviews about the products will be spread among different parts of the world which will help attract new customers towards the products and bad reviews of the customers will help a business to make changes for improvement in the future. That will benefit the business and the customers both. The marketing of the products done through social media is more interesting to the people as it gives clear images and opinions regarding the products visually.

Conclusion
In the end, it can be concluded by saying that social media being a web-based platform, is very essential for the growth and development of Woolworths social media, a retailer industry in Australia. There will be a huge growth and success of the retail industry if it uses Woolworths social media for interacting with its employees and clients to know their needs and demands properly.

· Restating the thesis
Social media is the most effective way of communicating with each other as it acts as a friend or companion of a business for its growth and development. Having a huge prospect in the growth and development of a business, Woolworths social media acts as a great companion of the company to communicate with the clients as the marketing and advertising of products becomes much easier and eye-catchy.

· Capstone statement
Social media is considered as the most productive way of communication in Australia as most of the people there are tech-savvy and depend on the world of digital marketing.

References
Alalwan, A., Rana, N., Dwivedi, Y., & Algharabat, R. (2017). Social media in marketing: A review and analysis of the existing literature. Woolworths social media Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1177-1190.

Cawsey, T., & Rowley, J. (2016). Social media brand building strategies in B2B companies. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.

Duffett, R. (2017). Influence of social media marketing communications on young consumers’ attitudes. Young Consumers.

Guo, C., & Saxton, G. (2018). Speaking and being heard: How nonprofit advocacy organizations gain attention on social media. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 47(1), 5-26.

Schivinski, B., & Dabrowski, D. (2016). The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands. Journal of Marketing Communications, 22(2), 189-214.

Swani, K., Milne, G., Brown, B., Assaf, A., & Donthu, N. (2017). What messages to post? Evaluating the popularity of social media communications in business versus consumer markets. Woolworths social media Industrial Marketing Management, 62, 77-87.