Best Buy: a Social Media Case Study
Social media are the new frontier in terms of customer service, marketing, sales, and just building a community presence. Companies today must avail themselves of social media or be deemed behind the times. Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy, began using Twitter to communicate to employees and customers at the urging of his forward thinking chief marketing officer (Robbins, Decenzo, & Coulter, 2013). When his account was hacked and inappropriate information was shared with all of Dunn’s followers, the benefits of social media might have been overshadowed by the risks to the company’s reputation and ethics. Dunn did not stop using social media however; in fact, he used it to convey a message of apology and concern to his followers, and then went right on using Twitter as if nothing had happened. This paper will analyze the motivation and strategy employed by Dunn and his social media options for Best Buy and how the technology is used by employees of his company. Is this the best use of his time and money in promoting his business? Are the controls in place to make the social media usage safe and plausible? Let’s find out.
The Incident
Brian Dunn, feels that a company can’t simply dabble in social media, they must embrace it wholeheartedly, the good with the bad (Dunn, 2010). Dunn’s philosophy is not new in the world of social media, however, it might be surprising since his Twitter account was hacked and embarrassing content was shared with all his employees and customer followers. Moving past that incident is something that Dunn is proud of (Dunn, 2010). But, is this the best strategy for a company the size of Best Buy and what contributed to the hacking that might have caused damage to Best Buy’s re...
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...ight choice for Best Buy.
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In the last few years social media and technological tools have become a significant part of communication and their popularity has expended to the all areas of our life. The youngest generation of "always on," those who are always connected, post, like, comment, and provide information about every aspect of their life (Imaging the Internet, 2012). This phenomenon, has expanded also into professional lives, business, and health care environments (Randolph, 2012). Undoubtedly social networking like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or many different blogs are an indispensable part of our reality, however as the most popular modern communication tools are also not free from abuses and carry some ethical issues. A proper use of social
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Although social media has provided todays society with instant forms of communication and ways to connect, it also created a new standard for living and has caused problems for many groups of citizens in all walks of life and has caused society to re-think its usage. There are two views about social media, either. It is a positive addition to society and its benefits outweigh the risks, or that social media causes more harm than good and it’s usage should be limited. Some of the ideas that are central to the idea that social media is a benefit to today’s society are that social media encourages increased communication with friends and family, provides fast access to breaking news and other information, and helps businesses attract new business and correspond more quickly with their existing customers.
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..., which can result in decreased productivity. An employee may be spending more time viewing their friends’ posts and pictures, rather than focusing on their job. Social media can be addicting to some people. This should be monitored by all business owners. Employees can attend a party with people taking pictures, and then the pictures can be misconstrued or distorted. Online reputational concerns can be critical for businesses along with their employees. It can result in loss of employment, loss of economics, and unforgivable social humiliations. Businesses are at another disadvantage while using social media because followers can post negative comments on the business’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram site. Also, a hacker can retrieve the company’s page and post false information. A business or organization’s reputation will suffer from these actions. (Oravec 97)