Digital Communication Strategy for Amazon Inc.

This report discusses the importance of digital communication in business and highlights the digital communication tools used by Amazon Inc. It also covers the benefits of digital communication and provides recommendations for effective implementation of a digital communication strategy. The subject is Business Communications and the course code is not mentioned. The course name and college/university are also not mentioned.

Business communications
Digital communication for strategy for Amazon Inc.

Contents
Introduction to business communication........................................................................................1
Digital communication and the advent of social media..................................................................1
Benefits of digital communication...................................................................................................2
Digital communication tools used at Amazon Inc...........................................................................3
Facebook......................................................................................................................................3
Video conferencing......................................................................................................................3
Amazon Chime.............................................................................................................................4
Instagram and Twitter..................................................................................................................4
Whatsapp.....................................................................................................................................4
Blogs and V-logs...........................................................................................................................5
Risks, Estimates and analysis...........................................................................................................5
Recommendations and conclusion..................................................................................................6
References.......................................................................................................................................7

Introduction to business communication
Business communication is one of the most important pillars which support the organization.
Every business operation needs communication. Communication helps businesses in building
and maintaining long term relationships with all of the business’s stakeholders. This includes
employees, customers, government organizations, PR agencies and any other body associated
with the business. Communication among stakeholders must be cogent.
Customers are essential for the running of any business. In the times of increasing competition, it
is important that businesses put efforts in understanding customer needs. This can be done
through effective business communication. Similarly, employees are the most important assets
for any business. Communication within the business is required to ensure employee satisfaction,
retention and engagement (Hartley & Chatterton, 2015). It is safe to say that communication
plays a substantial role in every facet of the business. This report highlights upon the changes in
business communication that have been witnessed in the recent years. A digital communication
strategy has been developed for the Ecommerce behemoth Amazon Inc.
Digital communication and the advent of social media
The advent of technology, the rise of globalization and the increase in the use of internet has
allowed communication across the world to also take a digital form. Traditional forms of
communication have taken a backseat and more businesses are beginning to adopt digital
strategies to conduct communication throughout the organization (Spilioti, 2015). One of the
most spectacular changes witnessed in the world of communications is the growth of social
media.
Social media communities, social media blogs have become an inherent part of business
communications through platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Chat bots
have also seen a significant growth in the world of business communication. Internal chat
messengers are being customized to suit departmental needs. Digital communication has entered
every aspect of the business. In fact digitalization has also led to proficient communication
resulting in improved stakeholder relationships and increased coordination (Tagg, 2015).

Benefits of digital communication
The adoption of digital communication in business can be witnessed by observing SMEs as well
as giant multinational organizations. Digital communication is everywhere. The biggest reason
behind the growth of digital communication is its efficacy and efficiency. To begin with, it is
much faster than traditional forms of communication. Secondly, the reach of digital
communication is also much higher. It is much easier to target a large number of stakeholders
through social media platforms than via E-mail. Thirdly, there is no room discrepancy. Digital
forms of communication record the time of the message being sent, being received and being
read (Royle & Laing, 2014). This largely enhances the level of transparency among
communicators.
The growth of globalization has also given rise to diverse team with employees from across the
globe. This is specifically true for multinational organizations like Amazon Inc. These
intercultural teams are often placed at different geographic locations. Digital communications
enables such diverse teams to communicate effectively with each other and ensure efficient
coordination. A significant contribution of digital communication is video conferencing tools
like Skype and Viber. These tools help team members present in any part of the world to be
present in a single room and communicate with each other (Harlow & Guo, 2014). This real time
communication has not only improved employee efficiency but has also resulted in upgrading of
organizational performance.
One of the biggest advantages of digital communications is that the gap between businesses and
customers has been significantly reduced. Earlier, the communication between business and
customers was entirely one-way in the form of advertisements, promotions and offers. However
with the digitalization of communication in the form of social media, customers can also interact
with the business (Wamba & Carter, 2016). Happy customers can thank the business and
unhappy customers can lodge their complaints. This has created an immense transparency in the
entire system. Customers feedback hold more value because now customer opinions are public
and have the ability to influence other customers as well. Businesses also put efforts in
enhancing the level of customer engagement with the business and this has only been possible

because of social media (Jussila et. al., 2014). This has led to improved customer relationships as
well as brand’s positioning in the market.
Brand positioning refers to the image of the brand in the minds of its customers. Earlier the
efforts that could be put by any brand to improve its positioning were limited to traditional forms
of marketing and advertising. Today, businesses engage customers, understand their needs,
address their grievances and aim towards building a more intimate relationship with them. Brand
awareness efforts by any business have proven to be increasingly effective since the introduction
of digital communication.
Digital communication tools used at Amazon Inc.
Amazon Inc. is leading the Ecommerce industry. The entire basis of Amazon’s growth is the
advent of technology and the use of internet. Bezos is a visionary who always focussed on
importance of digitalization of communication in the business. Therefore Amazon uses effective
tools that ensure proficient communication within the business.
Facebook
One of the earliest social media tools adopted by The Amazon Inc. was Facebook. It was used to
communicate with stakeholders across the globe. Facebook communities are used by employees
to ensure effective internal communication (Lee et. al., 2015). Employees are encouraged to
share blogs of their experiences on these communities. This leads to transparency of
communication within the organization.
For communication with external stakeholders too, Facebook has proven to be an extremely
effective tool. Customers these days often resort to social media platforms such as Facebook to
offer their feedback towards any brand. Amazon as a brand ensures that it responds to customers
on Facebook in order to foster further engagement.
Video conferencing
Amazon’s employees are present in different parts of the world Therefore in order to foster
coordination among them irrespective of their geographical locations, Amazon resorts to video

conferencing tools like Skype and Viber. These tools enable employees to conduct meetings and
ensure coordination and collaboration among each other.
Amazon Chime
One of the recent innovations by Amazon is the Amazon Chime. It is the platform that enables
people from different parts of the world to communicate with each other via chat, audio call and
video call. They can share files including documents, images, music and even software
applications in real time (Barker et. al., 2017). Amazon’s Chime offers much needed upgrade
over previous used digital media tools like Skype, Viber, and Duo etc. Chime also enables
employees and stakeholders in different parts of the world to come together and conduct
meetings. Chime’s features are extremely useful in the present day scenario and hence is largely
used within the Amazon ecosystem to conduct meetings in a hassle free manner.
Instagram and Twitter
After Facebook, the two most increasingly used social media platforms are Twitter and
Instagram. The Amazon Brand has an active presence across these two platforms. These
platforms enable Amazon to conduct effective communication with several different
stakeholders across the globe. Various customers resort to twitter in order to offer feedback to
their Amazon shopping experience (Cabiddu, Carlo & Piccoli, 2014). Amazon quickly and
effectively addresses customer grievances with the help of these platforms. This leads to
improved levels of customer satisfaction and high customer engagement. Amazon has very
strategically and efficiently leveraged the Twitter platform to build and maintain sustainable
customer relationships.
Instagram on the other hand is predominantly used to post pictures. The brand has over 1.8
million followers on Instagram. This platform is actively used by Amazon to enhance awareness
among customer regarding the introduction of any new product or feature on their own platform.
Whatsapp
Whatsapp is a widely used communication tool. This tool is highly useful when people wish to
communication instantly. Amazon encourages its employees to form Whatsapp groups wherein

they can communicate with each other. Whatsapp can also be used to make audio calls, video
calls and share files. Recent features of the Whatsapp also allows its users to make payments.
One of the most essential features of Whatsapp is that the data shared on Whatsapp is protected
by end to end encryption making it safe and secure.
Blogs and V-logs
Recent years have witnessed a trend of an enhanced usage of blogs and V-logs within
organizations to foster discussions, increase learning and engage employees. Amazon aims to
record all of its success as well as failure stories in the form of blogs and V-logs. This
encourages employees to foster discussions (Men, 2014). The data shared on these blogs is a
source of learning for employees and hence leads to their development. Moreover, employees
that are placed in different geographical locations can also learn from each other’s experiences
that have been shared through blogs and V-logs. Lastly, these blogs and V-logs are compiled by
Amazon and offers a substantial history to the business.
Risks, Estimates and analysis
Implementing any new strategy especially digital communication is never easy. A switch to
digital communication is a massive change and there comes a large amount resistance. First of
all, the implementation of such a strategy requires immense support from the top management.
They need to make informed and calculated choices. The leaders of the business must take
charge to break resistance towards the change in the business and ensure its effective
implementation.
A risk management framework must be designed which will clarify the objectives and rationales
for the risk. This would ensure that this digital communication strategy is implemented
throughout the organization in an effective and uniform manner.
In order to effectively implement a digital communication strategy, it is also important that there
is a transparent and honest communication among internal stakeholders of the business. Business
stakeholders must be able to efficiently communicate with utmost honesty among themselves.
Honest communications would help in curbing the resistance and offer better understanding.

Another risk associated with implementation of a new strategy is the inability of the strategy to
meet desired results owing to ineffective planning or lack of resources. Amazon must ensure that
the strategy is implemented post effective planning on departmental as well as organizational
level. Dedicated members from finance team, human resource management team and legal team
must be a part of this planning process.
Recommendations and conclusion
Digital communication is not just the presence but also the future of communication. Traditional
communication tools are failing to be serve the purpose. Hence, it is the need of the hour for
businesses to adopt digital marketing strategies within the organization. This report throws light
on the importance of digital marketing as well as the tools adopted by the Amazon Inc. to
enhance the quality of communication with all its stakeholders.
Amazon is the leader of the Ecommerce industry and has continued to grow since its inception.
One of the major reasons behind the success of the brand is the effectiveness of the digital
communication strategies adopted by the brand. The use of digital communication within
organizations has not only enabled Amazon to enhance its engagements with employees but has
also improved its relationships with its customers (Samson, Mehta & Chandani, 2014).
Amazon is a perfect example to demonstrate the growth and significance of digital
communication tools within the organization. These tools have changed the shape of
communication within businesses. The relationships with stakeholders have improved. On one
hand, businesses are also able to enhance communication with customers through these tools and
hence are able to understand their needs better. On the other hand, the brand’s level of awareness
as well as its positioning in the minds of customers has also drastically changed owing to digital
communication.

References
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