Social Media Strategy for Harvey Norman: A Case Study

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PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE -
ASSIGNMENT 3
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Select any business from the list above that you would like to investigate within Australia..........4
Identify all their social media channels and what they are being used for (for example, they may
be using social media for recruitment, marketing, sales, creating a presence and increasing the
reach, etc.)........................................................................................................................................5
Analyze how each of these channels is being used by the business and report this........................7
Establish the positives and negatives of the use of social media. Identify any issues or problems
with the current social media usage.................................................................................................9
Identify additional social media channels that can be used to enhance their business and profits.
.......................................................................................................................................................10
Provide clear recommendations with a forward planning strategy as to what the business should
do, with justifications. This may include removing some channels that are not reliable, adding
on more channels or a better mix, etc............................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................15
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Introduction
The professional practice is the conduction and works of an individual related to a particular
profession. The profession refers to the occupation of someone which requires a prolonged
period of training and education. It is important for the organizations to educate the employees
within the workforce about the professional practices in order to run a business and to make the
business successful. To study the professional practice in an elaborated and efficient way, the
company which has been chosen is Harvey Norman. Harvey Norman is a retailer multi-national
company that provides the products of communication and consumer electrical, computers,
bedding, and furniture to the customers. Harvey Norman is situated in Australia and was
founded in 1982. In this study, the examination of the presence of the company’s website and
social media will be conducted. Identification of the channels of the social media and for what
purpose the company uses it for will be done. Then the analysis of the identified channels on the
basis of their use will be done. The positive and negative uses of the social media will be also
established and the identification of the problems or the issues with the usage of current social
media. Identification of the additional channels of the social media that can be used to enhance
the business and profit of the company will be done.
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Select any business from the list above that you would like to investigate
within Australia
Harvey Norman has been chosen for understanding the professional practice efficiently and
effectively that works in the retail sector. Harvey Norman is a multi-national company that
provides the customers with products like bedding, furniture, consumer and communication
electrical products, and computers. Harvey Norman was established in Auburn which is the
outer suburb of Sydney in Australia in 1982.
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Identify all their social media channels and what they are being used for (for
example, they may be using social media for recruitment, marketing, sales,
creating a presence and increasing the reach, etc.).
Social media is a technology which is based on the computer that allows individuals to share
their information, thoughts, and ideas through communities and virtual networks. The social
media is used for quick communication through electronic appliances that have internet access
between the individuals or groups which consists of some contents. The contents may include
information that is personal and documented. The contents may also contain photos and videos
(Kim and Ko, 2012). The social media can be used through electronic appliances like smartphones,
tablets, computer after installing the application or by the software based on the web.
Social media can be used for many different purposes. An individual uses social media to stay
in touch with the members of the extended family and also with their friends. Other can use the
applications social media to enhance their skills and to create opportunities in the network
career by finding the people who share same interests and who like to share their ideas,
thoughts, emotions, insights, and feeling. The individuals who use social media and stay
engaged with the activities of the applications of social media become part of the network of the
virtual social network.
The uses of the platforms of social media are increasing day by day by the business
organizations for attracting more and more customers towards the organization. With the high
varieties in the current market and high competitive it is important for the organizations to
choose the right social media platform that can help the business grow and to lower competition
level in the highly competitive world (De Vries, et. al., 2012). Though it is very challenging to
choose the right social media platform it is necessary for the organization’s growth in an
effective manner.
As the online bagging and shopping on the internet is increasing day-by-day, Harvey Norman
has started to use the platform of the social media channel for the marketing purpose. Twitter
has become the key part for the marketing of the products and services of Harvey Norman. The
social media channel Twitter is making huge changes in the world of marketing. Twitter is used
by Harvey Norman to promote their products and services and from the studies, it has been
found that after using Twitter for the promotion of the services and products, the company has
improved the sales and profits. The customers can now get the information that is needed for
buying a product or service through the technology of social media channels. The social media
channel Facebook is also playing an important role in advertising the products and services of
business organizations.
There are many different channels of social media also which are used by the Harvey Norman
for many different purposes. The channels of social media like LinkedIn is used for the purpose
of recruiting the employees who are qualified enough to be in the position that is vacant in the
company; LinkedIn has become the key part of the recruitment of the employees in Harvey
Norman. If there is any vacancy in the staff position of Harvey Norman and if anyone is
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interested in working in that position will get the direct notification in the app of LinkedIn and
can apply for the position (Witkemper, et. al., 2012). If the recruiting manager of Harvey Norman
found the applicant skilled enough to fulfill the job requirement can select the applicant. This
has made easier for Harvey Norman to recruiting process easier, now the company only have to
post the details of the vacancy in the app rather than putting advertisements in the newspapers,
through holdings, and by showing vacancy advertisements in the televisions.
There are many other social media channels that are being used by Harvey Norman for different
purposes. Social media like Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram are also used by Harvey
Norman to share live videos, videos, photos, and other media.
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Analyze how each of these channels is being used by the business and report
this.
The social media channels are used by business organizations for many different purposes.
Some use social media channels for promoting their products or services and some uses the
social media channels for the recruitment purpose. Social media have become important for any
business's growth. Through social media, business organizations are enabled to make their
presence in the marketing, recruitment, and sales and also to increase their reach in the business
market (Sajid, 2016). The analysis of the social media channels used by Harvey Norman is as
follows:
Twitter
Twitter allows a person to share and gain online news and the services of social networking
interactions through the messages which are known as “Tweet”. Twitter was founded on 21
March 2006. Harvey Norman uses Twitter to promote their products and services and Twitter
allows the company to reach a vast number of people. Following are the ways in which Harvey
Norman uses Twitter for the business purpose.
 Twitter cards: to stand out from other companies in the social media market, Harvey
Norman uses twitter cards that help them to do so (Lobato and Meese, 2016). Through the
twitter cards, Harvey Norman makes people aware about the products on almost every
tweet they post.
 Building Followers: the business can be benefitted with the increase in the number of
followers that are well targeted by the company and who are well engaged in the
company's products or services. To increase the followers Harvey Norman uses some
tools which help in attracting and building followers who share the interest in the
products or services the company is providing.
 Identifying the influencers and engaging them: Harvey Norman finds and identifies
the influencers and tries to engage them with the company so as to create the
opportunities for gaining more and more followers. The gaining of new followers will
help the company to create more engagement and more traffic will be created through an
increase in the engagements of influencers.
Facebook
Facebook is the most famous social media channel in the world with around 1.20 billion users
from all around the world. Facebook has become one of the best business promoting social
media channel in the world for business organizations. Harvey Norman uses the benefits of
Facebook for the promotion of their products and services in the following ways:
 Reaching hundreds of thousands of customers: As Facebook is the most famous
channel of social media with the billions of users across the world; it has become easier
for Harvey Norman to reach the audience through Facebook for the promotion their
products and services.
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 Gathering of more leads: it is important for the company to make a relationship with
the followers outside the Facebook too because it is not important that if an individual
has liked the page means the individual has become the permanent customer. Harvey
Norman gathers more leads in different forms like through email addresses so that the
company can contact the followers outside Facebook too.
 Reaching the targeted audience: identifying the targeted audience and reaching them
is very crucial for the success of the business and Facebook helps the business
organizations to do so. Harvey Norman uses Facebook to identify and reach the targeted
audience. The targeted audience is the one who is interested in buying the products and
services of the company.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn can be accessed through mobile application and websites that provide services that are
oriented with the employment and business. LinkedIn was launched on the 5th of May, 2003 and
was founded on the 28th of December, 2002. The main use of LinkedIn is professional
networking. The professional networking involves the jobs posting of employers and also of the
seekers of the job posting their CVs (Quinton and Wilson, 2016). Harvey Norman uses LinkedIn in
the following way:
 Posting of the attractive logo and cover image: the cover image and logo attract the
people towards the company and job seekers may also get attracted if the logo and cover
image that has been uploaded is attractive.
 Description of the company: the description of the company should not be to fake as it
can affect the reputation of the company.
 Updating the vacancies timely: Harvey Norman always updates the vacancy with job
position they have in the company on a regular basis.
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Establish the positives and negatives of the use of social media. Identify any
issues or problems with the current social media usage.
Positive use of social media
 Increases brand value: the use of social media channels by Harvey Norman has
increased its brand awareness and brand value as the use of social media allows a
company to reach new and potential customers.
 Keep the company in the top: people have become addicted to social media and they
open their social media once a day at least. Harvey Norman has used this factor to stay
at the top of the mind of the customers (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012).
 Increases traffic to the website: to drive traffic to the company’s website, social media
plays an important role through the media posts and ads.
Negative use of social media
 Reduces benefits: if the company is unable to create the strategy of social media
marketing may increase the risk of failure.
 Risk of leakage of important information: it is possible that the important
information of the company which is needed to be kept private might leak through
social media.
The issue that has been arisen with the use of social media is that the people are getting addicted
to the social media and has started spending too much time in the social media which is very
hazardous for the health of the human beings and also for the living things.
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Identify additional social media channels that can be used to enhance their business and
profits.
Instagram
It is a photo sharing option which has a worth of 1000 words. Customer, delegates, a client like
to upload a photo on the instagram. The hashtag option is particularly useful, and the consumer
can be incentivized with the ballot, promotional offers, and prizes. The one feature of Instagram
is that it is free software that can be downloaded into iPhones, Samsung or Android devices. It
identifies the users to upload the various type of picture in the easy press of the button.
Instagram can be used by managing account via PC. Instagram is the best way of goods, staff
pictures, and development of the business. In figures, 130 to 150 million people show that they
can understand it is a good platform to need of demographic need of users which is to determine
right consumers of the business. The main objective of the business is to spread business all
over the world. Instagram gives benefit to target audiences which are poor. It basically helps to
sell a product.
Pinterest-
Companies which they are using of quality of high image search Pinterest are one of the most
important channels of a marketing channel for the advertisement of product. This is the
powerful ability of which is inherent in Pinterest, the message of marketing can reach millions
of users in a click. There should be adding URL to an image that can serve to boost sales and
return of investment (Billings, et. al., 2017).
Flip board-
It is established in July 2010. It is the new social magazine that allows the researcher to identify
publishers, online source and social networks all in one place. This app is the best way to find
current content; it allows a business to show itself.
The following points are covered in the clipboard.
Industry to be monitor- flip board give permission to the user to follow topic, companies and
other user-created content to keep tabs on a specific subject. They can use this competition and
general trends. It is a monitoring of new information on the product.
Create a brochure- flip board use to advertise the best product to current and potential
customers. They can add a product link with the company website.
Snap chat- it is one of the newly advertisement platforms which give the competitive
environment of the 301 million active users. It is reached 41% of 18 to 34-year-olds in the
United States. This is enough to know about snap chat is a person's life.
Five reasons for use of snap chat for business-
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Increase social media presence- according to 100 million daily active users and most
important among aged 12 to 24 years. This is the way of increasing social media presence using
snap chat for using social media to reach them.
Build awareness- creating the business for the account of snap chat and continuously used in a
geographic area and it also gives help to the recognized brand. This is the method of spending
advertisement for the business.
Share important updates and exclusive content-
Use of snap chat to show friends which is no one can else have accesses to. New product and
service, give behind the scene look at a process that is interesting. The above channel of social
media can be used for product detail and updates for exclusive content. There should be a
proper requirement of content which is to give updates and exclusive content.
Engagement with the geofilters- geofilter is allow chattering to do custom effect of the
business of their photo.
Share coupons and hold a contest-
If they are engaging to snap chat users and try to hold the snap chat. The characteristics
available on this, they can send snap chat users to bring plate form users.
Re-edit- Reddit is a website of social news and forum. It is the seven largest websites of the
business.
Paid Ads- advertisement is Reddit gives safety as well as incredibly. It is good in comparison to
other social media and platform; they spend a lot of countless hours to meet the targeted
audience, on Reddit it can react appropriately. This is the function which is done through the
critical path method.
This provides customer service through Reddit-
When they are taking a reliable and accessible service of the customer on official websites. This
should help to the customer which are following the customer. Be there answer to the questions,
commitment should be responsive and provide a good solution to the problems.
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Provide clear recommendations with a forward planning strategy as to what
the business should do, with justifications. This may include removing some
channels that are not reliable, adding on more channels or a better mix, etc.
The positive effect of social media- when used social media it has a benefit of social media of
world of mouth. It is a help to reach potential customers (Feitosa, et. al., 2013)
Reduce marketing cost- the proper use of social media prevents to do advertisement in
manually. They can reduce expenses of promoting product advertisement by pamphlets. In
online mode that is Facebook, Instagram and twitter they can sell their product. They are
dealing mostly on the digital app.
Increased sales- it promotes sales by using online networking site. Mostly customer uses
facebook, twitter and snap chat for seeing the online product. They are also purchasing an
electronic product online.
Greater customer engagement- it brings greater customer engagement towards social media.
Now a day's increasing number of customers using social media day by day. Customers like to
purchase an electronic product through Amazon, flip cart (Wang, et. al., 2016).
Greatest access to the international market- the positive effect of using social media is to
widen access to the international market. The business can be spread internationally by using
social media. This is the platform that guided well in the market.
Opportunity for customer feedback- this brings a positive effect to the customer. Now the
company can attain customer feedback after delivering their product. Customer can return a
product which is not fulfilled his demand. This gives the opportunity to the company to know
the demand for the product.
It gives the opportunity to conduct market research-
By social media, there is an opportunity to conduct market research which is good for customer
brand building. The company can put questions on his website and take a review from
customers regarding product quality. The customer fills market research form to the client.
The negative effect of social media-
Lack of clear strategy to be framed for the benefit of your business- there should be proper
framing of marketing strategy regarding product efficiency and quality. Sometimes the
company failed to make a product with customer demand. They should develop a clear
marketing strategy regarding build strong customer relationships.
Additional resources may be used to manage online presence- there are many resources that
have been used to manage an online presence. There must know the quality of resources in
accordance with customer requirement.
Risk of unwanted or inappropriate behavior of site- this brings unwanted risk and
inappropriate behavior of the site. They can be taken by the organization which gives benefit to
society.
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