Report: Social Media Practices & Strategies for Allplants Business

This report explores social media strategies and practices within a business context, focusing on brand awareness and consumer engagement. It begins by defining key concepts of social media for business, examining how business and cultural factors influence its development, and discussing its role in fostering relationships between consumers and businesses, highlighting both advantages and disadvantages. The report then explores the use of various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to achieve different communication objectives, and evaluates the impact of these platforms on brand awareness and consumer engagement. A critical evaluation of social media platforms identifies their areas of influence, using examples like Nike and Apple to illustrate how organizations leverage social media to promote their business aims. Finally, the report references a presentation outlining a social media strategy for Allplants, a food retailer, emphasizing the practical application of social media principles. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and solved assignments for students.

Social Media

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
Concepts of social media for business.....................................................................................................3
How development of social media is affected by business and cultural factors.......................................4
Use of social media to meet in relation between consumers and business. Also, discuss advantages and
disadvantages to establish relationship between business and consumers...............................................5
Explore the use of social media platforms to fulfill different communication objectives........................5
Impact of different forms of social media on brand awareness and consumer engagement.....................6
Critically evaluate various social media platforms to identify their areas of influence............................7
Evaluate the use of social media by organizations to promote business aims along with specific
examples..................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 2.......................................................................................................................................................8
Covered in presentation...........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In the present digital era, social media has become one of the most effective ways to stay
connected with audience. Through social media platforms, it is possible to establish connection
with the individuals living across different parts of nation. Now, social media is likely to put a
major influence of each and every sector including culture, business, entertainment and so on
(Hong and et. al., 2021). The present study is classified in two parts wherein first part will cover
concepts and influences of social media based on the marketing agency, Bloom. Further, the
second part is presentation that will include a social media strategy for Allplants, a food retailers
company of London. Moreover, evaluation of social media strategy will also cover in the study.
TASK 1
Concepts of social media for business
Social media is used to increase the presence of brand. In business, various social media
platforms like Face book, instagram and more are utilized to connect with audiences via chat,
videos, visuals etc. Social media makes the organization enable to exchange ideas, thoughts or
content with existing and potential buyers. Through these platforms, the content can be easily
publicized by the business organizations to grab the attention of target audiences. In this context,
the major concepts are mentioned below:
User Profiles: It shows the profile of individuals on social media platforms like their
basic identity, like, dislikes etc. In order to create an effective market advertisement, there is
requirement to analyze user profile effectively (Xiao and Wong-On-Wing, 2021).
User generated content: This type of content includes video posts, comments created by
the users on social media platform. After analyzing the target market companies can create user
generated content to grab the attention of users effectively.
Social networking: Now, majority of the customers stay active on the social media.
They regularly post videos and pictures on social media. Here, social media platforms are
utilized in order to maintain regular communication between brand and customers. This social

networking is done by both business organizations and individuals to stay connected with each
other in significant manner.
How development of social media is affected by business and cultural factors
Business Related factors:
Business intelligence: Nowadays, advance technique are used to collect, store as well as
analyze the data for further business growth. Here, the data generated through business activities
is collected, store as well as evaluated significantly to take meaningful decisions in future period
of time (Atherton, 2019).
E-Commerce: With rise of e-commerce, communication with customers through online
mediums is increasing rapidly. This platform is helpful in maintaining proper communication
with the target audience and also used to market the products.
Social Media Marketing: On social media, huge number of individuals are present
hence, it is a crucial platform to present the product to target audience. These platforms are used
to market & promote the products effectively.
Cultural Factors:
E-gaming: During online games, players are required to get connect with each other on
social media platforms so that they can maintain proper communication & interaction
significantly. For this purpose, they can play the game with players present on social media
platforms. This also facilitates cultural interaction among players.
Digital culture: Currently, each and every person is active on social media and use
internet in order to gather sufficient amount of information. This digital culture influences people
to use social media to accomplish the business purpose and goals.
Digital interaction: The main purpose of digital communication is to maintain prompt
interaction with others. Through social media platforms, it is easy to have proper communication
and interaction with other people. Here, digital interaction will also help in development of social
media significantly (Nanda, Pattnaik and Lu, 2018).

Use of social media to meet in relation between consumers and business. Also, discuss
advantages and disadvantages to establish relationship between business and consumers
Social media is considered as one of the essential platforms to establish connection
between consumers and business. The number of internet users is increasing day by day. Ample
of people are utilizing social media. Currently, the business entities need to have their own
social media pages to interact with audiences. In this context, they are likely to post pictures,
videos on different social media platforms to maintain significant relationship with existing and
potential buyers (Ampountolas, Shaw and James, 2019). Additionally, customers have also
option to interact with target audience via chats, comments and more which will further help in
relationship building.
Advantages:
 Establishing relationship will help in improving the customer’s loyalty so that they will
prefer the product or services of a particular business organization over others.
 Social media is used to build the relationship between customers and the business entity.
With this, it is possible for the company to get an edge over the competitive firms
effectively. This will help the organization to survive in the competitive business
environment for longer duration (Scuderi and Sturiale, 2018).
 Positive relationship will allow the business entity to increase the commitment and
loyalty of the target audience.
Disadvantages:
 Over use of social media can hamper the business image. Negative comments and
feedbacks of customers affect the purchasing decisions of other buyers. This will also
create a negative image of brand in marketplace.
 Sometimes, excess use of social media platform can facilitate criticism. Negative
reviews and criticism will put a direct influence on the existing goodwill of the business
organization.
Explore the use of social media platforms to fulfill different communication objectives
There are different social media platforms which are used to stay connected with the
customers. Different social media platform are utilized for different purpose. Face book,

instagram, Twitter, Linkedin are some of the major social media platforms. Every platform has a
particular set of audience. For instance, Face book and instagram can be used for social
networking. Professional audience can be targeted using LinkedIn. Twitter can be used to enhane
the engagement of audience for the purpose of brand building.
Social media platforms:
Face book: Face book is one of the highly used social media platforms. With enhancing
number of internet users, Face book is gaining popularity. Not only youth but senior generation
is also using the respective platform (Leaver, Highfield and Abidin, 2020). It is because, the
facebook has different features which keep the audience connected and engaged. This platform
can be used for social networking. People across all over the world are likely to use social media.
Therefore, it is easy to build network with different people. In addition, the respective platform
can also be used to promote various business models like B2B, B2C and C2C.
Twitter: Advertising on Twitter is helpful in increasing the audience, promote the
product and enhance traffic on the website. Twitter can be used to increasing the number of
followers, boosting engagement of audience and enhancing the visibility. It is an effective
platform of brand building that will escalate the growth of the company efficiently.
Linkedin: Generally, Linkedin is for professional use. However, this platform is suitable
to gain the attention of professional audience. It is the best way to promote a particular product
or service among professionals. Here, users are segmented and then significant strategies are
prepared by targeting particular set of audience.
Impact of different forms of social media on brand awareness and consumer engagement
In business, there are various platforms used by the company to promote the product or
services among the target people. For this purpose, content is published along with videos and
pictures to enhance the brand awareness (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). In addition, the
social media platforms like Face book, instagram and more are adopted to keep the audience
engage with brand. Here, impact of various platforms on the brand awareness and customer
engagement can be understood by below mentioned points:

Face book: This platform is used by the companies to create ads and promotional
activities in order to promote the products and services profoundly. Customers can be easily
attracted by posting picture and related videos on Face book page. In this regard, a separate page
is created by the organization to make the people aware regarding their offerings. To maintain
the customer engagement, companies also chat and reply the comment of customers in timely
manner.
Instagram: Through instagram the pictures, stories are post by the brands to make
people aware. Whenever, the brand starts any offer, they provide the information to existing and
potential buyers through Instagram post (Lee, 2018). By posting pictures or videos over the
period of time, it is easy to enhance the brand awareness as well as engagement of customers.
Blogs: Nowadays, blogs are written to connect with audience effectively. Blogs are
prepared on different niche so that customers can be easily attracted. Here, Blogs are helpful in
offering personalized experienced to the buyers that will further lead towards customer
engagement and brand awareness.
Critically evaluate various social media platforms to identify their areas of influence
Face book: Face book is known for posting pictures and video content. Face book watch
is the great way to gain the attention of buyers. It is the most influencing feature of the respective
platform that can be easily leverage by brands to ensure future growth. It drives brand awareness
and also increases engagement of customers in an efficient manner. It is wise to use such
platform in order to connect with vast audiences.
Instagram: This platform is highly youth oriented. Now, Instagram reels have become
an effective attention grabbing element (Peruta and Shields, 2017). Apart from this, there are
various features on instagram that can be used by the business organizations to make the stories
attractive. Video content on the respective platform is the major influencing factor to grab the
attention of users.
Twitter: Twitter is a significant platform that is utilized to keep the audience engage.
Through this, the company can enhance the number of followers that will increase the brand
presence and further lead the organization towards enlargement.

Evaluate the use of social media by organizations to promote business aims along with specific
examples
Social media make the process of receiving and providing feedback easy. These
platforms are used to maintain a proper interaction with audience. If customers are happy or have
any problem with the product, they can easily share their reviews through social media
platforms. These platforms allow the company to establish positive relationships with buyers. It
provides a convenient way to customers to express their feelings and also provides opportunity to
the organization to respond.
Nike use social media to develop lifestyle and a sense of community among audience.
The tweets of the respective company are simple, small, punchy and include hashtags such as
#justidiot or other types of community building hashtags like #nikewomen.
Apple uses social media platforms like Face book, YouTube, Twitter to keep the
audience engage. The main aim of having social media presence is to keep the audience engage
with the company in an efficient manner (Apple social media marketing strategy, 2020).
TASK 2
Covered in presentation

Conclusion
Through above-mentioned data, it can be concluded that social media has transform the
way of business. Now, companies are likely to adopt different social media platforms like Face
book, Twitter, Instagram and more to create brand awareness and engage the customers with the
company. Further, it is analyzed that social media is also used to build strong relationship
between business and consumers. There is discuss regarding the use of social media to develop
and promote business aims.

References
Books and journals
Ampountolas, A., Shaw, G. and James, S., 2019. The role of social media as a distribution
channel for promoting pricing strategies. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights.
Atherton, J., 2019. Social media strategy: A practical guide to social media marketing and
customer engagement. Kogan Page Publishers.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing: strategy, implementation &
practice. Pearson uk.
Hong and et. al., 2021. Illustrating best practices in optimizing social media strategy for a
campaign targeting military mental health stigma. Journal of Technology in Behavioral
Science, 6(2), pp.427-435.
Leaver, T., Highfield, T. and Abidin, C., 2020. Instagram: Visual social media cultures. John
Wiley & Sons.
Lee, I., 2018. Social media analytics for enterprises: Typology, methods, and processes. Business
Horizons, 61(2), pp.199-210.
Nanda, M., Pattnaik, C. and Lu, Q.S., 2018. Innovation in social media strategy for movie
success: a study of the Bollywood movie industry. Management Decision.
Peruta, A. and Shields, A.B., 2017. Social media in higher education: Understanding how
colleges and universities use Facebook. Journal of marketing for Higher
Education, 27(1), pp.131-143.
Scuderi, A. and Sturiale, L., 2018, May. Evaluations of social media strategy for green urban
planning in metropolitan cities. In International Symposium on New Metropolitan
Perspectives (pp. 76-84). Springer, Cham.

Xiao, F. and Wong-On-Wing, B., 2021. Employee Sensitivity to the Risk of Whistleblowing via
Social Media: The Role of Social Media Strategy and Policy. Journal of Business Ethics,
pp.1-24.
Online
Apple social media marketing strategy, 2020.[Online]. Available through :<
https://notesmatic.com/apple-social-media-marketing-strategy/#:~:text=It%20does%20not
%20use%20social,mainly%20for%20engaging%20its%20users/>