Analysis of Uber's Social Media Marketing and Business Strategies

This report delves into Uber's strategic use of social media platforms, analyzing how the company leverages Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to enhance its business operations and engage with customers. The report examines Uber's presence on each platform, detailing their marketing tactics, customer interaction strategies, and the impact of these efforts on brand visibility and customer loyalty. It explores Uber's innovative approaches, such as direct booking through Facebook Messenger, and assesses the effectiveness of their social media campaigns in promoting services, addressing customer feedback, and expanding their market reach. The analysis considers the role of social media in Uber's overall business model, highlighting how these platforms contribute to its profitability and competitive advantage within the transportation industry. The report also provides recommendations on how Uber can further refine its social media strategies to maximize their impact.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Social Media in Business
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Social Media: Tool for business:.....................................................................................................3
Operations of Uber:.........................................................................................................................7
Uber and Social Media:...................................................................................................................8
How is Uber using Social Media?...................................................................................................9
Personal website of Uber:............................................................................................................9
Uber and Facebook:...................................................................................................................10
Uber and Facebook Messenger:.................................................................................................13
Uber and Twitter:.......................................................................................................................13
Uber and Instagram:..................................................................................................................17
Uber and Youtube:.....................................................................................................................17
Uber and LinkedIn:....................................................................................................................19
Innovations in usage of social media:........................................................................................19
Recommendations:........................................................................................................................20
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................22

2SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Introduction:
In the new-age technological progress, communication and networking have become
immensely convenient with the advent of social media. The term “social media” refers to the
technologies mediated by computers mainly, which facilitate the sharing and distribution of
information, ideas and new creations across the world. With the extensive and widespread usage
of internet nowadays, social media has become a vital part of the life of majority of people across
the globe1. With lifestyle becoming more complex and deprived of leisure, face to face
communication is becoming difficult and social media, in this aspect is helping people to keep in
touch with each other in a virtual platform. Using this medium, overseas communication and
networking are becoming extremely easy and people are establishing contacts with people
residing thousands of miles away from them, in minutes, a phenomenon which could not be
thought to be possible a few decades ago2.
With the extensive increase in the usage of social media, it is obvious that the commercial
enterprises are also taking this platform seriously. The social media, with their reach to all
corners of the world, are becoming one of the most convenient, cheap and effective option for
the commercial organizations to show case their products and services, market their products to
people across the globe and spread awareness about the positive aspects of the services they
1 Couldry, Nick. Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Polity, 2012.
2 De Vries, Lisette, Sonja Gensler, and Peter SH Leeflang. "Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: An
investigation of the effects of social media marketing." Journal of interactive marketing 26.2 (2012): 83-91.

3SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
offer. This medium is even more beneficial for the small business as they do not need to incur
the cumbersome advertisement costs to promote their products. The large businesses are
benefitted too as social media not only helps in expanding the domain of their activities but also
help in other aspects like recruitment, sales, direct interaction with the customers and others and
therefore, this medium, if used properly is expected to benefit a business immensely in short as
well as long term3.
The report, taking into account the importance of social media in the current days
business activities, discusses the impact of these online platform on the commercial enterprises
and their profitability. To study the same, it takes Uber as the chosen commercial enterprise. This
multi-billion dollar transport enterprise, with its operational base spread across the world, also
has a huge market share in the transport sector of the economy of Australia and is expected to
expand its activities even more in the country, with time.
Operations of Uber:
Uber, a new-age point to point transport facilitator, spread extensively across the all the
major economies in the world, is one of the predominant players in the global market with
almost all of its operations being performed online. The company, though primarily offering cab
services, does not own any car and acts as an online platform where the service providers interact
with those who want to avail the service, thereby operating under the framework of shared
economic model4. The company, mainly working as a facilitator of setting up of business
3 Aral, Sinan, Chrysanthos Dellarocas, and David Godes. "Introduction to the special issue—social media and
business transformation: a framework for research." Information Systems Research 24.1 (2013): 3-13.
4 Richardson, Lizzie. "Performing the sharing economy." Geoforum67 (2015): 121-129.

4SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
relations among the buyers and sellers, earn fees from both sides and generates an annual
average revenue of amount 6.5 billion USD and creates employment for tens of thousands of
people across the globe. The enterprise, though primarily operates in the transport market, with
their phenomenal success is now venturing in other domains like that of food delivery and
others5.
In Australia, the enterprise has been in operation for nearly six to seven years and within
this short span of time has been able to capture a significant share of transport industry, thereby
posing as the primary competitor to the already present eminent traditional transport giants like
CabCharge and others. Much of this success of the company can be attributed to the convenient
transport options which the enterprise offer and the ease of booking a cab according to the time
and destination needs of the consumers, using a simple and self-explanatory online application
which can be easily installed and operated from smart phones. Also a significant share of the
worldwide success of Uber has to be attributed to the extremely coordinated and efficient
management and the smart and pro-customer smart and dynamic marketing strategies that are
taken by the company which has proved to be beneficial for the expansion of their business and
revenue generation over time6.
5 Uber.com, 'Drive Or Ride With Uber Melbourne' (Uber.com, 2017)
<https://www.uber.com/en-IN/cities/melbourne/> accessed 24 September 2017
6 Allen, Darcy. "The sharing economy." Review-Institute of Public Affairs 67.3 (2015): 24.

5SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Uber and Social Media:
One of the clever business strategies of the global transport enterprise, as discussed
above, is the widespread usage of social media as a platform for commercial activities by the
company. However, with time many commercial giants are coming under the domain of social
media, mainly for marketing and promoting their business, one of the foremost pioneers in this
aspect is Uber. The social networking trends of the company, in real sense, has contributed
significantly in shaping up the current profitability and prospects of the company and is often
cited as an exemplary inspiration for the enterprises who want to venture in this domain7.
How is Uber using Social Media?
The company, as discussed above, has already ventured in the virtual world of social
media and is using almost all the prominent online platforms for different commercial activities,
with a dynamic strategic framework, which keeps on changing and renovating according to the
needs and preferences dynamics of the customers around the world in general8.
Personal website of Uber:
Uber, being primarily conducting its operation in online interface, has a robust and well-
deigned personal website and an easy to install online application which can be used by both the
suppliers and the consumers through their smart phones. The application facilitates ride booking
at time preferred by the customers, selection abilities of pick up and drop destinations, pre-
7 Fuchs, Christian. Social media: A critical introduction. Sage, 2017.
8 Kannan, P. K. "Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda." International Journal of Research
in Marketing34.1 (2017): 22-45.

6SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
booking, ride sharing and a customer care availability. Customers can see the location of their
cabs, their availability, prices and time of arrival. They also have the facility to choose from a
variety of cabs according to their need and affordability. The online application also facilitates
customer care and complaint registrations under such circumstances. Though the application
cannot be considered as a form of social media per se, however, the convenience and attractive
website of the company do play a vital role in promotion of the same.
Uber and Facebook:
Facebook, as can be seen from Figure 1, is the most used social media platform across the
globe with the user base increasing considerably with time as can be seen from the following
graph:
Figure 3: Increase in the number of users of Facebook with time (In millions)9
9 Uber.com, 'Drive Or Ride With Uber Melbourne' (Uber.com, 2017)
<https://www.uber.com/en-IN/cities/melbourne/> accessed 24 September 2017

7SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
As is evident from the above figure, the users of this social media platform has increased
from one million in 2004 to about an astonishing 2000 million by the end of the year 2016.
Uber primarily uses this platform in its social media marketing activities. The official
page of the enterprise in Facebook has more than eight million followers, with the count
continually and speedily increasing with time. The main purpose of the enterprise in using
Facebook is marketing and promoting their services to the customers across the globe. With the
help of this medium, Uber mainly broadcasts information regarding new offers, deals or
launching of new types of services, riding arrangements and discounts. Thus, the company
primarily uses Facebook for marketing purposes. However, Uber also uses this platform to
strengthen its connections with the customers around the world. Uber, being a multi-national
transport facilitator, it is of utmost importance for the enterprise to stay in touch with all its
clients in different parts of the world as much of the profitability and future prospects depend on
the goodwill and reputation of the company, which primarily spreads through the word of mouth
of its clientele10.
In the recent times, many people resort to social media to post their queries,
dissatisfactions and complaints regarding the services availed or products bought by them, in
order to spread the information rapidly and extensively. Uber takes this into account and the
company has dedicated customer representatives employed, who are assigned with the
responsibility to search for the issues and complaints that are posted by the customers across the
10 Facebook.com, 'Facebook – Log In Or Sign Up' (Facebook, 2017) <https://www.facebook.com/> accessed 24
September 2017

8SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
world, on their official page in Facebook. These executives also try to provide clarifications,
helps and guidance to these complaints, in order to redress their issues of dissatisfaction11.
Figure 4: Example of customer feedback and handling of the issue by Uber12
The above figure shows an instance of customer complaints in the Facebook page of
Uber and the redressing strategy on part of the company. This makes it evident that the company
does not only use this platform for promotional purposes but also uses the same to build strong
connections with their clientele and to address to the issues arising in availing their services.
11 Weinberg, Tamar, Wibke Ladwig, and Corina Pahrmann. Social-Media-Marketing: Strategien für Twitter,
Facebook & Co. O'Reilly Germany, 2012.
12 Facebook.com, 'Facebook – Log In Or Sign Up' (Facebook, 2017) <https://www.facebook.com/> accessed 24
September 2017

9SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
However, the platform, in a general framework, is mainly used as a broadcasting and promoting
forum for the company.
Uber and Facebook Messenger:
The usage of Facebook Messenger by the company is an example of the dynamic and
efficient technology adapting strategic framework of the company, which constantly keeps on
updating itself with the change of tastes and preferences. Messenger is specifically is a
messaging and online chatting application, under the domain of Facebook itself, which has been
launched comparatively recently and has gained significant popularity within such short time
span, with increasing numbers of people using this application13.
Uber has recently started using this platform in one of a kind way, which appears as
extremely attractive and convenient to the customers. Under this facility, Uber cabs can be
directly booked from the Facebook Messenger. The customers just need to start conversation and
send their location and request for Uber cab. This facility also allows the customers to send their
trip status to friends, who can join for the ride or book accordingly. Thus, the company with the
use of this application is undertaking both promotional as well as operational expansions, which
is evidently a masterstroke on part of the company’s strategic framework.
Uber and Twitter:
The enterprise has not restricted its social media usage to Facebook and Facebook
Messenger only. The company has also taken to Twitter, another predominant social media
13 Messenger.com, 'Messenger' (Facebook, 2017) <https://www.messenger.com/> accessed 24 September 2017

10SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
platform, which is extensively used across the world and is enjoying even more expansion with
time.
Figure 5: Increase in the number of users of Twitter with time14
As can be seen from the above figure, the user base of this micro-blogging site has
increased impressively within a very small span of time. Uber has been enjoying the advantages
of the expansion of usage of Twitter with time. There are around 698 followers of Uber in
Twitter and the company’s Twitter account is highly interacting and responsive. In some arenas,
Twitter has several advantages over that of Facebook, especially when it comes to sharing of
opinions and videos. The micro-blogging site does not allow lengthy posts, thereby limiting the
14 Forbes.com, 'Forbes Welcome' (Forbes.com, 2017) <https://www.forbes.com/sites/.../twitters-surprising-user-
growth-bodes-well-for-2017/> accessed 24 September 2017

11SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
word limit and making it time-saving for the readers, who get to know about the matters by just
reading a few lines. The videos posted can also be seen directly from the Twitter account.
It becomes even easier for Uber to promote their services and tell about their deals and
new facilities, which they are launching, with the help of tweets, videos and pictures. From its
start of using this platform, there have been nearly 14000 tweets by the enterprise, which have
been re-tweeted and replied to several thousand times by the users. The platform is extensively
used by the enterprise in order to know about the feedbacks of their customers and address to the
issues faced by them. In fact, Uber uses Twitter more than that of Facebook, in the aspect of
handling customer complaints and feedbacks. The company stressed more on Facebook, when it
comes to advertising aspects and on Twitter when it comes to interaction with the customers.
There have been several instances of complaints on part of customers, which have been
addressed by the company, from this platform only15.
However, there is a serious limitation in the usage of Twitter or Facebook by the
company. Just as these sites help the company to promote their services in fast and efficient
manner, the negative and unfair incidents, which are shared by the customers in these forums,
also get significant attentions from other immediately. These are expected to have adverse effects
on the reputation of the company, as more and more people become skeptic and lose confidence
from the company’s services.
15 Twitter.com, 'Uber Complaints (@Ubercomplaints1) | Twitter' (Twitter.com, 2017)
<https://twitter.com/ubercomplaints1?lang=en> accessed 24 September 2017.

12SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Figure 6: Customer complaints in the Twitter handle of Uber16
As can be seen from the above figure, the negative feedbacks, being displayed to public,
gets immense attention from the users and is re-tweeted repeatedly, which adds to the negative
reputation of the company. The same is applicable for Facebook as well, as the rapid sharing of
these posts hampers the good will of the company and many a times leads to distorting of
information, which many a times become impossible for the company to manage and restrict17.
16 Twitter.com, 'Uber Complaints (@Ubercomplaints1) | Twitter' (Twitter.com, 2017)
<https://twitter.com/ubercomplaints1?lang=en> accessed 24 September 2017.
17 Sullivan, S. John, et al. "‘What's happening?’A content analysis of concussion-related traffic on Twitter." Br J
Sports Med 46.4 (2012): 258-263.

13SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Uber and Instagram:
Instagram is a social media platform, which categorically deals with sharing of pictures
and images only. As there is no such provision of writing long posts, it mainly works as a visual
based platform of sharing information. This social media platform, though being comparatively
new, has gained immense popularity among people across the world and is hugely loved because
of its unique visual characteristics18.
Uber has showcased its services beautifully on Instagram and has around 433 thousand
followers and 477 images in its account. This site also contributes significantly in the social
media activities of the company19.
Uber and Youtube:
Sharing videos have now become the newest trend in the social online communication as
much more can be interpreted from videos than from written or image posts. Youtube facilitates
sharing and posting of videos specifically and has thus become a social media giant in no time.
18 Abbott, Wendy, et al. "An Instagram is worth a thousand words: An industry panel and audience Q&A." Library
Hi Tech News 30.7 (2013): 1-6.
19 Instagram.com, 'Uber (@Uber) • Instagram Photos And Videos' (Instagram.com, 2017)
<https://www.instagram.com/uber/> accessed 24 September 2017

14SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Figure 7: Growth of views of Youtube over time20
Uber takes this opportunity and uses this platform to show case the facilities which are
provided by the company to the customers, through well-designed and well-executed advertising
videos. These videos are very well though and have a warmth quotient in them, which makes the
viewers feel a part of the enterprise, thereby automatically increasing the goodwill of the
company21.
20 Forbes.com, 'Forbes Welcome' (Forbes.com, 2017) <https://www.forbes.com/sites/.../twitters-surprising-user-
growth-bodes-well-for-2017/> accessed 24 September 2017
21 Youtube.com, 'Uber' (YouTube, 2017) <https://www.youtube.com/user/UberWorldwide> accessed 24 September
2017

15SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Uber and LinkedIn:
LinkedIn being one of the primary corporate and employment oriented social media
channel, is used by people across the world, for professional purposes. Many commercial
enterprises use this site to expand their business and to search for efficient human resources
which they require for their production. Uber also uses this platform mainly for recruitment
purposes as it helps them to choose their potential employees across the world22.
Apart from the above social media channels, Uber has also ventured in other channels
like Pinterest, Google Plus, LinkedIn and others, which are increasingly gaining popularity
among people across the globe.
Innovations in usage of social media:
The marketing strategic framework of Uber, being highly dynamic, often comes up with
highly interesting and innovative ideas, which are mostly short term and comes as special deals
according to the need of the hour. For example, very recently the company has launched the
facility to deliver kittens at the doorsteps of the customers in fifty cities across the world, in the
International Kitten Day. Under this facility, the customers have the privilege of cuddling kittens
for fifteen minutes, at the time and place of their preference. This marketing step, has been
immensely welcomed by the cat loving clients across the world and has immensely contributed
to the goodwill of the company23.
22 Zide, Julie, Ben Elman, and Comila Shahani-Denning. "LinkedIn and recruitment: How profiles differ across
occupations." Employee Relations 36.5 (2014): 583-604.
23 Ng, Su. "Uber Technologies Inc. as a Disruptive Innovation." (2016).

16SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Uber has also set up business ties with Zomato, one of the primary restaurant finding
applications across the world, under which the clients can choose a restaurant to dine in and book
a cab from that application directly, thereby expanding the business opportunities of both the
companies significantly.
Social Media Usage Analysis:
As per the web based online social media analysis tools, different social media sites serve
different purposes and can be used on the basis of their nature. According to this, Twitter can be
used by Uber for the purpose of starting and leading or joining conversations with the customers
and it can be done multiple times a day. The tools like buffer can help the company to schedule
future posts in advance and thus, Uber can use this site to systematically promote its services too.
Instagram, though can be used for displaying the new products, is not of regular use for Uber and
can be used specifically for the purpose of displaying new services launched or in cases of
special occasions. Followgram can be an useful tool in this case for keeping a tab of the most
liked posts24.
The company can use LinkedIn for the purpose of seeking potential employees for the different
job profiles. It can post requirements in this site two to four times a week. Uber, if maintains a
paid profile can also view the users who view their profile. Facebook on the other hand being a
common platform can be used for the company to assess the customers feedback.
24 Simplymeasured.com. "Try One Of Simply Measured's Free Social Media Analytics Tools." Simply Measured.
N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Oct. 2017.

17SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Uber, as per these tools, can use You Tube once or twice a week to post promotional video
content but apart from that it is not of much use to the company as of now.
Pin Interest can be of great help to the company for promoting its services as the posts get shared
by pinning and repining the same. The female population being more in this site, the company is
expected to get a bigger female following.
Recommendations:
The usage of social media has proved to be immensely beneficial for the company as can
be seen from the above discussion. However, there are some limitations and scopes of expansion
for the company in this aspect. The company should consider the comparatively new but rising
social media platform and should keep themselves updated regarding the emergence and
popularity of new channels and their usability for the commercial benefits of the company. One
such social media site, which is comparatively new but has gained significant attention in the
short span is Yelp. Uber though has started using Yelp, it can give more attention to this site and
its usage as the number of users in this site is increasing. Along with this the company should
also keep a close watch on the activities in their current social media pages and should control
and rectify the unfavorable ones with rapidity25.
Conclusion:
The above discussion clearly makes it evident that the new age social media has emerged
to be a predominantly powerful tool for the commercial enterprise for expansion of their
25 Zeng, Junfen. "Using Social Media As a Marketing Tool for Businesses." (2017).

18SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
activities and prospects. Uber has been using this media for quite some time now and the results
are mostly beneficial as can be reflected in the country’s phenomenal success across the globe.
However, the company should not stagnate at this level only as the social media itself is highly
dynamic and changes according to the preferences of people across the world. With advent of
newer and innovative channels in this domain, the company needs to study their applicability in
its own strategic and commercial framework. It should also pay attention to the negative
feedbacks which are generated in its existing social media channels the future prospects of the
company highly depends on the loyalty and the confidence of its clientele and the goodwill of the
company in the global market.
References
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Allen, Darcy. "The sharing economy." Review-Institute of Public Affairs 67.3 (2015): 24.

19SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Aral, Sinan, Chrysanthos Dellarocas, and David Godes. "Introduction to the special issue—social
media and business transformation: a framework for research." Information Systems
Research 24.1 (2013): 3-13.
Couldry, Nick. Media, society, world: Social theory and digital media practice. Polity, 2012.
De Vries, Lisette, Sonja Gensler, and Peter SH Leeflang. "Popularity of brand posts on brand fan
pages: An investigation of the effects of social media marketing." Journal of interactive
marketing 26.2 (2012): 83-91.
Facebook.com, 'Facebook – Log In Or Sign Up' (Facebook, 2017)
<https://www.facebook.com/> accessed 24 September 2017
Fan, Weiguo, and Michael D. Gordon. "The power of social media analytics." Communications
of the ACM 57.6 (2014): 74-81.
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surprising-user-growth-bodes-well-for-2017/> accessed 24 September 2017
Fuchs, Christian. Social media: A critical introduction. Sage, 2017.
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<https://www.instagram.com/uber/> accessed 24 September 2017
Kannan, P. K. "Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda." International
Journal of Research in Marketing34.1 (2017): 22-45.
Messenger.com, 'Messenger' (Facebook, 2017) <https://www.messenger.com/> accessed 24
September 2017

20SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
Ng, Su. "Uber Technologies Inc. as a Disruptive Innovation." (2016).
Richardson, Lizzie. "Performing the sharing economy." Geoforum67 (2015): 121-129.
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<https://twitter.com/ubercomplaints1?lang=en> accessed 24 September 2017.
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für Twitter, Facebook & Co. O'Reilly Germany, 2012.

21SOCIAL MEDIA IN BUSINESS
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accessed 24 September 2017
Zeng, Junfen. "Using Social Media As a Marketing Tool for Businesses." (2017).
Zide, Julie, Ben Elman, and Comila Shahani-Denning. "LinkedIn and recruitment: How profiles
differ across occupations." Employee Relations 36.5 (2014): 583-604.