Monitoring Social Networks

Social networks are the newest tool that allows businesses to receive feedback about how their companies are performing in the eyes of their own customers. Prior to social media companies mostly had to rely on surveys, and complaints in order to adjust their business methods to fit the customers need. Social media changes this entire complexion. It gives the business somewhere where information about their business can be posted in real time, allowing for quicker changes for the customer.

If I owned a business I would use a social media monitoring company in a few different ways. The first thing I would do is to have the companies monitor how much my businesses name is being thrown around social media, whether in a positive or negative light. This would give me a good idea on how widespread and popular my company has become, or vice versa, to see if it is not a choice of consumers. It would give me a good idea on how large my clientele is, and what things I need to do as the owner to best manage the customers I do have.

Next I would separate the positive and negative comments from each other.  I think that for the bettering of the business it would be a better idea to get more in depth in looking at the comments that point out the issues of my company. If I were to only follow the good comments, I would never think anything is wrong in the customers eyes, and would not be making adjustments accordingly. The things that negative comments would point out would become the main focus on furthering my company. The success of the company lies in the customer’s hands, and if they do not like the product being offered to them they will not purchase it and move on to my competitors.       

I would also use social media monitoring to track my competitors as well. Seeing what is successful to them, and applying it to my company, would be a great benefit. To get to the top of your industry, one must have the top of the line product in that industry. If my competitors are succeeding while I am failing, and I do not adjust to what is working, I will surely be out of business quickly. These are the ways that I think would be the best way to utilize companies that monitor social networks. Companies that are in this field will continue to pop up the more and more social networks become a part of business. 

Value Chain

I am going to call my CD business, Joe’s Music World. This is how I would utilize a value chain in this hypothetical business. To begin the upstream management part of the value chain always starts with the raw materials needed to produce and create an inventory. First I would collect together all old CDs that I have in my possession. I would save a step for this part by avoiding figuring the inbound logistics. On the other hand I would need to collect more materials besides just the CDs I own. I would send messages to people that I know and ask them if they own any old CDs that they would like to sell me or donate. I would work out a price for buying bulk amounts of CDs that is confortable with the seller and also leaves me room to make a profit. Logistically I would use a couple methods to collect these raw materials. If they are located proximally to myself I would travel myself in my car and collect the materials. If they are not close I would set up a shipping account with a shipping company to have the CDs shipped from wherever they are to me. Once I have collected the materials I will find a proper and organized way to store my inventory. I would designate a certain area in my home for my inventory. I would organize the CDs by genre of music, and within each genre I will have them in alphabetical order. There is also the opportunity to produce some CDs on my own. I already have thousands of songs stored in my iTunes, and would use these mp3 files to burn and create new CDs that I do not already have, allowing my inventory to grow larger.

            The next step is to start the downstream management, which is pretty much turning my inventory into revenue and profit. When someone purchases a CD I will go into my storage area, find the genre in which the CD falls, and find it alphabetically. To distribute my products, once an order is placed, I will look up the customers information to determine where the product will be going. Local orders I would be able to personally bring to the customer just as I would picking up a CD I had purchased for inventory. Non local order I will use the same shipping company that I use for bringing me the CDs, to ship them their CD orders.  To get my name out in the public I would use different marketing and advertising medias. With the explosion of social media and the easy access that most people in today’s world have with it, I would start there. I would create my own page for my company, allowing potential customers to see how my business works, and to see past customer experiences that may be posted. If I were to start making a good profit, I would also pay for advertising spaces in printed media, like newspapers, local magazines, etc. I would use my social media page as a base for customer service. Here I will listen to the feedback customers provide, listen to ideas on how customers would alter different aspects of the business for it to be more easy to use for them, and I will also be able to answer any questions that might arise. This is how I would use a value chain for my new CD company.