Chapter 18 · Social Media and Marketing

 Social media plays a big role in the 21st century; it  has changed the way we get and share information, the way we communicate and the way we get our opinions heard.

 With the hundreds of millions of users on Facebook, the site can be the third largest in the world and the  hundreds of millions of active users on twitter post an average of a billion tweets. This "exponentially  leverages word of mouth" and it is important for marketers to take advantage of social media to advertise products.

Coach has seized the opportunity to communicate with customers through social media, and the company has active accounts on twitter, instagram, and facebook. From there, Coach posts updates on the latest collections and shares images with followers. Additionally, Coach allows consumers to subscribe to email updates and their website can be accessed from a smartphone. Since virtually anything can be viewed on a smartphone, Coach has also utilized YouTube to showcase short videos featuring the latest products. The company's channel has over 55 thousand subscribers. 

Left: Coach's twitter account.
Middle: Coach's instagram.
Right: Coach's facebook account, with 4.3 million likes.

Coach engages with customers over twitter, and those with any questions regarding a product can tweet the company using the handle: @Coach. The account is monitored, and a representative will reply to customers needing assistance regarding a product, whether it needs repair or tips on cleaning. Although customers get a reply, the replies are often received a day later, and some up to five days later. If Coach plans on using social media as a way of connecting with customers, they need to establish a better way of helping customers because most replies sound generic and insincere. This may give off the impression that the customer is not valued, and those who don't have a strong sense of brand loyalty will go elsewhere.