Magazines Archives - 2010 June

Social media marketing a viable strategy for retailers
Story 11 - Special Feature

Retailers of all kinds — large and small — are talking about social media, and there are many different opinions about how to do it right. Among the questions being asked: How effectively do retailers’ customers relate and communicate via social media? How would customers prefer to interact? What value are they seeking from their interactions with retailers when they use various forms of social media?

As part of a study of nearly 10,000 visitors to the biggest e-retail websites in the US, the US-based research company MRS Inc wanted to use the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to examine these issues, because ACSI is able to show how different elements of a shopper’s interactions with a company (including through social media) impact their purchase intent, loyalty and recommendations.

What was discovered through the survey is, in a word, validation: Social media is a viable marketing strategy when the retailer understands what their customers want and when they know which social media platforms they frequent.

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