مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد رسانه های اجتماعی (الزویر)

Social media is changing our world. Through the advent of smartphones and social media, accessibility of information is higher than it ever has been before. Customers are frequently asked to “like” companies on Facebook, to “follow” companies on Twitter, or to “connect” via LinkedIn. As a result, customers are becoming better connected to companies, more knowledgeable about product selections, and more powerful in buyer-seller relationships. In broad terms, incorporating the use of social media in customer interactions is a logical progression for firms to expand communication with their customers (Avlonitis & Panagopoulos, 2010). For instance, trade-media encourage the use of social media (e.g. Wirthman, 2013) for firms, suggesting that social media is important for business as it aids in generating business exposure, increasing traffic, and providing marketplace insight (Stelzner, 2012). From a sales force perspective, Andzulis, Panagopoulos, and Rapp (2012) assert that social media should be an integral part of a firm’s repertoire, as it allows salespeople to engage customers and build social capital that would “encourage customers to interact, engage, and establish relationships with them” (Agnihotri, Kothandaraman, Kashyap, & Singh, 2012, p. 341). For instance, blog posts can be positioned to create discussion or debate as a means of listening to customers. Value propositions can be demonstrated through success stories shared on Facebook. Networks on LinkedIn can be used to build awareness and gain referrals (Andzulis et al., 2012). In sum, active use of social media can help salespeople in their communication with customers (Agnihotri et al., 2012). As such, we suggest two key downstream effects of social media within the sales domain. First, social media provides a means to communicate to customers in a manner that may plausibly enable greater salesperson responsiveness. For instance, when consumer complaints are lodged on a social networking site, 58% of consumers want a response; yet only 22% report receiving a response (Right Now Technologies, 2010). Hence, social media may provide one means to enable the salesperson to communicate in a more responsive manner. Second, social media may have implications on customer satisfaction. In general, with increased interactions and contact with firms, power is shifting from seller to buyer (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). An increase in buyer-seller collaboration and co-creation of knowledge and value (Greenberg, 2010) has placed buyers on a more equal footing with sellers. As such customers may hold higher expectation for these interactions and engagements, such that firms and customer contact employees must adapt (Hibbert, Winklhofer, & Temerak, 2012) or risk alienating or losing their customer base. For instance, a Harris Interactive report found that 82% of consumers have discontinued dealing with a company as a result of a negative experience (Right Now Technologies, 2010). Hence, social media may provide a means to better enable positive experiences that meet the expectations of the customer base