How can a BMW franchise create Customer Engagement through Social Research Paper

How can a BMW franchise create Customer Engagement through Social Media - Research Paper Example According to the research findings the reasons behind the utilisation of the social media sites depend upon multifarious factors. Its utilisation may depend upon components such as company profile, products and customers that the company is serving. Social media websites can be considered as a good way through which the dependability as well as the goodwill of a company can be enhanced. People make use of social media sites for certain reasons such as for the purpose of interacting, collaborating, looking for counsel from the experts, disseminating of the multimedia, looking for opinions, contributing reviews as well as entertainment. Most of the people argue the fact that social media tends to bring a new sense of community by permitting them to connect with those who are similar to themselves i.e. like-minded people and people with similar tastes and preferences. A number of people are making use of the social media while initiating purchase decisions. The figure below demonstrates the use of social media by BMW and others and the benefits obtained by it in order to gain higher return on investment. The figure makes it apparent that BMW scores high in terms of revenues earned by making use of the social media. It is a well known fact that the new media environment is featured by interactivity and multi-dimensional communication flows. With the pace of time, the marketing functions have also started incorporating social media in its campaigns. (Yamamichi, 2011). The increased utilisation of social networking sites such as Facebook as well as Twitter in order to market the products as well as the services is gaining huge attention in the recent times. The companies make use of the social media sites as one of the significant communication channels so that they can gain feedback of the consumers. It has been recognised that on-line communities are considered as a vital component of social media since they offer the companies with cross-selling opportunities to v arious user groups sharing the similar platform (Donath, 2004). Social media can offer BMW with immediate feedbacks and present the company with quick indications regarding what is required in order to resolve pertinent issues. In the present times, the companies make use of the social media so that they can improve their marketing schemes. The purpose of social media must be to improve branding of the business of BMW and to increase the popularity of the product. It can be mentioned that the social media must also be utilised for the purpose of tracking the presence of the business online in order to ensure that the clients are not deteriorating the value of the brand (Zwart, Lindsay, Henderson, & Phillips, 2011). Certain authors have stated the fact that one of the main benefits of social media is to identify precisely regarding what the customers are thinking. Businesses also make use of the social media sites in order to increase the sales of the products and the services and in turn to increase the market share (Ali, 2011). Social media makes it easier for the companies to create relationships, position the brand properly and share exciting experiences and information with their customers (National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2011). Web Users Frequency It has been found that the rate of internet penetration in Europe in the year 2011 had been 61.3% while the world average was 32.7%. Internet penetration in rest of the world has been 28.9%. The figure presented below helps