Social Technologies and Value Creation

So, we introduced the social technologies in the previous blog. Now this begs the question, how the social technologies are creating value generation. It is an important concept studied in consumer behaviour. Let me introduce bit of the literature in the context of social media, internet and consumer behaviour.

In the modern world consumers are very actively involved in various activities over internet. Heinonen (2011) argues that consumers not only share knowledge but also participate in discussions and contributing to other consumers’ activities as well. It is interesting to note that there are various forms of media on internet that is also referred as social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. The social media is largely a platform for creating and marketing the companies’ content. Stewart and Pavlou (2002) stated that from a marketing perspective marketers have developed a keen interest in digital interaction particularly consumer activity and interaction over the social media.

The results from Gros (2012) showed that 95 % of the respondents have been using different forms of social media for more than two years and 48 % of the users have been using social media for more than five years. Moreover, it was interesting to note that users were spending up to 27 hours per week on social media

The companies should use the opportunity of interaction available through Social Media to get involved with the community of followers. Klaus and Maklan (2011) argued that the Internet has transformed initial relationship between consumers and marketers into mutual collaborative relationships. It can also be concluded that Social Media offers the opportunity to express their concerns for customers and ensure that their voices are heard. Moreover, through the social media.

companies may be using to come up to customers’ expectation. Sweeney and Craig (2011) argue and comment that if the customers feel that their comments and feedbacks are valued and companies are try to come up to their expectations and are concerned; the purchase decision are made quickly.

Value and Social Technologies

The following articles explain the social technologies in a very coherent manner

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/the_social_economy

http://breakthroughanalysis.com/2014/11/04/social-media-analytics-pedro-cardoso/

Mickensey report on The social Economy discussed five functional areas that can add value to a firm. I would like to discuss example of Ahmets Restaurant (http://www.ahmets.com/south-bank/) at SouthBank that claims to create a lasting impression for the customers. However, what is missing (read: inefficient) from their customer service and experiential part of service is the presence of social technologies.

A functional area that can be significantly improved for Ahmets is their marketing and sales through social technologies. As Vargo and Lusch (2004) discuss about value co-creation in the service scape. It is an opportunity for Ahmets to use customers’ feedback to create value for customers. It will also develop insights for firms growth as compared to traditional marketing practises in the past. Also, the social technologies allow firms to actively follow up the customers