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Applying Social Media to Business

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APPLYING SOCIAL MEDIA TO BUSINESS CHALLENGES RALPH POOL

ASSIGNMENT 2

INTRODUCTION

NIKE, Inc. created in 1972, based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned Nike subsidiaries include Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand.

Their goal is to carry on the legacy of innovative thinking, whether to develop products that help athletes of every level of ability reach their potential, or to create business opportunities that set Nike apart from the competition and provide value to their shareholders.

It started with a handshake between two visionary Oregonians - Bowerman and his University of Oregon runner Phil Knight. They and the people they hired evolved and grew the company that became Nike from a US-based footwear distributor to a global marketer of athletic footwear, apparel and equipment that is unrivalled in the world.

Today they operate in more than 160 countries around the globe. Through their suppliers, shippers, retailers and other service providers, they directly or indirectly employ nearly one million people.

That includes more than 30,000 Nike employees across six continents, each of which makes their own contribution to fulfil their mission statement: to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.

Nike has successfully used Facebook to build a community around their organization and products. For the purpose of this assignment I have selected Nike Running as an example. They have combined their running shoes with some Apple hardware and software. A sensor is tucked into the shoe. The sensor talks to your Apple iPod and reveals your running data while you are listening to music. The data can be uploaded to Nike Running website and shared to Facebook. Fellow runners and friends can view this data.

THE CHANNEL

Facebook has more than 500 million active users. Of these active users 50% log on to Facebook in any given day. An average user has 130 friends and time spent on Facebook adds up to 700 billion minutes per month. The Facebook Platform is a development platform that enables companies and engineers to deeply integrate with the Facebook website and gain access to millions of users through the social graph.

Pros of Using Facebook
Facebook is an easy-to-use platform for supporting your online identity, and there are several ways you can use it as part of your online presence strategy.

• You can add hundreds of ‘Friends’ around the globe based on key interests; Facebook’s ‘Search’ feature allows you to track down millions of people who have expressed interest in a certain activity, product or service in their profile.

• You may also add friends through people you know; when you first set up your Facebook profile, you can add customers or clients as a ‘Friend’ if they want to stay in touch with you in a new way. Over time, other people may find your profile to be interesting, and can also join your network.

• Ultimately, Facebook gives you a chance to promote your brand or business entity by creating awareness amongst existing clients, their friends and family members. Any time someone interacts with you through the public profile, their activity will show up on all of their friends’ lists. This gives you increased exposure online with very little effort.

Cons of Using Facebook
While having a Facebook profile does give you a chance to interact with customers or prospects in a new way and establishes your online identity, there are some drawbacks for using Facebook as a marketing tool.

• Your Facebook identity needs to be managed and monitored regularly to ensure it’s always updated and that you’re providing quality notes or comments to your groups and Friends on a regular basis. If you’re not planning on interacting regularly on Facebook, people are more than likely to simply forget about you – and your brand.

• You need to be the leader in creating groups or event pages. If your staff doesn’t’ have the skills to execute these types of online activities consistently, you can miss out on several networking opportunities and fail to create a solid online presence on this social networking platform.

• Poor public relations can spread like wildfire across Facebook. If a handful of customers or clients start complaining about you or post negative comments on other people’s profiles, you won’t have any control over the activities. If you’re planning on creating a public profile, make sure you have the marketing/PR team to manage these types of situations to maintain a positive reputation.

The most obvious choice for selecting Facebook would be the amount of active users and the time they spend on Facebook. All these factors will make it easier to grow an online community around your business

ANALYSIS

When you visit their Nike Running page you are welcomed and introduced to their products. You can link to their website and get to know the product. They made a success of their Facebook presence by not following normal trends as done by other companies who try to build a community centred around their brands. They have adopted a different strategy. For Nike it was never about how they can convert some percentage of users to buy their product, it was about creating a social network of dedicated runners.

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Other runners can view data that is collected from the Nike+ running shoe and uploaded by runners. The data includes distance covered and the routes they take. The data can be discussed and this leads to runners getting together on the same route, enhancing the social network strategy.

People can come to Facebook with any problems they might have with the product and a Nike Representative on a discussion board assists them.

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RECOMMENDATION

People who use this product are encouraged to use the Nike Running website to upload their data and these data are shared to their Facebook profiles. This will then take them to Facebook to discuss the data accumulated with other runners. Nike Running have successfully engaged their consumers and created a social network of dedicated runners

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