In Response to Matt: Social Media

Matt asks, "Do you think it is smart for Corporations to use Twitter or Facebook? What about small local businesses? In what way could a small business, such as Fritz, utilize a Twitter account to maximize business and market its product?"

I do think it is smart for corporations to use Twitter and Facebook. By doing this, they are targeting a younger crowd who may not usually pay as much attention to the company or what is does. The same goes for small businesses. One example I can think of is Joe Peanuts house of wings. Before my friend started working there I did not know about it. However, after eating there I found that it was very good and targeted towards a lot of different age groups. Twitter and Facebook is something that I think would be beneficial to their business and would bring in a lot more customers. 

Do you think that social media could help businesses and bring in more customers?

Online Marketing

Have you ever been online and realized that all of the ads on the side of the page were targeted toward you and the previous websites you visited? Recently I was looking at clothing online and later noticed a couple items that I was looking began popping up on the screen. This type of marketing and advertising is something that I have noticed taking place within the past couple of years. Companies are realizing that they can target people with what they know they like by tracking their online shopping history. I think this marketing tactic is beneficial to companies because it makes people think twice about their purchasing decision with the possibility of buying the product on the second time around.

Have you ever found yourself being persuaded to purchase a product after noticing the ads while surfing the internet?

In Response to Drew's Post

Drew ends his post with the question, "Do you think that using forms of social media such as Facebook and Twitter is a wise way to market yourself as a business? What are the benefits and are there any drawbacks?"

I think that in some cases marketing through social media is beneficial and in others it is a drawback. As Drew said, many companies are trying to get you to view their facebook page for promotions or follow them on twitter. This may be beneficial to people that are involved in social media such as young adults, college students, and now more and more people in the older generations. However, being involved in social media myself, I have never really taken advantage of these marketing tactics and checked out a business's facebook page. A downfall of this idea would be that although there are many people involved in social media, there is also a large amount of people not involved thus excluding them from possible promotions that are taking place. I suppose it is just a way of improving with the fast moving times. 

Being a facebook user, would you say marketing through social media is beneficial? Suppose you are not involved with facebook or twitter, do you think you would still feel the same way?

Ethics related to outsourcing

The act of outsourcing can be beneficial to a company because it is allowing them to produce products at a lower cost than they would be able to in the United States. Usually outsourcing takes place in developing countries (China, Indonesia, India, Singapore etc.) Technically to an extent outsourcing is benefiting the workers in the other countries as well by employing them. However, bigger companies are taking advantage of the oversees employees. In my other class, Organizational communication we are discussing outsourcing and ethics. Recently we have viewed a documentary called, The Corporation. In the trailer shown below, the cost of production is compared to the employee wages. For example, a Liz Claiborne jacket goes for $178 and the employees making it are paid 74 cents. Nike is also a big contributor to the unethical type of outsourcing giving a time frame for production bringing wages to 3/10 of the retail price. To me this is very unethical. I understand that money is everything to these companies but paying employees that little seems very unethical. I always knew that companies were outsourcing, but just recently did I go through a lot of my clothes only to find that the majority of them are made in China.
Is it unethical for us to be supporting these companies knowing the prices they are paying to hard working employees?

In response to Kendra's Post

Kendra asks the question, "Do you think this is a cut and dry subject or can it be possible that the many options confuse the customers but shows the successful implementation of the marketing concept?"

Thinking about this question, I do think that there are times when there is too many options which makes the decision that I am trying to come to a lot more difficult. I agree with Kendra's view about quality over quantity and think that sometimes to make a product more profitable and have more value then more time should be spent on perfecting a fewer number of products. I have also been in the situation where I have had a hard time deciding what product to purchase and a sale associate tries very hard to get me to buy the most expensive product out of the bunch. Maybe if there were fewer options it would make it a lot easier for people to make the right decison. 

Customer Satisfaction & Customer Value

While customer satisfaction measures how satisfied the customer is with the product that they have chosen, customer value measures the value that the customer gets from the product and how much they are willing to pay for it. These two concepts are mutually exclusive meaning that when one of these situations occurs the other situation is not created or effected. There can be a high customer satisfaction occurring with a product or service however, that satisfaction does not effect the customer value. Even with a low customer value, satisfaction can still be taking place because one aspect does not rely on the other thus, allowing them to occur simultaneously.