The Importance Of Social Media In Business?

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Through the popularity and variety of social media platforms there is a transparency among individuals and businesses that did not exist before. The transparency within businesses allows brands to engage with their consumers, which makes it easier to establish a connection and makes it difficult for businesses to cover up unethical dilemmas. As a result of increased transparency among business practices, consumers want to shop from companies who build ethics into their brand. This trend can be explained by social influence and social media’s ability to communicate norms, how emotions dominate decisions and the motivation to see oneself as good.
Along with transparency within businesses, studies by Forbes and Morgan Stanley have found that …show more content…

In 2014 Netflix added several documentaries that shed light on the corrupt practices of the fast food industry. Food Inc. and Fed Up shows how animals are treated in the farms McDonalds owns, shows how the animals are induced with hormones which reduces the quality of the meat and sheds light on the brutal chemical filled process of how their food is created. Also during this time, McDonald’s, around the world were facing multiple health concerns including contaminated chicken and beef according to the Economist. Word began to spread through social media about McDonalds poor practices and how they put their customers at risk to save money. The tone of the brand had become negative on social media and other major news outlets which caused the masses to conform to the negative perception of the brand. What McDonalds was doing was not ethical and their profits dropped as a result. Bloomberg in December of 2014, reported that McDonalds had the “lowest sales decline in more than a decade”. McDonalds has since made effort to rebrand the company, by offering healthier alternatives, using safer production practices and partnering with ethically trusted brands like Chobani to gain back the trust of its millennial consumers. Bloomberg has reported that although McDonald’s numbers have not completely improved, sales did get better as a result of …show more content…

A neuroscience professor at USC made the argument that when consumers are faced with a dilemma, they use the emotion from past experiences to “create preferences” to determine the solution for the issue at hand. This argument is proven by the effects of a recent twitter outburst involving President-Elect Donald Trump. December 6, 2016, Donald Trump went on a twitter rant bad mouthing Boeing. According to tweets, Trump was under the impression that Boeing had been commissioned to design two new air crafts for future presidents and that the cost of the project was four billion dollars and because of the increasing costs he wanted to cancel the order. Trump also implied that Boeing was purposely overcharging the American government. Trumps claims questioned the moral integrity of Boeing placing the brand in an ethical dilemma. Because of the social influence Trump carries, immediately after his tweeting spree according to MarketWatch.com, the stock price of Boeing fell 1%. MarketWatch.com reported that the stocks fell a total of 1.6% costing Boeing shareholders over $550 million. The consumers who panicked and sold their shares of Boeing only did so because of emotional triggers. At the time of the tweet spree, there were no facts presented to back his claims. It was later revealed that Trumps claims were not true and Boeing was able to increase

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