The role of social media in building lasting valuable customer Essay

The role of social media in building lasting valuable customer relationships - Essay Example 1). Interactive market entails appreciating the experiences customers through communication channels whereby customers have a significant experience with the internet in the form of flow (Shankar and Malthouse, 2009, p. 1). Through following their preferred brands and retailers on social media platforms, consumers can get access to an insider view of commodities and the companies that produce them while at the same time looking at new releases, promotions and giveaways among other things. The present retail environment is in a new social norm with more and more people utilizing social networks every day. According to the Digital Consumer Report almost sixty-four percent of people who use social media tap into sites at least once every day on their computers, while almost fifty percent of social media subscribers access social networks through their smartphones. Progressive business entities such as Apple, Dell, Starbucks as well as Nike among other have adopted social channels such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as a means of boosting their bottom-line results (Safko, 2012, p. 27). Numerous brands have started realizing that social media can be employed as a powerful instrument in driving in-store engagement as well as sales. For most of the consumers, social media can be the source of inspiration on various ways of decorating space, planning an outfit or seeing how it fits on a real person rather than the conventional model. However, the participation of retailers in social channels is not supposed to end the moment when the customer pays for the commodity he or she is buying (Sparrow, 2010, p. 33). In order to drive continuous sales while promoting prolonged loyalty, forward thinking businesses employ social media networks to foster ongoing relationships and give value to their customers through time. Even though social media can assist in promoting quick sales and short-term goals of spreading the