The overall aim of this dissertation was it to determine the importance of direct online communication through social media marketing measures for companies in the contemporary digital business world. The investigation found out how and to which extent organisational social media marketing can influence the decision-making process of a potential customer in the online world. To achieve this aim, the design of the dissertation will be a case study using the US-American footwear retailer Zappos.com as a real-life example.
This practical example helped to illustrate the research and its findings more clearly so that the reader will find answers for the questions which social networks the most promising ones for the company are, what Zappos.com is correctly doing to stand out in its category regarding customer loyalty and how this transfers to the retailer’s online presences, which social media measures are utilised to attract and bond its customers on a permanent basis, how are the employees initiating the personal dialogue with every customer and if there are any trends or innovations already existing for beneficial application.
The results were that personal online communication could indeed influence the purchasing decision of every single customer. However, a significant weakness is that whether a dialogue led to a purchase or not is difficult to measure. Current trends and innovative approaches demonstrate the considerable potential of social media marketing and justify why companies of such kind should integrate it into their strategies for long-term business sustainability.
Moreover, this dissertation consists of six main chapters, including introduction, literature review, methodology, findings, analysis and critical discussion with recommendations and conclusion, with several sub-chapters. The research is a descriptive and evaluative one us-ing secondary data to explore the existing theory critically and to suggest improvements. It was written within the time horizon from 17th September 2018 to 10th April 2019 and submitted on 23rd March 2019.
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