Annotated bibliography Final Draft

Why is social media and online retailing important for businesses today and what are the benefits?

The reason why I’m interested in this topic is because I plan to launch my own business and was researching on the methods that made other familiar businesses successful also as why others weren’t. Due to the growth of social media and technology in our generation I wanted to see how important social media is for a business success, specifically the fashion industry. This is a topic I’ve come across in my marketing class and also while searching for what topic to research for this annotated bibliography, it was the one that intrigued me the most. As there are a lot of successful businesses that aren’t using social media to promote themselves such as Primark but are they as successful as the one who are online and using social media  Or have they dropped down?

In this research I expect to find the benefits of social media/ online retailing and how it can increase and plays a part in a business success as much as why it is better than other traditional methods that were used before the growth of social media and online retail, and a clear example of business who have been more successful due to social media and being online also how beneficial it is specially considering the pandemic we are still going on.

If I find answer that does not match my hypothesis while doing my research, I will firstly reevaluate the answers I’ve found and do further research then re-evaluate my question as well as re-write it then lastly if that doesn’t work out I’ll explain how it contradicts my hypothesis and add the new information I’ve found and write a new hypothesis taking into consideration the new information I’ve found.

Social media marketing

Newberry, C. (2021, January 12). “23 Benefits of Social Media for Business”. Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/

This article was written by Christine Newberry, it states “23 Benefits of Social Media for Business” which is also the title, this supports my hypothesis and gave me the answer I was looking for as it’s basically persuasive and gives people 23 reasons to choose social media for their businesses. The first benefit mentioned is “Increase brand awareness” and this is the biggest advantage a company using online marketing could have on a business who is not using social media as they would gets 2x exposure, this article also states that “60 percent of Instagram users say they discover new products on the platform.” This is entirely true social media has become very influential specially for most of us young adults. It is the number one source of research and buying decisions specially for products like clothing and shoes.

Another good point that was said in this article was “Social media posts and ads are key ways to drive traffic to your website.” This again supports my hypothesis that using social media  marketing overall can increase website traffic just by posting content on social media which is at the same time promoting your brand and product as well as every now and then doing ads which you can modify to reach your target audience.

The importance of social media today.

Smith, K. (2021, March 9). The Importance of Social Media in Business for Entrepreneurial Success. Digital Marketing Blog. https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-social-media-business/

This source was written recently and it perfectly explains the importance of social media and how it contributes to a company’s success. First starting with the statement that social media “ It’s booming like never before.” At this point we all know that the majority of people are using social media or are familiar with it, as this has become a number 1 source for everything whether it’s for jobs to meeting new friends to simply posting yourself. This source states that “71% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand to others if they have a positive experience with it on social media.” I find this statement to be true not only because it was from an infographic but also because I myself and many other people are like this when we are checking out a company, we like to see from their reviews to social media status as that’s where we get more information from and better understanding of the brand.social media allows you connect better with your customers as much as growth,as it helps your other potential customers see your customer service, look through your brand and products easily and more thoroughly.

Online retailing/ e-commerce

Hudson, M. (2018, December 26). “What Are the Pros and Cons of eCommerce and Selling Online?” The Balance Small Business. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/selling-online-retailing-storefront-alternatives-2890252

This online article was written by Matthew Hudson, it states “ the pros and cons of e-commerce” the first 4 paragraphs supports my hypothesis as to the advantages of putting your business online , overall it bring you more profits as it allows you to be open 24 hours a day and have access to a wider range of customers geographically as the internet is international aso allows your product to be bought from anywhere especially now with COVID 19 ,this a choice a lot of business should consider as many people preferences has switched to online shopping.

In this article it also speaks about “ Disadvantages of Selling Online” such as security issues due to it being a globally accessible platform ,there might be risk and some cost to keep it secure and this applies to everything online but that still doesn’t override the advantages as technology is getting more updated and secure by the days and it’s definitely not as expensive as running a store in fact it’s small monthly fee which most companies are comfortable paying and it’s worth it.

Why should you use social media for your business ?

Popovic, K. (2015, May 13). 7 Reasons You Should Not Use Social Media For Business. Online Marketing Institute. https://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2015/05/7-reasons-you-should-not-use-social-media-for-business/

 This particular article mostly contradicts my hypothesis as it encourages people not to use online marketing / social media for their business by giving 7 reasons , the first reason of this audience is that “ Your audience isn’t there.” This might be slightly true but using social media boosts up your chances of finding and reaching more customers with social media than without, as it opens up a wide international platform with every type of customer.I would say your audience is most likely there just need to find the right platform and strategy. This brings us to their next reason “Social media doesn’t work for every business.” which I definitely agree with social media marketing might not work for every type of business specially among does who aren’t selling products or who target audience is older people however companies who sell services can definitely make it work such as nails services spa and more simply by posting your work and promoting your services and could even gain international customers such as people who are go on holidays often look online or on social media platforms and if your business happens to be the perfect match then there goes your first international customer as well if your content goes viral online you will gain a lot of customers especially with new platforms such as TikTok.

Another reason was “Social media is not free” most marketing strategies aren’t free and online might be one of the cheapest ways of marketing besides social media is free such as Instagram and Facebook these are platforms with millions of people who could be your potential buyers.

Also this article is from 2015 were social media wasn’t as popular so their data is based on a whole different time were technology wasn’t so updated and the current pandemic isn’t taken into consideration but the reason why I chose to use because this articles because it was popular and came up few times during my research.

Conclusion

Although I learnt that social media might not be for all business however most of  my finding supported my hypothesis and answered my questions ,social media definitely has very strong presence in this modern day and it’s a easier and effective way for business to grow, it’s important for companies to take this into consideration especially with the current pandemic going on, as even though I found some articles who mostly contradicted my hypothesis, they were from a different time and taking in that technology updates every year and new method come to light everyday even I might have a different hypothesis by next year but as of right now knowledge and information  it’s clear that social media and online retailing it’s important for business today.