Introduction
Market promotion is an integral aspect of any business’s development, which is particularly important in the era of globalization. Modern organizations employ a variety of strategies and technologies designed to increase interest in their brands and expand their customer base, thereby generating revenue. Despite proven business development models and essential innovative solutions, one of the most popular mechanisms for increasing customer loyalty and expanding the target audience is the promotion on social media. Through the opportunities that these platforms offer, companies can interact directly with customers, sell products and services without intermediaries, increase competitiveness, and realize many other development goals. As an example of a business actively using social media as a backdrop to increase brand value and attract customers, Amazon Prime will be considered. This subsidiary of the world-famous retailing corporation Amazon has a stable income generated by interacting with the public in the digital field. Strengthening the market presence, increasing trust in the brand’s products, constantly generating profits, expanding the number of available services, and other significant initiatives are the consequences of the involvement of social media. The report will cover Amazon Prime’s approaches to using social media.
Aims and Objectives
The critical aim of the report is to evaluate whether social media contributes to Amazon Prime’s digital economy. In this regard, appropriate objectives should be addressed to give a specific assessment of the issue and recommendations concerning the potential optimization of the platform’s development strategy. A relevant business innovation technique and the model aimed at increasing influence on the target market (the rocket model) will be utilized as examples of strategic solutions. Amazon Prime will be examined in the context of the use of social media and its impact on productivity and growth outcomes. Evaluating these digital tools can help determine how meaningful online user communication is to the chosen business platform and how effectively Amazon Prime leverages the power of social media to strengthen its business.
Background of the Platform
Amazon Prime is a special service offered by the Amazon company. According to Aćimović et al. (2020), today, this platform sells more than 10,000 products of various types. Amazon Prime was founded in 2015 with the goal of offering faster delivery times to customers for the items they order (Aćimović et al., 2020). Further, the list of options available to clients expanded significantly. Currently, the platform performs the function of a digital content streaming service, offers video games and music, and continues to deliver faster (“New members,” 2022). Due to this assortment, Amazon Prime satisfies the interests of a wide audience. Vakulenko et al. (2022) argue that “delivery service differentiation has been identified as a key strategy in engineering e-commerce growth,” and the same can be said for the retail industry (p. 477). The ability to address the tastes of different categories of customers increases the chances of successful sales and expands the spectrum of market presence.
Given the specifics of Amazon Prime’s business, one can note that the platform is unlikely to be successful without constant two-way communication with target buyers. Special tariff plans, assortment updates, and other options are crucial to interacting with customers timely. In this regard, the use of social media as a tool for public feedback is an indispensable solution, which, in addition, is an effective marketing initiative.
Role of Social Media in Amazon Prime’s Digital Economy
Amazon Prime is a service that not only provides users with premium access to ordering and shipping but also promotes digital content. Series, music, video games, and other products in the media field are available to people through a special subscription, which makes up a significant part of the company’s total profit. To maintain the image of a progressive corporation, the platform actively uses several social media accounts. Rahman (2021) pays particular attention to the socio-emotional context of Instagram posts, where Amazon Prime shares goals and current issues with the audience. Song (2021), in turn, points to the personalization factor, which largely affects user loyalty to the platform. According to the researcher, the corporation makes about 35% of total profits through personalized recommendations (Song, 2021, p. 66). This means that when interacting with users on such sites as YouTube, where special algorithms suggest related videos, Amazon Prime marketers can count on customer retention.
The ability to communicate and receive feedback from different categories of users explains the significant role of social media for Amazon Prime. Sharma (2021) notes that the platform utilizes distinctive approaches to interacting with “geographically dispersed audiences” (para. 12). This principle allows addressing the preferences of different customers, which indicates a successful segmentation strategy. As Nanda and Banerjee (2020) state, social media can create the illusion of Amazon Prime getting closer to customers, and, as the authors note, this can be comparable to a psychological impact. Active promotion on popular media sites gives the platform an opportunity to convey the necessary messages to a wide range of potential buyers without resorting to sophisticated marketing solutions. Therefore, from a financial standpoint, social media is a valuable resource for promoting Amazon Prime products.
Popularizing numerous services on social media allows Amazon Prime to win the credibility and trust of users. Rahe et al. (2021) argue that “the more functions a brand fulfils and the better it fulfils them, the more valuable and unique it is from a customer’s point of view” (p. 47). The researchers also propose a scheme, which is displayed in Figure 1; it reflects the function-oriented media brand model, where, through media activities, organizational prestige is enhanced (Rahe et al., 2021). Social media, in this case, play an essential role as a catalyst for public interest because the majority of target users have accounts on such platforms. The giveaway system that is convenient to implement on these sites is also a valuable factor for Amazon Prime to engage and retain customers (Mishra & Mukherjee, 2019). Thus, the role of social media for the business in question is significant.
Influence of Social Media Platforms on Amazon Prime’s Business
The use of social media as a promotion tool determines not only marketing but also business approaches to coordinating Amazon Prime’s work. The activity of the platform can be described in the context of the rocket model that Reillier and Reillier developed, as cited by Radonjic-Simic and Pfisterer (2019). The principle of this strategic model is to create a specific ecosystem in which the platform can function by creating the right conditions for customer acquisition, product and service optimization, and other initiatives (Radonjic-Simic & Pfisterer, 2019). Through the use of social media, Amazon Prime offers its products to the target audience directly while taking into account buyers’ interests and connecting people in a single network.
The concept of platform-driven innovation is a characteristic approach to building a business model in Amazon Prime. According to Trabucchi et al. (2021), along with some other worldwide-known digital services, the platform in question implements modern technological developments successfully, thereby creating demand for content. One of the aspects of a successful Amazon Prime business is creating effective customer value propositions, where the interests of target customers are addressed timely and in line with current trends (Weinstein, 2020). Engaging social media for this purpose is a convenient strategy for obtaining objective data about user preferences, which speaks to the benefits of the respective sites for Amazon Prime’s business. As Ramadan et al. (2019) remark, web-based communities influence purchasing preferences by creating conditions for the exchange of information among participants. As a result, shopping impulsivity, as one consequence of this behavior, is a valuable factor that the platform in question puts to good use through social media interactions with users.
Social Media Management
While analyzing social media management in Amazon Prime, one can pay attention to the success of activities in this area. For instance, according to Martínez-Sánchez (2021), who evaluate the performance of the most popular streaming services in Spain, Amazon Prime has a high weekly evolution of Facebook posts of 9.5% (p. 121178). This suggests that the platform management pays significant attention to this aspect of market development. In addition, as shown in Figure 2, the company tries to answer user questions and address their complaints and suggestions, which is also indicative of a customer-oriented social media policy (“Amazon’s social media marketing strategy,” 2022). As a result, user loyalty and brand trust are the valuable outcomes of such activities.
The success of social media management in Amazon Prime is also largely achieved due to the variety of products promoted through these channels. Budzinski and Lindstädt (2018) draw attention to a multi-vector sales policy that includes both traditional goods and digital content. While speaking about the narrower principles of control over online activities on social media sites, Nicolas-Sans and Díaz (2021) note that Amazon Prime actively uses hashtags, researches topical communities, and analyzes subscriber coverage. All these procedures prove the success of the platform in question in the field of social media use and testify to a sustainable target market assessment policy to retain the target audience.
Results of the Assessment
Given the considered principles of social media management in Amazon Prime and the approaches to utilizing such sites, the platform may be characterized as a business with an innovation-oriented development course. The company does not stand still and does everything possible to expand the range of users globally, including through active communication on social media. As Banalieva and Dhanaraj (2019) note, while actively competing in the target market, Amazon engages advanced tools to reach new customer segments, such as artificial intelligence capabilities to communicate with populations that speak rare dialects. This practice indicates that the platform is ready to invest in the digital economy and capitalize on it through a sustainable system of bilateral interaction.
Particular attention to the needs and interests of users is the strength of Amazon Prime’s business. In addition, Aversa et al. (2020) highlight the network effect this platform has accomplished; its principle lies in the capability of uniting target markets by creating a single ecosystem with open communication. The availability of social media today is an additional incentive for the company to actively engage customers through these channels. Watanabe et al. (2018) evaluate Amazon’s work in the context of the digital renaissance and note that the platform has made the most of the digital field. As a result, due to these approaches to building its digital economy, Amazon Prime can count on sustainable customer demand. This, in turn, is associated with stable profits generated through the implementation of different products and services with the help of the strategies of diversification customer segmentation.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Amazon Prime’s social media presence has enabled the platform to successfully promote its numerous services to a wide range of consumers globally. The use of online communication sites contributes to the successful strengthening of the digital economy through diversification and segmentation strategies. Amazon Prime’s growth data confirm the loyalty of target customers to the platform and demonstrates the principle of two-way interaction promoted through a feedback system. By analyzing its business models, particularly the rocket model, the function-oriented media brand model, and the platform-driven innovation concept, one can highlight the role of social media in the company’s activities. Digital market integration work is managed competently, as evidenced by positive feedback and sustainable demand. Investing in the digital economy allows Amazon Prime to remain one of the leading platforms in its niche and retain users by building trust and offering open communication as an essential component of bilateral interaction.
With regard to the future directions for Amazon Prime to leverage social media for successful and beneficial business management, one can highlight the possibility of advertising collaborations with large online sites. For example, the platform can be mentioned on world-famous media resources, such as Instagram and Facebook, as an active participant in the global advanced technology market. To do this, partnerships with these resources should be established, and stable background for mutually beneficial advertising needs to be promoted on specific terms. Another potentially viable initiative is to involve users themselves as moderators and administrators of content published by Amazon Prime. Such a step can help the platform increase client interest and enable them to participate indirectly in the company’s activities, thereby strengthening customer relationships. These recommendations may enhance the value of social media for Amazon Prime and stimulate profit capitalization opportunities.
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