This week, I’ve chosen to write about one of my favorite brands, which is Amazon. While this may seem extremely broad, that’s exactly why I picked it. With a company this far-reaching and complex, how can a company build a brand and interact with customers on social media? How do they choose what to post about when they sell a seemingly infinite amount of products and services?
The first thing I did was follow Amazon on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to see what my initial impression would be. I wanted to see if their posts were personal, impersonal, or a mix of everything. Their posts on Instagram are a little different from their Facebook and Twitter posts, but I noticed that Amazon’s Twitter and Facebook posts were very similar. Something I like about Amazon is that they clearly use social media platforms in different ways to maximize that particular medium. On their Instagram, they have a nice, eye-catching variety of photos and videos that showcase various products, services, and celebrities. They also show photos and videos of business owners who aren’t as well-known.
For example, I found an Instagram post of theirs that tells the story of Connie, a woman who lost three children to AIDS before treatment became available in her country. Years later, she was able to get life-saving HIV medication for the rest of her family and this is in part to Amazon’s charity called RED where people can buy products that donates money to the Global Fund to help AIDS. Amazon did a great job with this post, since it showed a human interest story to promote an important charity.
If you browse through Amazon’s Instagram, you can see some of their personality peek out. They are very big on supporting charities and entrepreneurs. On their Twitter and Facebook accounts, it seems a little more centered around marketing, but they still have a nice variety of posts. As I was scrolling their Facebook page, I found a few different videos promoting various entrepreneurs, but also stumbled upon a post they made regarding a new partnership with Shark Tank which directly states their support of entrepreneurs, since Shark Tank is a show about pro
moting businesses and inventions.
I also wanted to see if they actively responded to customers on their social media and found this post promoting an Amazon Original music artist where Amazon appears to respond very well to a customer complaint or issue. If you go through more of their posts, you can see that Amazon seems to be really active at acknowledging their customers and their fans, which gives off a really good vibe. It makes Amazon seem personable and attentive to their customers, which is especially important given how broad their marketplace is. As of recently, Amazon just launched an Amazon GO store in Chicago and new ownership of Whole foods. Every time I shop at Whole Foods now, I get to use the Prime app on my phone to get shopping discounts. It’s scary to think that Amazon is taking over the world, but their social media gives off the impression that their brand is built around people and their ideas. Their mission is to make life easier and inspire entrepreneurs of all kinds.
Some things that Amazon might be able to do better is write a blog. It seems like they are making small video blogs about various entrepreneurs and charities, but I cannot find an actual Amazon blog with longer stories featuring people. Throughout this semester, one of the most impactful ideas has been storytelling through social media to build a brand through our customers and fans, so I wonder if Amazon could implement this feature more. However, to be fair, I did see that they are also showing talk shows and livestreams, so I think they are already getting there. Amazon has a presence on all the major platforms, but in some ways, I wonder if they really need to do much more than they are already doing. It really does feel like Amazon is taking over the entire world, and maybe that’s part of their brand image…broadness and worldliness. Over time, I think that this will just make Amazon customer support and customer responses even more important as the brand grows so that it doesn’t become some monster corporation that doesn’t show enough regard for the humans that participate to create such a large brand. If they follow the success of campaigns such as the “response video” phenomenon for the newest Old Spice campaign which got people involved from all over the world and really launched the brand.
Building a brand takes a story, and Amazon really seems to show one through their social media because they have always been built upon changing the world one service and innovative piece of technology at a time. Amazon really emphasizes entrepreneurship, which I think they will continue to do on every different platform they can get their hands on. I can’t wait to see what Amazon does in the future. While they may not have the biggest Youtube or Snapchat presence, they have a large platform on Amazon Prime Video with Prime original shows and movies as well as music, and the billion-dollar company called Twitch which is the largest streaming platform in the world. Amazon’s brand is simply taking over the world and we’re all along for the ride so we may as well participate.
VITAMINPEE 