Daniel Mathews regards the incredible role reviews and social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter play in marketing and in a firm’s success in a blog post on DuctTape Marketing. Because of the amount of time and information people put online today, businesses could have a better idea regarding what customers and stake holders are thinking about their products, services, or the firm itself. For example, Five Guys makes efficient use of social media by studying the metrics of how many positive and negative posts there are regarding the products. It had also been realized that customer satisfaction would lead to better marketing since customers’ experiences are often shared online and thus turn into word of mouth and free publicity. From this, Five Guys would also study the reviews on their products for each area so that they could better adjust their products and services. UPS likewise uses social media as a “barometer for customer concerns or business opportunities.”

Using social media as a marketing tool would help businesses increase brand awareness (say, via advertisements and word of mouth) and also help increase reputation by providing cheap means of announcing recent projects to the community. However, social media must also be used carefully as a wrong post or comment could lead to plenty of negative views, such as how an employee at KitchenAid had accidentally and wrongfully tweeted, “Even Obama’s gma knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics”, which led to various outraged reactions. The use of social media must then be carefully considered before any action is posted.

INDONESIA IS BURNING.

An article by The Guardian discusses how forests in one of the world’s most environmentally rich and diverse country are being burned, causing more pollution, killing more animals that are already endangered, and overall ruining the country’s economy. True, it may not have been planned to have gone so out of proportion but the events of the last week of October is simply a greater form of what is done to the country on a regular basis to clear the land for pulpwood, timber and palm oil and every year torching the land leads to disasters. Many arguments and debates about business has been about the environment vs profit, the community vs profit, workers’ rights vs profit, and so on. Yet events such as the burning of Indonesia’s forests should help firms realize where to draw the line or act differently or more efficiently.

The fire could cause activists to rile against the palm oil industry and attempt to shut it down but the industry could still operate if they adopt different methods of operations. Moving the plants or cultivating the land to clear it may be a much better example than torching the forests, which already holds extremely high levels of risk in a tropical country. While taking more time, it would grant employment to the locals and help create a more sustainable economy to address the high poverty rates. Because labour rates are so low in the country, costs may not even increase significantly and the firm(s) can also avoid negative publicity, charges for destruction while also earning some positive publicity and goodwill.

Credits: Wenqing Yan (Yuumei)

The amount of circulating uncredited artwork in the world today is astonishing. Yet, where did all the work come from? It certainly did not come from an unnamed being who did not want credit. Just as how music is often being acquired by illegal download rather than purchase, visual artists lack credit for their art work, as discussed by Nicole Dann in her post, Art Theft.

Like other evolving markets, the art industry is…well, evolving. Facing new challenges such as the use of other people’s art without accreditation, artists today are having an extraordinarily difficult time. Unlike many businesses, artists may not be able to adapt their style or products to the demand in the market. Instead, many artists aim for a differentiated focus approach to gain customers. While a good idea in theory, the approach may be challenging if the artist’s styles do not appeal to many people, which has led many artists to pursue a broader differentiated approach. For example the artist, Wenqing Yan (a.k.a Yuumei), creates digital prints, interactive animations, comics, and graphic novels yet is also working on Axent Wear, an innovative idea for creative and fashionable speakers/headphones. Although artists may have diversified their product portfolio due to passion than anything else, the action would also help them stay within the market and survive as an artist.

Addressing Rohin Buttar’s post, Positive Affirmation Results in Increased Group Productivity, discussing how positive affirmation from managers and higher ranking workers can lead to increased motivation and productivity, employee efficiency and productivity may not be so affected by the relationship between managers and employees. According to Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, supervision, relationships with others and working conditions are factors that contribute to job dissatisfaction. As part of the theory’s ‘hygiene factors’, the addressing the aforementioned factors would only result in the employees being moved to work but not motivated, the main difference being that “movement” is not long lasting while motivation is. According to Herzberg, employees would be motivated by achievement, recognition for achievement, the work itself, responsibility and advancement.

Combining these factors along with Mayo’s research, the Hawthorne effect, employers would be able to better motivate employees (which could possibly lead to better efficiency and productivity) if employees were given opportunities to work in teams and/or given more freedom in their work lives such as when they are allowed to take breaks. Although conflicts may sometimes rise from groups working together, group work could also help encourage employee bonding, development of team spirit as well as support, all of which could have positive effects on the employees. Yet, one of the main findings of the Hawthorne effect had also been that employee motivation is improved when management consult with and take and interest in their work. Therefore, perhaps positive affirmation from management is important, though it may not be the most important nor most effective course of action to increase motivation to increase productivity.

Toxin free candles, gluten free and vegan bath bombs and organic cosmetics may all seem like such strange and redundant ideas when put under the microscope. However, these products sell. In a recent article by Vancity Buzz: For the Love of Baths: Vancouver based bath products trade in toxins for love, the demand and awe for such products is put under the spotlight. Though the article promotes the business, it is all but astounding to think that someone would pay for a gluten free bath bomb. After all, weren’t bath bombs meant to be placed in the bath tub and not in a glass of water and consumed?

Though the nature of the products is confusing and odd at first, they also make plenty of sense. With the growing awareness of chemicals found in cosmetics and processed ingredients found in foods, consumers have also started to check the “ingredients” used in bath products, which also gave way Herbal Essences’ new product line, Naked. The ability to identify what is trending and in demand in the market is an infinitely useful skill, which could be used to justify even the strangest products. After all, if the product is appealing or intriguing enough, people are sure to buy it.

Buy one, donate one.

Although Toms shoes’ model of donating a pair of shoes for each pair bought by consumers seems like a good idea and does appeal to customers, the model is not sustainable. Buying a pair of shoes thinking that it would help another person makes the purchase seem like a good idea, which could be credited to good marketing. However, as mentioned in the article “The One-for-one Business Model: Avoiding Unintended Consequences“, the one for one model could actually have a detrimental impact. Though the business could be considered to be helping people directly, their actions are actually harming the society indirectly by taking away business opportunities that other citizens around the region are pursuing.

While businesses are moving towards implementing social impact into their core values, they would still need to consider their social actions carefully so as not to harm the community indirectly or in the long run, which makes their revised model more beneficial. Their new model of “selling coffee and giving away a week’s worth of clean water for every pound of coffee sold” would help grant incomes as well as a source of income to the area while developing the market, which would allow the community to be more sustainable and could help them address and tackle the roots of their problem: poverty.