Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Robert Rauschenberg's Monogram Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Robert Rauschenberg's Monogram - Essay Example The combination of objects, images and lines of paint does not seek perceptive unity - despite the odd visual interlacing of the goat and the tire - but division. The goat, despite the tire it wears around its middle, remains implacably a goat and the tire a tire. The meaning of the assemblage is attained in this. (Adams, 1996) If the tire is a reference to the artist's childhood living close to a tire factory according to some contemporary art books, its association with the goat raises questions. The title Monogram renders this montage even more enigmatic: Monogram, or the interlacing of several letters to form a single character, composed here of the entanglement of the goat and the tire. Thus the letter O passes around the animal to make a knot as a rebellion against meaning and all ideas of beauty. (Nelson, 1996) The Ready-made (tire) and stuffed animal coexist in this work that, in keeping with the artist's wishes, leaves as much place for the viewer as for the artist. That looking turned breathless in 1959 when Rauschenberg completed Monogram, one of the most outlandish and barbarous works of art ever made. Monogram features a stuffed Angora goat encircled by a tire. The goat, whose snout is covered in multicolored war paint, is standing on a painting, as if grazing at pasture.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Internal Customers Essay Example for Free

Internal Customers Essay The people in this department need to know what deliveries are to be made and what products are to be delivered.  Staff Office  The Human Resources department need to know hours worked by employees and if there are any positions to be filled.  Staff Training  They need to know which members of the department will need training and which areas need to be covered in the training exercises.  Cash Office  The cash office needs to know what transactions were made at all the tills in the department and how much money there is in the tills at the end of the working day. This is so they can tally up the stores figures and see how well the shop has performed on that particular day. CCP (Customer Collection Point)  Many goods are collected from the shops CCP such as microwaves. The people at the CCP need to know what is being collected and the transaction number so they can tie up the paperwork, customer and the goods.  Service Desk  When customers have a problem with an appliance they have to go through the service desk so the large electrical department has to get information from the service desk regarding the outcome for instance an appliance may have to be replaced. The large electrical department already employs a number of different customer service techniques to help improve the running and efficiency of the department, which also importantly improves the relationship with the customers. There are however occasions when these strategies dont work the way that they should and customers can become dissatisfied with the level of service that they feel they are receiving.  Here are some examples of techniques that have recently been introduced in the department to help improve customer services. When staff join the Large Electrical Department the must complete questionnaires to ensure they understand procedures that are carried out in the department. A copy of which can be found in appendix 1. The Introduction of Ticketing system for waiting customers  The department recently introduced a fairly simple but effective ticketing system so that customers are served at the correct time instead of customers just grabbing a selling Partner when they see one that is free. When a customer enters the department they are now greeted by the customer service manager who stands at the Customer Service Podium. The Customer Service Manager gives the customer a ticket with a number on it and records down on the copy of the ticket that the manager keeps some details.  These are:  The customers name.  This creates a personalised service when the sell partner approaches the customer  What they want help on. This is so the Customer Service Manager can send over the right Selling Partner with the right knowledge.  A brief description of the customer.  The description helps the Selling Partner identify the customers easily.  When a selling Partner becomes free they must report back to the podium where the manager will hand the Partner the ticket of the next customer to be served.  This system is much improved from the previous queuing system, which involved the Customer Service Manager patrolling the floor and recording customers name down on a list. This meant that the Manager was never in one place and people may not have been put on in the correct order that they arrived in the department. When speaking to the Customer Service Manager of the Large Electrical department to enquire how successful the new system had been I was also informed of the one major problem there had been with it.  The problem was that when a customer took a ticket they would ask how many people there were before them. If the number was fairly high, for instance five people then it would put people off waiting. It was then up to the Customer Service Manager to reassure the customer that it wouldnt be too long. I also learned that on leaving the department previous customers who were used to the old system commented on how much better they thought the new system was.  The Introduction of Electrical Telesales at Watford  About two years ago the Branch opened the Electrical Telesales Department, which is part of the Large Electrical Department. The team is based at the branches warehouse, which is down the road from the store at Greatham Road. It is all linked telephonically and by computer to the main store. Customers can phone telesales and place orders for large electrical appliances over the phone by calling the store on 01923 244 266 and connecting to extension 4880. This service is very handy for many customers as they will often come into the store and get information on various appliances and then go home to check that it will fit in the desired space. They can then phone up and order it over the phone by credit or account card to save them making another trip into the store. Some people that have done research on the internet or another media will also use telesales to save them having to come into the store at all, especially people that have very busy lives. It is also designed to take some of the pressure off the actual department so that more time can be spent with each customer in the store. On average there are six partners manning the phones down at telesales. Which isnt really enough as they are also share with the Television and Audio department. So customers are put on hold, which can be for quite a long time, which frustrates the customers. Pre recorded messages are randomly played to the customers to reassure them that their call is important and will be answered by the next available partner. The telephonists can tell how long a customer has been waiting, and they will answer in a way that will reflect the length of time the customer has waited. Other problems with the telesales team are that there is a weak communication flow between the actual department and telesales. This means that mistakes can be made by telesales as they havent received information on changes made in the Large Electrical Department which in turn can have an affect on the customers.  An example of this was when EU legislation can into place saying that the collection of old refrigeration can not be continued because of the gasses inside. Telesales werent informed of this and continued to arrange for refrigeration to be taken away. When the deliverymen told customers that they couldnt take away the old refrigeration this angered customers who had prepaid the 9 collection charge. These mistakes are usually dealt with by offering a goodwill gesture for inconvenience and where appropriate a refund.  On the whole this venture has proved to be a major success as figures shown in the Annual General Meeting showed an increase in Large Electrical Goods with a major percentage going through the telesales team.  This is the information flier that is handed out to customers when visiting the Department if the wish to order over the phone. It give the phone number and extension number as well as a little information on the different services that they offer such as the 2 year warranty and Never Knowingly Undersold motto. Ways of paying at John Lewis  The use of credit cards at John Lewis  Until recently John Lewis didnt accept payment for goods by any credit card. This was to avoid paying the transaction fees to the banks that is added on when a customer pays using EFT (Electronic Financial Transaction). Apart from this customers were quite prepared to pay for any goods purchased using a John Lewis or Waitrose Account card that offers a low rate of interest. However to give the customer more flexibility John Lewis introduced the use of Credit cards in the Partnership. One of the main reasons for allowing this take place was because of where the transaction fee would go.  From 5 November 2001, all card payments with the exception of the John Lewis and Waitrose Account Card, are processed for you by John Lewis Card Services Ltd for a 2.5% fee included in the cost of your purchase. The balance is paid to John Lewis plc. The total amount you pay is the same regardless of the payment method. Source taken from http://www.johnlewis.com  The transactions fee that would normally have to be paid to the bank on any transaction that take place in either the department stores or Waitrose using EFT is retained by John Lewis. This means that John Lewis dont loose 2.5% of the sale that they have made but keep it as profit.  This move has meant that more customers are attracted to coming into the stores and paying by plastic, which many people prefer to do.  However there is one card that John Lewis still doesnt accept and that is American Express. This is because of the extremely high level of interest that is associated with this form of payment. John Lewis would still have to pay part of transaction fee if this card was used. These methods of payment can also be used to purchase over the phone using the stores telesales teams and via the Internet. This has all been designed to help create an easier way of shopping for it customers and improve customer services.  Computerised Ordering System  The introduction of the computerised ordering system a year ago has changed the face of the department and the way things are done, within the department. It was also a major turn around for the standard of customer services offered by department. The new system meant that orders could be processed a lot quicker as paper work didnt have to be sent via the post and orders we received at the warehouse instantly. A lot more options have been opened with this new system, all to the customers advantage, as well as making the whole ordering process a lot easier for the Selling Partner.  Customers can now reserve goods for longer periods of time, place an order for delivery in another part of the country and a lot more. Queries and problems can also dealt with by keeping record of points raised on the on the notepad of the actual order on the system so issues are dealt with much more effectively. Each customer gets a reference number when they place an order so information can be recalled instantly from the system should the need arise.  The quicker service makes buying Large Electrical goods less stressful meaning customers go away from the department happy with the level of service they have just received.  There have, however been a number of occasions when the system has gone down causing absolute chaos in the department as all orders have to be placed manually which is much more time consuming than using the computers. This angers customers who expect a reliable system then works quickly and effectively. With these events the need for the Customer Service manager pays off, as they are someone who can defuse difficult situations. All selling Partners are also trained in dealing with problems but the CSM is there as someone with higher authority.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

African Art Essay examples -- argument essay

1. The pottery Seated Male Figure from Mali is an example of a non- frontal figure. This Sculpture displays a man sitting with his right leg bent and his left leg pulled up into his chest. He has his right arm over his heart and his left arm across his shoulder. There are many raised bumps on his body. His face id shifted slightly to the left and he appears to be concentrating. The caption explains that he is communicating with the gods.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. The Orangun Eps Headdress from the Yoraba is a great example of a human figure with an entourage and a good display of hieratic scale. The ruler is sitting on a horse. Both he and th ehorse are greatly decorated in bright color clothing and the ruler is wearing a hat. In addition he is carrying a sword which is strapped to his arm. His entourage is amde up of numerous peolpe.Wives, children, musicains, messengers, soliders, and singers. this sculpture is a demostration of both social class and spirituality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3. The Yoraba divination bowl of the mother and the child does have a patina. It is located on the babies entire body, the face of the mother and on her breast. The divination tray also has a patina around the rim on the carved faces of the Esu, the turtle, curled mud fish. and the curled snail.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4. Many of the works in the gallery are made to display different qualities as a result they are not alwa...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Better wear Sunscreen

It has been so hot nowadays, people are more cautious about their skin. Everyday is another dry and warm day. Why is this so? This is due to the reason of Global warming. No matter how much skin protection you are using it is still futile because the sun’s rays deeply penetrate inside your skin. As some people cut trees illegally, then the earth’s temperature will increase and increase each day. Large tracts of forests worldwide are now being cleared. Some are already cleared for industrial or agricultural purposes.The remaining trees may not be enough to absorb the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide is used by plants to manufacture food. It is also called a greenhouse gas. This kind of gas retains heat longer compared to other gases. Surface temperature rises as more trees and plants are cut or destroyed. The resulting high surface temperature due to the accumulation of the carbon dioxide is referred to as the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts like the glass in a greenhouse. It traps heat from the environment. It causes air temperature to rise.The glass of the greenhouse prevents warm air from escaping. The air temperature inside the greenhouse rises as a result. This would lead to global warming (â€Å"Global Warming†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge). Moreover, global warming pertains to an increase of the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans in these present days. During the 20th century, the atmospheric temperature of the earth increased 0. 6  ± 0. 2  °Celsius. The upsurge amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the major causes of the component of warming.They are produced through the burning of agriculture, fossil fuels and land clearing and may precede to an upsurge in the greenhouse effect. There is an initial assumption that a greenhouse effect possibly takes place because of the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius during 1897. In addition, climate sen sitivity denotes to the equilibrium response to upsurge greenhouse gases and different anthropogenic and â€Å"natural climate forcing†. This will be revealed through observational and model researches.The said sensitivity is generally showed through the temperature response that is anticipated â€Å"from a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere†. There is a report in 2001 from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that evaluates the climate sensitivity between the scales of 1. 5–4. 5  °C (Williams 159). The intents of this paper are to: (1) understand what global warming really is; (2) know about the historical warming of the earth; (3) figure out the causes of the global warming and; (4) find out the expected effects of global warming.Global warming is defined as â€Å"the increase of average world temperatures as a result of what is known as the greenhouse effect†. This would mean that it is an intense upsurge of world temperature which is the outcome of so- called greenhouse effect. There are many factors why the world is experiencing global warming. And one of these factors is the human activities like cutting down of trees that are supposedly be the one absorbing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.There are gases in the atmosphere that portray as glass in the greenhouse which permits sunlight to warm the surface of the earth but trap the heat when it â€Å"radiates back into space†. When the greenhouse gases formed in the atmosphere, the earth starts to get warmth. Nowadays, most countries experienced global warming. It is one the outcomes of people’s irresponsibility because humankind tends to destroy the forest by cutting the old trees and never replaces them. The graph below shows the global temperatures from 1860 to 2000. Moreover, the earth’s surface is warmed by the Sun and radiates heat back into space.Gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, methane and CFCs in the atmosphere tr ap some of this heat, and warm the lower atmosphere. The atmosphere radiates heat back to Earth. This is called the â€Å"greenhouse effect†, and without it the Earth would be so cold that life could not exist. But many scientist fear that the huge amounts of these â€Å"greenhouse gases† released into the atmosphere by industrial processes and burning fossil fuels are warming the earth so much that they will eventually upset the world’s climate, and cause sea levels to rise.In addition, some scientists predict that the earth’s temperature could rise 3  °C by 2070. After this, the rise will level off and the temperature will stabilize. If the Antarctic ice sheet melted, sea levels could rise; threatening low-lying areas such as the US coast (Johnston 457). During 1860-1900, global temperatures on seas and on lands had experienced great upsurge of temperature by 0. 75  °C as recorded in the instrument temperature record. Beginning in 1979, the land tem peratures had doubled which was the same as the ocean temperatures.And in that year, the temperatures below the troposphere had upsurge between 0. 12 and 0. 22  °C every 10 years as recoded in the satellite temperature measurements. It was believed before that world temperature was stable two thousand years in the past 1850 with the assumption that temperature was stable maybe because of the regional wavering like the Little Ice Age or Medieval Warm Period (â€Å"Global Warming†. New Standard Encyclopedia) There many causes why global warming is happening at present.These causes are generally or mostly based on man’s conduct. The causes why there is global warming because of the release of carbon dioxide from power plants, emitted cars, trucks, airplanes, buildings, methane, nitrous oxide, deforestation, city gridlock and carbon in atmosphere and ocean . Greenhouse gases are the gases that adds to the warmness to the Earth’s atmosphere like the Carbon Dioxide, ozone layer and the water vapor. The great effects of global warming to our environment and for humankind are plentiful and wide-ranging.The major effect of global warming is the upsurge global average temperature. It also leads to â€Å"rising sea levels, altered patterns of agriculture, increased extreme weather events, and the expansion of the range of tropical diseases†. The anticipated climate changes are also one of the effects of global warming. Not only that, it also affects the weather condition (Williams 159). Global warming has great effects to our environment especially to humankind. Global warming has many factors why it is occurring. One of these reasons is deforestation.Deforestation makes our environment warmth because of the remaining small amount of trees that are unable to absorb the large amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and because of this; carbon dioxide traps the heat in the environment that causes the temperature to rise because it stops war m air to escape. Global warming is a gradual phenomenon that greatly affects the earth and the people living in it. It slowly destroys the earth and some people do not even care about it. In due time, all of human beings will reap the outcome of their doings and what the greenhouse effect has done to the Earth.This research is important for it serves as an eye opener for us to be aware of what is happening in our environment now, so that we could take actions for it. We should have precautionary measures so as to protect ourselves. If global warming will continue to worsen and be exacerbated it will really cause great damage to the people and to the society. The government should then impose a serious and big punishment for those who illegally cut trees to protect any illegal logging that great contributes to the global warming.References: â€Å"Causes of Global Warming†. http://www. ecobridge. org/content/g_cse. htm â€Å"Global Warming†. New Standard Encyclopedia. Vo l. 7 â€Å"Global Warming†. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge. Vol. 8 â€Å"Temperature record of the past 1000 years†. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. December 30, 2007. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Temperature_record_of_the_past_1000_years Williams, Brian. â€Å"Planet Earth†. Visual Factfinder, page 159. Johnston, R. J. Environmental Problems: Nature, Economy and State. London: Belhaven, 2000.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Impact of Social Media Marketing in Marketing Communication Opportunities: in Context of Dell

Table of Content No. | Content| Page Number| 1. | Table of Content| 1| 2. | Abstract| 2| 3. | Introduction| 3| 4. | Literature Review | 4| 5. | Dell Business Model| 7| 6| Impact of Social Media Marketing in Dell Current Communication Process| 8| 7. | Challenges of Social Media Marketing in the Marketing Environment | 11| 8. | Benefits of Social Media Marketing in the Marketing Environment| 13| 9. | Conclusion| 15| 10. | References| 16| 2. Abstract Social media marketing is no longer a foreign to business marketer nowadays. This paper will examine the impact of social media marketing on the marketing communication opportunities in context of Dell in the United States. Basically, this assignment will be begun with the introduction which generally explains about the emergence of social media. Next, several literature reviews will be provided to explain on the marketing communication process and how social media marketing impacted on the Dell current communication process. Then, several challenges and benefits of social media marketing will be illustrated at the end of this paper. Keywords: [social media marketing, marketing communication process, media vehicle, consumers, message] 3. Introduction Undeniably, revolution of socio-technological has significantly changed the ways and means of media consumption. From super-fast digitally empower laptops to mobile eBook readers. All of these aspects have affected how business (brands) and consumers communicate and thus influence the way of marketing communications will be functioning. One of the most significant evolutions when people talk about marketing tools or strategies is the emergence of social media marketing. Fundamentally, social media marketing is a way of connecting with consumers by means of the current technology (i. e. The Internet). As of now, there are more than 800 million active users in Facebook, over 3 billion videos are viewed per day and 100 million people use Twitter every single day. Having all social media channel available for consumers, this provides consumers with plenty of choices in products and services in the market. Alongside, social media marketing has impacted on businesses marketing communication opportunities. 4. Literature Review The emergence of new communication channels via the Internet has tremendously affect businesses way of marketing strategies (Owen and Humphrey, 2009). One of the most significant developments to the marketers is the effects from the Internet evolution from the generation of Web 2. 0 or social media as a media vehicle to deliver the message to the target market (Constantinides et al. 2008). Social media marketing in this context is the opportunities provided for business to communicate with the society, with the help of the organizations’ brand, thus resulting in building a positive connection and develop brand influence through the Internet as the medium of communication (Pandey, 2010). Murphy (2010) mentioned that a good marketing strategy occurs when organization or marketer using the right communication channels or media to send the right message and reac hing the right market. Therefore, it is vital for marketer to understand the communication process when using social media as the media vehicle in the marketing communication. Kotler (n. d. , p. 546) mentioned that there are several elements that involved in the communication process in order to determine effective communication. The major two parties in the communication are the sender (marketer) and receiver (market). Another major communication tool is the media vehicle or media channel which carries the message to the receiver. Alongside the communication parties and media vehicle, there are four major communication functions; encoding, decoding, response and feedback. Finally, the element of noise also interferes in the communication process. Dargiewicz (2010) suggested that in order to communicate in an effective way, the sender must have an understanding of the point of the message, who are the target audience to be reached and how the audience will interpret and respond to the message. Schramm’s model of communication points out that the sender’s ncoding process must be coherent with the target audiences’ decoding process, whereby, the more marketer field of experience overlaps with the target markets’ field of experience, the higher is the effectiveness of process of communication (Dargiewicz, 2010; Holm, 2006). The matches of both parties’ experiences are called the Shared Frame of Reference. Figure 1: Willbur Schramm model Source: Dargiewicsz, K. (2010) Monologue vs Dialogue: How Innovative Social Media Technology Developing Effective Marketing Communication Strategies [online]. Available at http://www. slideshare. et/guywithideas/social-media-dissertation [Accessed 15th December 2011] The high level of trust associated with social media as the media vehicle makes social media is highly acceptable among the target audiences compared to traditional media vehicle such as televisions, newspapers, billboard and etc. (Inklingmedia, n. d. ). Mohr and Nevin (1990), bring up that, the absent of trust may distort the message that is being sent. According to DesignDamage (n. d. ), social media fosters a highly transactional model of communication which it allows two-way communication through the feedback mechanism that traditional media not able to offer. Traditional media vehicles were also argued to be a merely one-way process communication, whereby, the message is not clearly communicated or received by the target audience in most of the time (Dargiewicz, 2010). The Shared Frame of Reference suggested by Willbur Schramm model is integrated with social media because it offers consumers to share their experience in the communication process. Calder and Malthouse (2005) supports that everything that influence the customer’s experience is a potential marketing vehicle. Therefore, in order to illustrate the theory of social media marketing in context of organization, this paper will look at the impact of social media marketing in Dell Corporation in the United States. 5. Dell Business Model The founder of Dell Computer Incorporation is Michael Dell in 1984. Dell’s primary products are personal and office computers and business of Dell also engages in other products such as printers and software. A feature that determines PC companies such as Dell to manage their products is through standardization of PCs. The main benefit of standardization is that it helps Dell to reduce the cost of productions. However, when Dell adopted standardization strategy, it made Dell more generic with other PCs companies such as IBM, Compact and Hewlett-Packard since most of PCs companies had access to the same suppliers such as Intel and Microsoft. Therefore, Dell started a new direct business model based on customization approach that enables computers or laptops to be produced according to customers’ requirements in order to be more competitive. However, standardization approached has still remained in Dell’s business model. The customization approach varies its products from customer to another customer without changing the brand name. Having customization strategy in Dell business model, Dell has to eliminate third party as the middle-man and sell its products directly to the final customer, whether the commercial customers or private users. Such business model allows Dell to reach more clients and business units and cut cost with simplify supply chain. Unfortunately, Dell is facing even a bigger issue to balance out the standardization and customization approach as there is no one perfect method. According to The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (n. d. ), customer is the key economic driver to what Dell is doing. Therefore, Dell extended its approach to engage with their customers through the social media marketing to market their brand and communicate with their customers. 6. Impact of Social Media Marketing on Current Dell Communication Process Many companies including Dell, have realized that social media is a new platform for communication. Dell’s key policy is always being a direct and effective in terms of its communications. Dell and digital communication through the internet was never separated since it started to conduct e-commerce business which selling its customized products directly to the customer. Since Dell engaging the blogosphere in 2006, social media marketing has always been its core communication and marketing strategies. According to Dave (2011), social media efforts at Dell helps to sustain the business objectives such as aim to reduce cost, increase revenue and enhance customers’ satisfaction. According to Blythe (2000), the first key of effective communication is to identify the target audience. Social media marketing provide opportunities for dell to separate their target audiences according to social media channel. For example, Dell Community has a mixture of blogs that reflects several key channels. This includes discussion on education to business consultation. Different range of blogs that provided by Dell ensures that information and discussion would be used to cater several specification of audiences. In a same way, Dell has different kinds of Twitter channels to reflect different purposes. Correspond to Dell Cares, it provides assistance to the customer on any matter related to the Dell’s products. This portrays how Dell has separated its branding strategy and how various Twitter accounts perceived differently by the audiences. Therefore, Dell will be able to encode the right message such marketing campaign, to the specific target audience through the right social media channel. There are many other brands out there in the market today compared to in the past. Dargiewicz (2010) points out that all are trying to communicate a large number of messages to their target audience daily, which interfering the target audience to get the right message across. Thus, social media has changed the communication landscape in providing opportunities for Dell to have a two-way communication with its customers. A good communication is the role of the encoders’ and decoder’s skill and its portrayed by the medium which the encoded message is delivered. Realized the effectiveness of social media as the medium of communication, Direct2Dell was launched by Dell, its very own corporate blog through Twitter. Its social media efforts have provided a two-way asymmetric communications, whereby, target audiences able to provide feedback content such as ratings and reviews with regards to the issues of Dell’s products. Moreover, the feedback provided by the customer is in real-time, whereby, the feedback is come directly from customers and Dell able to value their products. For instance, product that has five-stars rating should stay and two-star ratings should be removed. According to Pickton and Broderick (2001, p. 182), feedback will improve the accuracy of the communication to ensure that message has been correctly received and understood, which is one of the reasons why social media is a powerful communication vehicle in Dell communication process. Plus, the CEO of Dell Computer, emphasized that company must be able to listen and connect with its customers and emergence of social media has provided Dell the opportunity to engage with its customers (Farrelly, 2009). Given the feedback mechanism that social media can offer, Dell’s has taken a major step to establish a â€Å"Social Media Listening Command Center† in order to stay connected with its customers. Channey (2009) points out that listening are no longer an option but rather a new marketing. Listening is crucial in the communication process because it allows Dell to understand what customers want and how customers perceive the brand. Not only did social media marketing allow Dell to understand their customers, , Dell are able to discover about a massive amount of issues that consumers were having with their products through their blog monitoring platform. The system could track each of these and would instantly recognize trends between products, geographic areas, or specific communications with Dell. For instance, Dell proactively approach consumers in the blogosphere and in online community about battery recall, thus allow better response and rectify customer’s problem as quickly as possible. Plus, customers were also able to check whether their battery part of the recall. Furthermore, social media marketing has fostered high Shared Frame of Reference between the sender (marketer) and the receiver (audience) that influence effective communication. Dell has created online designed studio that gives the ability for its customers to change the design of their laptops by choosing a custom switchable lid themselves. Online designed studio has given Dell’s customers the opportunities to virtually experience the outcome of their customization laptop, thus, encourage Shared Frame of Reference between Dell and its customers. In addition, not only did social media marketing fostered high Shared Frame of Reference between the marketer and the audience but also among Dell customers. Dell has launched online community for its existing and potential customers to communicate and exchange information. According to Bazaarvoice (n. d. ), 90 percent of consumers online belief the recommendations from people they know and 70 percent belief the opinions of unknown users because people tend to trust and often seek the advice from another person or group of people over brands. This characteristic enables consumer to gather as much information about Dell’s related products and services before making purchase decision. Shaw et al. (2000, p. 152) added that a positive feedback can turn into a good promotion the brand of the product. This is why social media perceived to have a higher level of trust and it is more acceptable compared to other media. 7. Challenges of Social Media Marketing in the Marketing Environment Social media marketing has certainly influence the communication process of Dell with its consumer. However, there are several challenges that social media is facing in the marketing environment. Social media allows thousands of conversation streams to be addressed per day. Merely representing a team of marketers will not be able to handle such a great amount of conversation. Definitely, the number of marketers is not sufficient and it is more likely that these marketers are not equipped with comprehensively subject matter expertise that required them to communicate and respond at the proper level of reliable conversation. The consequence of ignoring this can be overwhelming. The risks of involving untrained employees to represents on behalf of Dell could jeopardize Dell reputation. Once Dell encouraged its employees to be active on blogs, Dell is exposed to the risk of staff members writing negatively and revealing confidential information about the organization. For example, in 2007, a former employee of Dell had posted a list of tips in a blog for customers who are searching for Dell products (Farrelly, 2009). The employee had no issues with Dell and just wanted to share information for customers such as the best time to purchase and how to get the greatest deal. Therefore, it is essential for Dell to have proper employees that have the ability to monitor and respond to its consumers’ thought. Additionally, due to high transparency in social media, competitors may know the strategies of Dell and consumers are more well-informed about Dell products and pricing strategy. Essentially, the engaging process with customers has always been in charged by the Dell marketing department. However, the trend has changed since the emergence of social media. The consumers are now communicating about the organization’s product with other online users who are not the employees. In fact, 66 percent of brand opinions are generated by customers and 34 percent are by blogger (Dave, 2011). The growing popularity of online communities has allow consumers to exchange information and able to compare with competitors’ prices without any barriers. This means Dell have lost their ability to control over on how and where their products and services are being presented to existing and potential customers. Moreover, any disappointed Dell customer able to share their negative judgment on particular products. The bad feedback posted on Twitter or Facebook can easily go viral as good news. For instance, in 2005, Jeff Jarvis, blogger and famous journalist and professor created a personal blog known as Dell Hell. Jeff had a problem with his Dell computer and frustrated with Dell customer service. Therefore, he expressed his frustration with Dell’s products and customer support on the blog. Dell Hell served as a place for other consumers to express their frustration on Dell. As for Dell, the situation has attracted the attention of other media from The New York Times, Business Week, The Houston Chronicle and many others, thus, reputation of Dell as the well-known brand for PCs was at disaster. Moreover, the social media habit or consumption of the young audience may differ compared to the previous generation. It has been a challenge for the marketers to develop marketing communication strategies in order to sync with this modern language to make sure that the transmitted brand messages are received and properly encoded across different age group. The young audiences who are called â€Å"digital natives† were raised up in the modern technological era. They have been adapted to the development and respond to information in a different way with their predecessors. Different to the young audience, the previous generations are known as â€Å"digital immigrants† because they are exposed with modern technologies only in the later stage compared to the young audience. They have different ways of understanding the language of social media. Therefore, this will be probably a challenge for businesses including Dell to strategize how to get the message across different age group through social media marketing. 8. Benefits of Social Media Marketing Although social media marketing have its disadvantages, it has also brought several values in the marketing environment. Firstly, due to the fact that social media has no barrier for communication; it has encouraged companies like Dell to allow customer participation in their marketing strategies. For example, Dell has created Dell’s IdeaStorm, one of the online Community blogs to encourage conversation with its existing and potential consumers. The benefit that the IdeaStorm is able to give is it allows crowdsourcing from the consumers. This is an effective way for Dell to obtain ideas for their company and more importantly, it provides a sense of belonging from onsumers because their opinion influences the internal decision making, thus increase their loyalty, brand awareness and reaffirm their positioning. Plus, not only social media provide suggestion to Dell, it also help other fellow customers to fix their problem. The process are similar to other social media, whereby, people join the community, recommend their opinions or ideas and then, Dell will respond to the most popular ideas accord ing to the number of votes. In addition, it also provides a free market research for Dell. This is a benefit for Dell because most of surveys conducted are deemed to be ineffective because it only focus on certain groups and also incur higher cost. Finally, social media marketing has also assist Dell in their pricing strategy. Since the consumers are more active in social media, Dell able to get their opinion and forecast the demand and price of their products. Plus, Dell product customization business model through the social media marketing can reduce their sales cycle. Different from short sales cycle, long sales cycles requires people at several stages of the buying process. Ironically, when salespeople are spending their time engaging new businesses and relationship to ensure that customers receive satisfactory answers, he or she is rather unproductive because company only creates money if customers are actually buying the products. This leading up to opportunity cost because the salesperson is not making any deals. Therefore, Dell able to reduce the marketing cost through social media marketing. 9. Conclusion In conclusion, Dell has continuously evaluated its business model to search for rooms of improvement and ways to enhance their customer service. Social media marketing has certainly influenced Dell in their marketing communication process and widened their reach to its existing and potential customers. In the early years of Dell in the blogosphere, Dell has effectively incorporated social media into its marketing and communications strategy and had been awarded for its efforts. Despite of the effort to integrate social media marketing into the business, social media marketing has its drawbacks. Dell cannot afford to put their brand reputation at risk and thus, must find ways to overcome the challenges. Today, Dell US is one f the top companies that is being respected and known as the citizen of the social media. Hence, Dell had applied this new establish knowledge to really change the culture and advance the marketing strategy while constantly being focus and direct with its customers. (3078 words) References 1. Bazaarvoice (n. d. ) Social Commerce Statistics [online]. 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