Introduction
Instagram is a website that enables people to share information on the internet. Facebook started the website in 2010 to make users have a unique platform on which to share their photos (Instagram, n.d). Therefore, users are presented with an excellent site on which to share their videos and photos, as well as interact with their family and friends.
The networking approach of Instagram has made people create networks that are important for both social interacting and marketing purposes. Its services offered are supported on the following computing applications: Apple App Store and Phone Store. Although the services of the site were initially available on limited devices such as the iPhones and iPads, they are now accessed via Android camera phones.
The increase in the number of devices that could support the application has led to an increase in the number of users (Instagram, n.d). For example, a few weeks after the social networking website was started, it attracted about one million consumers. A year later, the clientele base grew by 5million users.
Surprisingly, in 2012, Instagram had more than 30 million users (Instagram, n.d). This essay aims at developing an effective customer relationship management (CRM) plan about Instagram. It is expected that the plan would lead to better relationships between the site and users (Chen & Popovich, 2003; Newell, 2001). It would be important to execute an excellent CRM plan due to the ever-growing clientele base of Instagram.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is an approach that is used by businesses to identify crucial factors that could impact their performance outcomes. To identify the areas to focus on when developing a CRM plan, it would be important to understand various issues about the website. A SWOT analysis will help in comprehending the internal and external factors that could impact the social networking provider.
The provider would have control over the internal factors, i.e., strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, it cannot control the external factors that could influence it either negatively or positively. About internal factors, strengths of business lead to better outcomes while weaknesses result in undesired outcomes.
Opportunities for a business in the external environment present chances of growth to a firm while threats increase the probability of a company to record poor financial results. SWOT analysis of Instagram shows that it has the following components:
Strengths
- A sizeable social networking site
- A free communication platform
- A global presence
- A popular brand
- Many users (more than 50 million users)
- A series of applications
- Stable technologies
- Adequate number of workers
Weaknesses
- Slow in responding to users
- Bugs that interfere with applications
- Users cannot customize their pages
- Fake accounts on the website
- Insecure personal information
Opportunities
- Potential to increase revenues
- The online attraction of customers
- Anticipated growth in the future
- Advertising via mobile devices
- Online analysis of market dynamics
Threats
- Competition business rivals
- New market entrants
- Online photo leakage
- Spamming of messages
- Legal problems
- Adverse government
Customer background and description
Instagram is a global site that supports consumers from countries across the world. Thus, when its founders were designing it, they had in mind that they could provide a website that could support customers from different lifestyles. History of customers about Instagram shows that the website is mostly visited by people aged 30 and under (Instagram, n.d).
The ages are important because they show that the younger generation is computer literate and it can run applications through digital devices such as cameras and modern phones. In terms of industry, the website does not have users who are inclined toward a certain industry. Users could be from different sectors of the economy. Therefore, the proposed plan will address customer issues from a holistic perspective.
Specific customer needs
It would be essential to understand the needs of customers of Instagram so that the proposed CRM plan could effectively address all issues that could lead to better utilization of services (Chen & Popovich, 2003). Instagram users are interested in creating their accounts and uploading photos, which they can share with their family and friends. Customers need fast applications that could be used to upload and download images.
This implies that the servers that are used by the website should be stable and always support internet connections. Customers require a safe website whereby they would be assured of the safety of their private information.
This is particularly important because some people could use other persons’ data for criminal purposes. Users would need a site that could provide immediate responses to users when they aim at knowing some issues about some applications or safety matters, among others.
Additional customer opportunities
Although Instagram was created to provide a platform on which to share photos and interact online, users of the website could bring some potential opportunities that could be utilized to increase revenues. Thus, it would be important for the management to be alert about opportunities that might be presented by customers. The opportunities can be known if the website can adopt an interactive relationship with its users.
For example, users might show interest in using the site for additional purposes like transactions. The management can evaluate the feasibility of such an opportunity to determine whether it could result in an increase in market share and gain competitive advantage. However, there could be some risks associated with opportunities.
Therefore, it would be important to conduct a risk analysis before implementing approaches that would be intended to reap from additional opportunities (Newell, 2001).
Relationship strategy
A strategic approach would be important in developing and maintaining a relationship between a business and a customer (Newell, 2001). Such a relationship should be mutual. An important aspect of creating an excellent relationship is an understanding of customer needs. When Instagram understands customer requirements, it would be easy for the management to develop and execute a unique platform on which a relationship would be conducted (Newell, 2001).
The current relationship is not healthy because customers do not receive instant feedback from the website. Thus, the site could view improvement in the customer relationship as a strategic move that could result in more users. For the site to improve customer relationship, it should adopt automated systems of responding to customer queries.
Also, an adequate number of personnel could be employed to respond to unique customer issues that may not be addressed by automated responses. About Instagram, there is not anticipated conflict in customer relationships. Also, there are no individuals or groups that must be part of the relationship.
A communication plan
When a firm adopts effective communication with its customers, it ensures that it builds and maintains healthy business interactions with customers that lead to improved business performance outcomes. The aim of a communication plan is to ensure that customers are provided with the required information promptly.
Instagram will maintain healthy communication with its customers by ensuring that it has an adequate number of personnel to communicate with customers. Although the frequency of communication cannot be predicted because it would be affected by several factors, it would be high. The type of information to be communicated to customers will depend on what customers would want from the site (Belch, Belch, Kerr & Powell, 2008).
Also, Instagram can also communicate with customers because of initiating promotions and other businesses. For example, the management could decide to remind users to update their accounts if it detects that some users have stayed for a relatively period without logging into their accounts. Various approaches to communication will be adopted. While the use of emails would appear convenient, customers might take a long time before they respond.
Thus, the management would be requested to adopt communication via mobile phones. Before starting communication, it will be essential for the website to determine its purpose (Chen & Popovich, 2003). This is vital because the purpose of communication would imply that the right messages are delivered to users in time. Ultimately, users of photo-sharing services would be satisfied with the quality of customer service.
Value proposition
Value addition to customers is an important aspect in businesses because it identifies the unique approaches of offering products (Vargo, Maglio & Akaka, 2008). The concept helps firms to increase their market shares and gain competitive advantage. About Instagram, the website has been at the forefront of providing customers with an excellent platform on which to share their photos and interact online.
Just like its founding website, Facebook, the site ensures that customers interact instantly when they send and receive photos. The photo-sharing platform supports many applications, such as Google Play and App Store, which are utilized to upload and download photos. Customers do not need to have access to computers so that they could send and receive photos from their family members and friends.
Instagram provides efficient services that are supported by many communication devices, such as digital cameras and some mobile services. The broad spectrum of devices makes users utilize the services offered by the site. Instagram is unique about its competitors because it ensures that many people can use different devices to communicate (Belch et al., 2008).
The best value addition approach that has been adopted by the site is the use of modern technologies in communication. Thus, it provides its customers with hi-tech applications for various uses of photo-sharing and social networking.
Approvals
For this CRM plan to be effective, it must be approved by the management, which might form a team to review the recommendations proposed. If it is approved, then the suggestions will be implemented either at once or in phases, depending on the evaluation of the project by the management.
References
Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A., Kerr, G. F., & Powell, I. (2008). Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective. New York, NY: McGraw- hill.
Chen, I. J., & Popovich, K. (2003). Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology. Business process management journal, 9(5), 672-688.
Instagram. (n.d). Capture and share the world’s moments. Web.
Newell, F. (2001). Loyalty. com: Customer relationship management in the new era of Internet marketing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc..
Vargo, S. L., Maglio, P. P., & Akaka, M. A. (2008). On value and value co-creation: A service systems and service logic perspective. European management journal, 26(3), 145-152.