Respond to two (2) Colleagues D2W4

Douglas M Hayes

Business Report for Anthony's Orchard

July 25, 2021

Communication for Leaders and Managers

INSTRUCTOR: PETTIS PERRY

Introduction

I think that Anthony's Orchard should look into social media account. There are three main reasons behind my recommendations: 1) they increase the notoriety of your business, 2) potential partnership, 3) social media can link you to your clients. All of these opportunities are increased with the use of social media. "it isn't just a strategy for big businesses with large audiences. A reported 77.6% of small businesses use social media for promotion, and doing so offers impressive benefits." (Boogaard, 2019)

Background

Anthony's Orchard is a family-run business that grows two types of apples. They grow Braeburn and Honeycrisp apples, and They make apple pie filling and applesauce, Cookbooks, Apple presses, peelers, corers, and other apple merchandise. The company has a net income of $371,147 last year, and they are going to buy an apple press for next year, which will expand their marketability. Right now, they only have a website, but no other social media platforms are in use. 

Findings

The first reason they should think about using social media is to bring notoriety to their business. You say in your strategic planning, "We continue to search for new orchards throughout the country so that we may diversify the types of apples we produce. "(Anthony's Orchard). Anthony's Orchard shows a vision for the future of your business into the future. Social media will increase your notoriety to potential businesses and clients. You mention on your Strategic Plan that you would like to increase your "Our 2015 revenue goal is to exceed $25 million dollars, which will involve either acquiring new orchards, or expanding our line of products" (Anthony's Orchard). This can be done by increasing your presence on the internet. "Consider that 83 percent of Instagram users say they discover new products on the platform. When Stillhouse Spirits ran a Facebook campaign to increase brand awareness among outdoor enthusiasts, the company achieved a 17-point lift in ad recall. "(22 Benefits of Social Media for Business)

Secondly, social media will expand your online presence. In your strategic planning, you also say that you want to "acquire new orchards" by 2015. A social media account will allow them to find selling orchards or to partnership with other growers. This will also allow you to partner with significant distributors like Kroger or Walmart potentially. They say in their development plan that they want to grow to 25 million by the year 2015 and "In 2012, the Company is hoping to purchase an apple press, which would allow us to start a new line of prepared apple products – apple juice" (apple orchard) 

Lastly, social media can connect you to your clients. according to "45% of customers say that social media is the first channel they turn to when they have questions or issues, and 21% say they'd rather message a brand on social media than call a customer service department." (Boogaard, 2019) You already have an impressive technological department, but they are only made of three people. Receiving calls can be tedious and cost expensive with the phone lines and hours of receiving calls. Social media can do that for you, and one person can have multiple conversations through messaging at one time. Numerous companies use this to answer their customer services like Microsoft and Google. Also, social media does not cost you a thing. You can connect to all of your customers using social media over Facebook, linked in, and Snapchat for no additional cost to you. 

Some of the concerns that apple orchard should be aware of using social media are security and maintenance of their social media accounts. The largest of these are security and with the added attention of good potential clients is the risk of attraction of hackers. Steve Nicholls suggests in his book to "Work with your IT department or hire a professional to ensure proper privacy and security settings are in place. This is critical to protect confidential information, to avoid having your account hacked, or falling victim to cyber theft. Higher profile companies will need more sophisticated security systems.". (Top five risks companies face when using social media). Anthony's Orchard has a terrific and experienced Information Technology department. Ted Schaeffer director, Bob O'Malley, Systems Manager, and Martin Erlich, Website Manager, should create an IT security system for Apple Orchard. Use their expertise to fill in any holes in your security. The team should also develop policies and procedures to keep your social media accounts up to date with the most relevant information. 

Conclusions

To sum up, using social media will be an excellent opportunity for you to expand your business. You can increase your notoriety, increase possible partnerships, and increase your availability to your customers. These are only a couple of great benefits of using social media, and there are many more. The most important one is that your customers will be happy, and your business can save money.

References:

22 Benefits of Social Media for Business. Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. (2021, June 29). https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/.

Anthony's Orchard. (n.d.). https://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/MMSL/6115/02/anthonys_orchard_website/strategic_plan.htm.

Boogaard, K. (2019, November 22). Social media marketing for small businesses: 22 bite-sized steps to master your strategy. QuickBooks. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/marketing/social-media-marketing-for-small-businesses/.

Top five risks companies face when using social media. TechXB. (2014, October 23). https://techxb.com/top-five-risks-companies-face-when-using-social-media/.