Business Use of Social Media for Customer Engagement: A Wells Fargo Case StudySocial media is at the heart of many marketing plans for businesses in the United States and in the world. One such company at the forefront of social media use is Wells Fargo Bank, NA (Wells Fargo). The ability to directly contact current and potential customers in a real-time online environment is crucial to the bank/customer conversation and reinforces the company's place in the customer's mind as an entity they want to do business with. case (Wells Fargo Bank, 2014). This case study will discuss the current state of Wells Fargo's use of social media as a means to grow its customer base. Additionally, historical information on the marketing transition process to social media will be presented and the development of the roles involved in this marketing strategy will be discussed. The impacts on the public sphere and society in general will play into the discourse on the topic of social media and finally, the underlying theories will be discussed as they relate to Wells Fargo and social media. Current StatusWells Fargo has developed an advanced social media strategy which is managed by the social media group within the marketing department of Wells Fargo (Wells Fargo Bank, 2014). Since 2014, this team has managed eight blogs, four Twitter accounts, two Facebook pages, two LinkedIn pages and a YouTube channel (Gustke, 2014). YouTube is a video streaming page, Facebook is a complex social media site that allows its members to create communities of "friends" who share comments, Twitter is similar to Facebook but with a limited number of characters for each online publication, it streamlines the concept of social media, and LinkedIn is a...... middle of paper ......GE Publications Inc. Morris, T. (2012). Why online customer service is so important. Retrieved from http://www.parature.com/online-customer-service-important-infographic/Odden, T. (2008). Interview with a major social media brand: Wells Fargo, Home Depot, UPS and Graco. Retrieved from www.toprankblog.com/2008/10/big-brand-social-media-blogwell/Reiker, M. (2013). Wells Fargo will expand its pilot project on social networks. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323527004579081244169280978Riggs, C. (2014). Ocean to ocean. Retrieved from blogs.wellsfargo.com/guidedbyhistoryWells Fargo Bank. (2014). Wells Fargo Team Member Handbook – January 2014. Retrieved from http://teamworks.wellsfargo.com/handbook/HB_Online.pdfWells Fargo Bank, NA (2014). Wells Fargo Social Media Community Guidelines. Retrieved from blogs.wellsfargo.com/community-guidelines/