Communication is the process by which people exchange information, ideas or opinions either through spoken or written words, in actions or in symbols. Communication should be dialogue as opposed to monologue. For communication to be termed effective, it must mean the same thing and perceived same way by the receiver as well as the sender. Business communication therefore, is any form of communication between the organization and the public with the aim of promoting a product or service in order to enhance sales (Wardrope, p. 65). A thousand years ago, means of communication was oral. But with the introduction of technology in business, it changed the whole face of communication. Social media such as Facebook, Emails, Instagram, Websites, You Tube, Skype and so on, have become the new tools for communication in organizations. Social media has impacted positively to the growth of organizations through effective communication (Mangold and Faulds, p. 365). Nevertheless, though minimal, negative impacts of social media have been revealed. This paper therefore discusses the impact (both negative and positive) of social media in contemporary business communication.
Internal and external communication, are the two most common types of business communication. Internal communication involves passage of information amongst the employees and the internal management. It creates a conducive working environment, increasing job satisfaction, productivity, safety, profits and also reducing employee’s grievances (Proctor and Doukakis, p. 273). External communication on the other hand, its whereby the organization communicates with the public such as customers, stakeholders, government and vendors. Effective external communication improves the corporate image, public goodwill, operational efficiency, sales volume, profits and the overall performance (Smidts et al., p. 1056) hence helping the company to achieve its goals.
Social media in general its more than Twitter and Facebook as many perceive. In old days, means of communication was via drums, fire and smoke. Then came the introduction of regular postal system in the 18th and 19th century. Also during this era, telegraph, pneumatic post, telephone and radio were introduced which enabled faster communication among organizations and the people. In the 20th century there was extensive use of emails, UseNet and bloggers. In the current 21st century, the field of social media has progressed so much that has brought extensive change in business communication. With the introduction of Wikipedia in the year 2001, LinkedIn in 2003, YouTube in 2005, twitter in 2006 and Google Plus in 2011, business communication has been revolutionized (Gupta et al., p. 161). Many organizations are now relying much on the social media to carry out their operations and to communicate with the public due to the increasing use of social media by the public.
Communication is key in building a positive image of a company. The perception the general public has about a certain organization will determine its success or failure. With the increasing use of social media in business today, effective communication between the public and the organization is made possible which gives the organization an opportunity to market itself. Social media gives an organization a networking site where they can build a social relation with the public. Interacting with the public enables the company to get feedback which they can use to improve on their operations. In Australia, three quarter of the people are on social media and this shows that communication via the social media can enhance success of the business.
Since communication is key for any smooth operations of a company, it needs to be taken as an important aspect for business success. Ineffective communication, may cause business failure if instant remedy is not put into action. Despite the benefits that social media has brought in businesses today, there are some challenges faced by the organizations. Many are times when a certain project does not work, you will hear management say it was due to communication problem.
Integration of all departmental matters into one voice becomes a major problem when tackling marketing strategies. Promotion and marketing determines how much sales and profits a company will make. Due to social media, marketing now days is done online where you advertise the company’s product and receive the customer’s feedback. However, it is important to integrate all information from every department (Macnamara and Zerfass, p. 301) so as not to give conflicting information to the public.
Accidental release of confidential organization information is another challenge that businesses are facing today. When confidential information falls in the hands of the wrong people, the reputation of the organization is destroyed as well as other company’s receiving a competitive advantage (Molok et al., p. 38). In the old days, this was a rare mistake since if it was a letter sent to the wrong address, it would be retrieved and spread of information contained.
Tracking of misleading and negative statement about the company is also a big issue. When a company posts on Facebook for instance about their product, there is a huge follow up and responses about the customer’s views. These are both positive and negative comments but what matters most to the company, it’s the negative statement. The negative feedback acts as an eye opener to business opportunities and the management should respond immediately so as to prevent widespread of negative word about the company.
Every person can acknowledge the fact that social media has changed the way business tasks are done now days. There is better communication with the public and especially the customers. Social media has enhanced communication and sharing of information has been made easier. Customers can express their views about the product and services offered by the company (Kaplan and Haenlein, p. 65). Increase in online reviews has enabled organization to learn from their customer’s areas of improvement.
Social media has also made businesses to go global by increasing cross-border relations. 20 years ago it was difficult, costly and time consuming to find buyers and suppliers overseas. However, now days, business world has been globalized and made a small village. One can order any product and it will be delivered at their convenience. Social media has also made the operations of organizations easy. It acts as an interactive medium, it bridges communication gap and acts as a source of information (Treem and Leonardi, p. 156). It is also a customer interaction tool, enables faster sharing of information, a crisis communication tool as well as a marketing tool.
Starbucks has grown global over the years and it’s the largest operating coffee retail company in the whole world. It operates its business over the social media such as Facebook (https:/www.facebook.com/Starbucks), blog (https:// starbucksgossip.com/), twitter (https://twitter.com/starbucks) and community online (https://mystarbucksidea.force.com/) sites to interact with their customers. Starbucks has 34 million likes on Facebook and 3.6 million followers on twitter (Chua and Banerjee, p. 243). Social media has grown tremendously in business operations because they have unique advantages over the traditional media. Apart from the many advantages of social media, there are some crises that social media can bring to an organization. In 2012 for instance, Starbucks suffered a major crisis in Argentina where there was a temporary supply shortage and in their tweet they said they would use only the non-branded supply from Argentina. This created a huge uproar from the customers which made the company to apologize
Another case that was handled so well using social media by Starbuck was the cochineal situation. In march 2012, they announced the use of cochineal extract in most of the beverages of Starbucks such as strawberry Frappuccino through their blog known as www.thisdishisvegetarian.com (Nelson et al., p. 324). The information gathered a lot of negative criticism from the vegetarians and therefore the company had to use social media platforms to solve the issue. They explained how the cochineal had no health risk since it’s a natural ingredient and it was also approved by FDA (food and drug administration). Later on when the fuzzy about the issue didn’t cool down, they announced that they would replace it with tomato extract. This clearly shows, how use of social media can be able to solve issues arising from the customers (Gallaugher and Ransbotham, p. 5). and be of benefits to the organization.
Starbucks becomes an appropriate case study since it established its stores in Australia and after a while, it did not thrive as expected. One of many reasons why the company failed in Australia is because they failed to communicate the brand. Contrary to the immerse use of social media in their operations, they failed to advertise their brand (Keller and Richey, 78) to the Australian people. They believed their stores would speak for themselves and get market. This shows the power social media has in ensuring success of product sale and capturing market.
Social media has greatly influenced operations of Starbucks greatly. The company has globalized its operations, thanks to social media. It has extensively invested in social media and it has paid back. It interacts with their customers and the feedback they get they use them to improve their products (Schivinski and Dabrowski, p. 201). Online reviews play a key role in understanding your customers as they give honest views on how they feel about your products and services. They have learnt the importance of sharing every detail with their customers without covering.
Public relations practitioners accept that social media play a pivotal role in the field of public relations. This is attributed to the openness, participation and free share of information in the social media. It acts as a bridge between internal and external players of the organization in ensuring smooth flow of information as well as enhancing two-way communication (Eyrich et al., p. 413). It removes the necessity of intermediaries between the organization management and the customers hence enhancing communication. Intermediaries usually distort the message and before it reaches the intended user, the meaning is lost. Many public relations practitioners agree that social media has reduced their work load, made their work easier and increased customers interactions.
Conclusion
Australians as well as many people over the world spend most of their time on social media with Facebook being the highest used social media. Therefore, it is prudent for businesses to engage their operations on social media since that’s where majority of customers are. Communication over the social media is also crucial for organization success because it offers an interactive platform to exchange views and ideas between the organization and the customers. Most people use social media to buy products online, others for shopping research, travel and holiday offers. Social media has changed the overall performance of organizations, with many businesses embracing its importance in success of an organization.
References
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