Social Media And Its Impact On Business Communication

Social Media’s Impact on Business Communication

Discuss about the Social Media and its Impact on Business Communication.

Technological advancement in the world is brining changes to every aspect along with the businesses. One of the very important and major advancement of technology is the social media tools or the platforms that are available in order to serve the people with the facility of communicating and connecting with each other (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). All the people in the world are adopting new methods and technological applications for making interaction with others. Social media has paved their steps in businesses also and the most important function that has been affected by the evolution of social media tools is business communication.

Involvement of social media in businesses has totally transformed the way businesses are communicating these days. Social media brings such facilities to the people so that they can immediately communicate and interact with each other (Power, 2014). The social media platform act as the medium that provides a forum for the people by which they can speak and share their views regarding the products and services they are experiencing. It is not only the companies but the customers are themselves using media as the tool to share their views regarding their experiences (Qualman, 2010). The social network mediums help the companies to interact closely with their customers in order to get their feedback on the products and service they are serving to the customers. With the help of traditional communication methods, the companies cannot have the two way communication with the people but social media platforms allow the companies to have two way communications with the customers.

No business is left untouched with the impact of social media. This is because every company wants to compete with the competitors in an innovative and technology allows the companies to make use of it in different forms and functions (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Companies can use social media platforms to perform different functions. Companies have two options, either they can restrict themselves in the controlled wall or can use social media platform to explore the customers’ needs and requirements. This can help the companies to show their human side to the customers so that customers can relate to the brands. Being hidden is the surely not the choice of today’s business owners (Van Dijck, and Poell, 2013). They want to be known and thus they have to break the wall of restriction and come out of their way to reach their customers. Social media has caused several shifts in the business communication functions of the companies. The first shift is from selling the products to making connections. Earlier, companies have the mindset that customer’s relationship can be made by selling the products whereas now the companies have different point of view. Companies think that making connections is more important before selling the product. The social media sites likes Facebook and twitter allow the companies to make those connections with the customers. The major goals of companies these days is not just selling the products but engaging the customers (Edosomwan,  Prakasan,  Kouame, Watson  and Seymour, 2011). This is because most of the companies these days are customers oriented companies and produce the products and services according to the needs of the customers. These needs can be identified and analyzed by communication eth the customers and social media do it all for the companies. The next shift is regarding controlling the image to broadcasting the image. The companies these days are broadcasting everything they do. This creates a bond between the companies and the customers and thus customers can decide which brand is fit for them according to their choices and affordability. The next shift has been observed in reach of the companies. Social media networks have allow the companies to reach to large masses of customers in minute of time with minimal efforts (Aral, Dellarocas and Godes, 2013). The online sources help the companies to post their videos, images and even the latest offers on the sites so as to reach all the customers who are accessing those sites on daily basis. This also helps the customers to know about the latest offers and discounts by the companies.

Benefits of Social Media in Business Communication

As far as the benefits of the social media in business communication is considered, it can be used for different purposes. It is not only chatting and interaction with the customers that frames the business communication functions but accessing the customer’s data d then contacting them with customized messages is also a part of business communication. Social media sites allow the companies to access the data of the target audience that can be used to contact those customers who hare relevant for the company’s current released products or services. This helps the firms to divide their customers according to the choices (Evans, 2010). If the companies have their presence on social media networks, it helps the companies top connect with more and more users or customers. This develops the trust of the customers over the brand as they can rely on the brands. This is because social media presence of the companies acts as the evidence of company’s existence. Social media is the very cost effective way to promote the products. This is because it allows posting the real time ads on the sites as well as providing the facility to get the reviews back at the same time. Lead generation is the most important part of business and social media communication allow the companies generate higher leads the any other marketing method. As far as the experiences of the customers are considered, the customers also like the brands that provide them importance rather than the brands that so not communicate or interact with them (Dijkmans, Kerkhof and Beukeboom, 2015). Making interactions with the customers create sense of belongingness among the customers and they can relate to the brands. Social media limits the obstacle of distance. It is necessary for the company to have physical presence in the country or the place where the marketing is to be done.

There are many Australian companies that use social media as the tool to communicate with their customers. One of the companies is Telstra that uses the social media as the very important tool for marketing. Telstra is the company that encourages their employees to use social media as well so that the company can easily contact them and with their contractors anytime everywhere. It is the telecom companies that can only conduct their businesses if the customers keep in connect with them (Macnamara, 2010). This is because telecom is the service that allows the people to communicate. Thus, it is very important for the company also to connect with its customers. As far as social media segment of the company is to be considered, it has been identified that the company believes in 3R; s. the first R is representing, second R is responsibility and third R is Respect. if the social media tool that have be used by the company is discussed that it is to be analyzed that the social networking sites that have been used by the company are Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, My Site etc. if the colony wants to post ads and images then it also uses sites or platforms like Flickr and YouTube to post the videos as well. Company is also involved in discussion and forums through the mediums like Yhaoo1Group, Google etc. Telstra use many platform such as Facebook nada other social networking sites so as to develop its brand image among the people (Bozarth, 2010). Other than these sites, CrowdSupport is one of the strategies that have been used by the company. This is the platform that allows the customers of the company can make conversation about their experiences with the service they are getting from the company; the customers can share their views and talk to each other regarding the services. this platform allow the company to get the most relevant feedback about the service the company is offering to the customers and it also helps in taking corrective actions in the processes of the company wherever required. Company can get the idea about making improvements in the products nada los about the needs of the customers so that the services or the products can be modified according to the needs of the customers. Telstra owns a digital customers care team that talk to the customers in order to resolve their queries regarding the services and the offers that are available to them. The conversation that is made used to be very casual in nature so that customers do not hesitate to tell his problems. Having direct conversation also helps the customers to share their feeling and experiences n more expressive way. Some of the above discussed strategies are very useful for any of the companies like Telstra. Telstra is making an effective use of the social media technology in order to develop its customers service techniques and enhancing the communication with the customers, the above discussion clearly mention that the social media techniques that are used by Telstra is supporting the business activities of Telstra and social media is playing great role in developing the company’s business communication (Jurišová, 2017).

Case Study: Telstra’s Use of Social Media

Telstra is using the social media platform for different purpose such as campaigning, broadcasting; promotion etc. promotion and marketing are the techniques that are used since years by the companies to create awareness about the company and the products. This requires the companies to communicate with the customers and the stakeholders. Online marketing is the subset of social media marketing these days. The social media or online platforms allow the companies to have direct contact with the customers. Telstra has used almost all methods of social media in order to conduct online marketing (Treem and Leonardi, 2013). Using these platforms for communication helps the companies to have frequent conversations with the customers and also helps them to known about the daily changes in the needs of the customers. Most of the firms in today’s world are using these tools in order to showcase their strengths to the customers. This is because the competition that is prevailing in the market is so much fierce that the companies need to implement the innovative strategies frequently so that they can be stand out of other companies. Business in these days is not that easy to conduct, this is because customers have wide range of products and brand available to the, thus, the firm that will be able to attract the customers can only be the own who can lead the market and the industry. The people are becoming more conscious about the brand and they relate themselves with the brand image (Schulze, Schöler and Skiera,  2015). Thus, social media interaction with the people helps the customers as well as the companies to choose their target according to the relevancy of the image. This is because some of the brands to sell the products that are only for the people in premium range and some of the customers also prefer to buy the products with the brands which have good image in the market (Herngaard, 2011). These types of changes in the requirements and the choices of the customers and the market forces the firms to make direct contact with the customers so that relevant data and information can be gathered according to the choice of the customers

It can be summarized with the above discussion that making connection with the customers is the hour of need for the companies. The above discussion about Telstra’s social media networking suggests that companies are making innovations in their the strategies to use the social media platform for different purposes such as making connections sharing information, taking reviews etc. Globalization is the businesses forces the companies to take such steps so that they can cater more and more customers sitting at one place (Perrin,  2015). Social media is proved to be boon for business communication because it provides many facilities to make direct contact with the customers of the businesses. It not only proved beneficial for the companies but also for the customers who can get the information about any of the products and the brands with just a click.

References:

Aral, S., Dellarocas, C. and Godes, D., 2013. Introduction to the special issue—social media and business transformation: a framework for research. Information Systems Research, 24(1), pp.3-13.

Bozarth, J., 2010. Social media for trainers: Techniques for enhancing and extending learning. John Wiley & Sons.

Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P. and Beukeboom, C.J., 2015. A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, pp.58-67.

Edosomwan, S., Prakasan, S.K., Kouame, D., Watson, J. and Seymour, T., 2011. The history of social media and its impact on business. Journal of Applied Management and entrepreneurship, 16(3), p.79.

Evans, D., 2010. Social media marketing: the next generation of business engagement. John Wiley & Sons.

Herngaard, A. 2011.The Imapact of Social Media. Available at : https://www.mindjumpers.com/blog/2011/01/the-impact-of-social-media/ Accessed on: 26 April 2017

Jurišová,E. 2017.ONLINE.  The impact of social networking on business and business ethics. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0088/ef899014797f536edbec3497b94a32c27fd4.pdf Accessed on: 26 April 2017.

Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M., 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), pp.59-68.

Macnamara, J., 2010. Public relations and the social: How practitioners are using, or abusing, social media. Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 11(1), pp.21-39.

Mangold, W.G. and Faulds, D.J., 2009. Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), pp.357-365.

Perrin, A., 2015. Social media usage. Pew Research Center.

Power, A., 2014. What is social media?. British Journal of Midwifery, 22(12).

Qualman, E., 2010. Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. John Wiley & Sons.

Schulze, C., Schöler, L. and Skiera, B., 2015. Customizing social media marketing. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(2), p.8.

Treem, J.W. and Leonardi, P.M., 2013. Social media use in organizations: Exploring the affordances of visibility, editability, persistence, and association. Annals of the International Communication Association, 36(1), pp.143-189.

Van Dijck, J. and Poell, T., 2013. Understanding social media logic.