Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Social Networks In Business

Literature Review Scope

Discuss about the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networks in Business.

Presently, the usage of internet is the significant part of the lives of the individuals and there is extensive use of internet in the fields of routine activities such as purchasing, sending mails, for fetching information, education, etc. but most vital significance of social networks and internet has been realized in the business sector as all the budding as well as the establishes business organisations and entrepreneurs are taking extensive use of this in the form of innovative technology. It is one of the key sources for business expansion across the globe (Celine, 2012). In the current business scenario, the usage of social networking is maximizing and rising for attaining increased level of customer satisfaction and customer engagement. The importance and potential of social networks have mostly realized in the small and medium enterprises as they have considered as the way to achieve global presence and extended customer base. There is an extensive amount of researches and literature that shows the importance, advantages as well as disadvantages of taking sue of social networks in the businesses.

The objective of presenting this literature is to analyze and comprehend the impact of taking use of social networks in the businesses as well as the role of these social networks, numerous social platforms and applications in achieving success, enhanced customer base and international expansion. The next objective of the paper is to the innovative aspect of taking use of social networks for achieving increased customer engagement. Another objective is to have insights about the several disadvantages and advantages of taking use of social networks in the businesses by the means of diverse literature and research work of different authors.

Several numbers of authors and researchers have a diverse set of views in explaining the actual concept of social network but from the combined view it can be explained as the inter-personal connection or relationship between the people, various business enterprises and the organisations. There is a flow of information among all these but there is no hierarchy or any sort of set order. Almost all the organisation takes use of social networking as one of their key marketing tactic. But taking sue of social networks as the marketing strategy requires effective understanding of the concept as well as its associated merits and demerits (Kadushin, 2012). The concepts if social networking can also be understand from the business context where there is an online application through which the customers have an interaction various business enterprises. It includes development of the business content and its effective sharing. Earlier the business organisation take use of the traditional media but it has limited advantages and to overcome the weaknesses of traditional media, the businesses started taking sue of social media which acts as one of the strongest promotional and marketing tool for the businesses. There various social networks for developing business connections, for marketing, for promotion, for business expansion and for selling of products and services (Pinho and Prange, 2016). From the era of late 1990s, there was initiated the use of social networks, web blogging and posting. And with the span of time, there was increased use of social networking platforms, social applications and social media which supported the flow of communication between diverse set of individuals across the globe through some of the renowned social networking sites (Gloora, et al. 2016). The literature will present the significance of taking sue of social networking in the businesses as well as some of the disadvantages of taking use of these social networks.

Literature Review Objectives

Authors and researchers have their diverse views regarding the use of social networks in the businesses. As per the views of Park, Valenzuela and Kee, there are numerous benefits of social networking such as the extended customer base. Insufficiency of capital is always considered as a strong barricade in the path of success and growth of the business enterprises and because of the same, the organisations do not achieve the desired market business sustainability and success (Park, Kee and Valenzuela, 2009). Celine explains that the primary reason behind the less customers and decreased market visibility is the shortage of investments. But the author also highlights the importance of social media platforms and networks for achieving international visibility with squat capital only. Targeting the customers and having global reach is getting increasingly feasible with the use of social networks and internet. Therefore, the author concludes that the use of social networks offer support in growing the business and achieving increased attention of the potential customers (Celine, 2012).

Another advantage as emphasized by Kirti? and Karahan is the available opportunity offered by social networking to have an easy and supple entry in the global market. To expand the business operations in international regions and to enter the global market is extremely difficult for the organisations and social networking offers the advantage to these organisations to enhance flexibility and enter the new markets by achieving recognized presence of these social platforms and by taking sue of social media (Kirti? and Karahan, 2011). In the social networking and business through the online platforms and social media, all kind of entry restricts as well as the international trade barriers have vanished and there has been achieved an extended area for performing business by the organisations. The most vital and significant advantage of such social networking nd social platform is that there is no kind of fees or any other capital investment associated with such business operations and this empowers the businesses to compete with the global players. It is also analyzed by the researchers Siamagka, Christodoulides and Michaelidou that the social networking also assist in achieving enhanced brand reliability. There is also a benefit that the organisations can attain more number of international customers for the products and services by the means of social networking. The potential customers when attached to a brand usually have brand reliability by repurchasing from the similar brand due to global visibility, increased brand recognition and enhanced customer involvement (Castells, 2015). The researchers also explain other benefiters of taking sue of social networks in term of having a more strategic outlook and move as the social sites and networks helps in fetching the information about the products and strategies of the competitors and with such information, the organisation try to have more competitive approaches for retaining the customers (Michaelidou, Siamagka and Christodoulides, 2011). It also helps the businesses to have increased competitive benefits. Thus, the literature emphasis upon the key benefits such as increased global presence, upsurge competitive benefits and long term sustainability (Valente, 2010).

Literature Review: Social Network

Some of the authors such as Huysman, Steinfield and Leonardi have highlighted the benefits of social networking of having increased customer engagement, involvement and enhanced building of association with the customers. For the growth and development of every business, there is a need to have extended social networks and customer involvement. In the same manner, with the social networks, the companies used to have an in-depth and strong bond with the customers through the various approaches of customer engagement (Leonardi,  Huysman and Steinfield, 2013). Lee, Cheung and Chiu also explain the benefits of social networking of a two way communication. With the help of the social networks, there is a way to build up a relationship with the customers and have their enhanced engagement of the customers. The customers share their feedbacks, reviews and experiences to the companies by the means of string social networks and customer involvement (Cheung, Chiu and Lee, 2011). Such robust association with the customers supports the businesses in attaining loyal and trustworthy customers. Because of strong customer engagement, it becomes difficult for the customers to switch to different products of diverse brands. Other diverse advantages of social networking for businesses is that it supports the businesses to diversify the key operation and business function as due to free from the burden of capital expenses, the business can easily have a conversion process (Parveen, 2012).

The research and literature also presents some negative aspects or disadvantages of taking use of social networks in the businesses. The first and the primary negative implication is the negative feedback reviews for the products and services of the organisations (Bharadwaj, et al., 2013). It takes few minutes to destroy and deteriorate the brand image of the organisation and the products of the customers post any kind of negative feedbacks or reviews on the social media platforms (Gronum, Verreynne and Kastelle, 2012). It is a key drawback of taking use of social networking in the businesses. In the online world as well as in international business, it is necessary to have brand development and growth for achieving more number of customers (Shabbir, Ghazi and Mehmood, 2016). With the negative comments and feedbacks of the customers, there is decline brand image of the business and this is also a strong negative point from competitive aspect. By getting impacted and influenced with such comments and reviews, the other potential customers also turned as the non-buyers and do not purchase services or products from those specific brands that have negative customer reviews (Sashi, 2012). Therefore, due to social networks and increased use of social platforms, the businesses have a risk of getting the brand image ruined because of negative customer reviews and feedbacks.

Literature Review Comparative Analysis

There are few other negative implications also of using social networks in the businesses which have been highlighted in the literature by numerous authors. It has been analyzed that consumption of time is another negative or demerit of social networking in the businesses (Batjargal, et al., 2013). The literature and the researchers argues the benefit of social networking of less capital investment, they emphasized upon the exhaustion of time of the businesses. In building networks, maintaining them and also managing the reviews of the customers, it is essential for the organisation to invest a lot of time in these networking sites which distracts their focus from other key activities (Chabaud and Ngijol, 2016). The businesses need much time and attempt to achieve increase social visibility. It is seen that not all the organisations possess huge number of workers and extensive capital and teams for managing the social presence and social networks and thus the inefficiency in the management results in decreased business performance which is a demerit of using social networks in the businesses (Treem and Leonardi, 2013). Therefore, the lack of time acts as a barricade in the success of the businesses. The next disadvantage of social networking is the squat knowledge of using social networking in the business. The efficiency and effectiveness in implementing the use of social media, social platforms and social networks in businesses requires extensive knowledge and potential (Chaffey, 2016). The one of the most key issue of taking sue of the social networks is to the social network selection as the success of the organization through social media completely depends upon the social networking application approach as per the needs and requisite of the organisations and the products and the services. There are bundle of social media applications, platforms and networks but selecting the best one is a challenge for the businesses (Wamba and Carter, 2016). Selection of an ineffective and inappropriate social network may lead to negative impact over the organisations. Therefore, it is necessary for the businesses to have in-depth analysis and evaluation of the social networks so that the businesses can be utmost benefitted by its application (Fox and Moreland, 2015).

The sources used for framing the literature review are primarily the journal articles as well as the peer reviewed one that are authentic in nature and are easily feasible from the vast academic data available at Google Scholar. These sources have a relevant and robust connection with the data presented in the literature review. Maximum of the sources are of current years so atht there relevancy can be judged. The literature offers a clear set of discussion, comparative analysis and also the diverse view of the authors. Data presented has a significant relevance with the application of social networking in the businesses and the organisations.

From the overall literature, there has also identified a research gap that there is no sort of accuracy in terms of results and outcomes attained by the organisations of taking use of social networks. In the researches and literature, the merits and demerits have been analyzed but in practical scenario there can be more number of advantages and disadvantages that have not been recognized in the literature.

The literature also have a significant contribution as it helps in comprehending the manner in which social networks can help the businesses in achieving more customer bases and increased promotion. The social networking includes various activities such as marketing through content, customer involvement, blog posts, videos, customer feedbacks, images, etc. Another contribution offered is the opportunity for the business enterprises to change the business operations and function through a better chance for conversion (Molina?Morales and Martínez?Fernández, 2010). Other contributions are that it can help in achieving strong global visibility through squat level of investments and no further expenses, in attaining extensive customer base, upsurge promotions and marketing and diversification of the services and products (Edosomwan, et al., 2011).

Conclusion

In the current business sector, the significance of social networking is continuously rising and extending as it is one of the major source for developing the businesses. The business enterprises have their high emphasis upon talking use of the social networking in the business functions for primarily increasing the number of customers associated with brand. Use of social networks in present time is a very usual and common feature in the lives of people. The above literature presented concludes that there are numerous merits and positive outcomes that are linked with the social networking application in the businesses and it also highlighted the negative aspects too according to view and research of the authors. The insights drawn from the literature states that, the usage of social networking is one of the most vital elements for the success of the businesses. There has been analyzed and concluded in brief several positive implications of social networking in businesses that comprises of international reach, conversion opportunity, increased number of customers, brand reliability, competitive edge, and enhanced advertising and promotions. As per the conclusions drawn from the literature, it can be stated that the businesses must select an appropriate social network for taking sue of and attaing benefits from its application.

References

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Chabaud, D. and Ngijol, J., 2016. Entrepreneurs’ social networks and formation of business opportunities: An exploratory study1. Entrepreneurial Process and Social Networks: A Dynamic Perspective, p.79.

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