Discuss about the Advantages and Disadvantages of using Social Networks in Business.
Social media is one of the most significant channels of promoting business. This inexpensive way of promoting the business and gathering the customer base is much beneficial for the company (Jussila, Kärkkäinen & Aramo-Immonen, 2014). The business can reach to the right customers through the social networking mediums. In spite of the positive contributions, use of social media has some of the recognizable disadvantages as well. The study would explore the consequences faced by Telstra in using social networks for the business. The identification of the advantages and disadvantages would be presented in this research project.
The objective of the project is to identify the significant pros and cons that Telstra has been dealing with while using the social network systems for the business purposes.
The information gathered from the project would develop the clear ideas regarding the exclusive benefits and devastating disadvantages of using social network. This information would be used as the secondary research data for the similar project work in future.
Social media is the most advanced and modern tool for the business marketers that are trying to reach to their target customers. It is true that the social networking process has the positive contribution to the business purposes (Trainor et al., 2014). Similarly, the misuse of the social networks can cause harm to the business in a significant way. The literature study would present the structured information related to the significance of using this promotional medium to gather customer supports. The benefits and disadvantages of social networking sites would be discussed in this literature review section.
In current scenario, it has been observed that people spend most of their time on internet. The development of the sophisticated trends has made the customer dealing in an easier way. Promoting the business through the social media sites is much helpful for the business marketers (Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014). The customers prefer searching the information regarding the business brand through online sources. The major motto of social networking is to connect people largely and making them aware of any specific brand, product, or services. The use and role of social networking process in business world is widely discussed topic. Internet is one of the most beneficial advanced technologies that provide the better opportunities to the business marketers to promote their business to the target customers. By sharing the thoughts over the internet sources, the business marketers can find out their target customers. It is to be specified that the telecom industry is highly competitive (Luo & Zhong, 2015). The best internet connection service ensures more money in this industry since people tend to deal with the beneficial service and product specifications.
In majority cases, it has been observed that the telecom companies generally offer the similar type of services. Therefore, it becomes quite difficult to differentiate from the competitors. In such cases, the improved and well-developed social networking process would be much beneficial for the telecommunication company to increase the customer base (Tsimonis & Dimitriadis, 2014). Managing the communication through the social networking is much beneficial. Especially, in order to remain more competitive, this technique is much useful for the business marketers. However, unlike the other business strategies, the social networking system also has the pros and cons in it. Making the rational and significant use though using different approaches to overcome the challenges is necessary to participate in this competitive scenario (Fan & Gordon, 2014). There are various types of the social networks that the businesses are using for connecting to their target customers. The further section of the literature would explore these mediums/
There are three distinct type social networks available in the business. These methods of social networking methods are served for improving the business communications with the internal and external stakeholders. These three social networking methods are as follows:
Public Social Network: Companies sometimes use Twitter and Facebook for connecting people worldwide. They share their expectations, experiences and demands through these social media sites. Hence, the business finds it easier to communication with the diverse people from different parts of the world. LinkedIn is another most useful network that includes the business profiles (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014). However, this social media site is used by the service professionals for contacting the business employees worldwide.
Social Extranets: Social extranets facilitate the collaboration and communication with the potential customers through the private business-to-business networks. Majority of the businesses use this process for communicating with the B2B customers.
Employee Networks: The employee networks are usually used for maintaining the internal communication among the employees. The millions of users receive this facility of contacting the service professionals through such social networking process.
It is to be stated that social networking process has transformed the business communication in today’s world (Dijkmans, Kerkhof & Beukeboom, 2015). People are much influenced by the social media promotional aspects that are enabling the filter search regarding the necessary information. The companies can avail the advantages of social networking that are discussed further:
Enables the worldwide connectivity
Social networking sites are the most significant platforms for connecting people worldwide. Every day, millions of customers are surfing internet and looking for the information as per their requirements. Therefore, the business promotions become much easier for the service companies. The promotions through social networking sites is the most helpful and inexpensive way of attracting more customers towards the brand.
Commonality of Interests
When the business companies opt to participate in the social network community, it becomes easier to pick the customers with similar likes and dislikes. It is one of the most helpful ways of building commonalities. In fact, the method can be used for sharing tips and ideas. The telecommunication industry can promote the innovative data plans or specific service facilities through the social networking process (Leftheriotis & Giannakos, 2014). Therefore, it would be easier to understand the preferences of the customers in selecting any data offer.
Real Time Information Sharing
It has been observed that many of the social networking sites include the feature of instant messaging. This instant messaging system is utilized by the people for sharing information or exchanging information through a chat. The managers can even use this technique to arrange meetings or conferences. Business people usually use such means for interacting with the target customers or other clients.
Increasing the News Cycle Speed
According to Laroche, Habibi and Richard (2013), currently, the social networking methods have brought revolutions to the speed of the news cycle. Majority of the information or news are collected from the social networking sites. Moreover, it is used for sharing a large number of information as well. This transformation has led towards the development of the instantaneous news cycle. People share their expectations, experiences and demands through these social media sites (Kasemsap, 2014). This process is really helpful for identifying the social issues or any news linked with the business aspects. Availing these advantages is transforming the business promotions. Moreover, the businesses are much benefitted by the usefulness of the social networking process. On the contrary, the social media marketing is also much troublesome for the business marketers. The disadvantages of the social networking process are described further:
In current business world, the marketers find out an array of choices with the continuous increases in the social networking usage. Millions of customers spend time on internet every day and it benefits the business marketers (Okazaki & Taylor, 2013). However, some of the drawbacks are also much recognizable.
Time Intensive
Social networking process is generally focusing on establishing the long-term relationship with the customers for generating more sales revenue (Tomše & Snoj, 2014). It is essential to appoint one person to monitor each network, answer to the questions, respond to comments, and post the adequate information related to the product specification. It is quite difficult for a person to monitor these activities that are necessary for the businesses.
Lack of proper control over the feedback
Social networking process turns out to be the biggest disadvantage for the marketers due to the negative responses of the customers. The freedom of sharing the feelings is the most common feature of the social networking sites. Business marketers sometimes even fail to satisfy each of the customers. Therefore, when the marketers cannot make the customers happy with any specific feature, there is the possibility of posting the negative feedbacks (Thomas et al., 2016). These negative feedbacks are highly influencing others and fueling the negative ‘word of mouth’. It is quite troublesome for the maintaining the business reputation since the marketers lack the control over these negative feedbacks.
Distant and local business fans
The emergence of social networking process has provided the opportunities to operate through online sources. These business operators do not need to pay any advertising cost for targeting the right customers. This frequency is availed by majority of the business marketers in a repetitive way. Many of the customers do not trust dealing online (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014). They prefer dealing with the products or services through local customers. Hence, the social networking through online sites is sometimes disadvantageous.
Identity Theft or Risk of Fraud
The business marketers post the information that is publicly visible. The increasing number of the cyber crime is quite a threat to business. The online hacker can easily get the information and they might misuse the websites. The business marketers may face real difficulties in dealing with such risks (Dijkmans, Kerkhof & Beukeboom, 2015). Moreover, it creates the long term reputational damage, which is a significant threat to the company. Hence, in such cases, the use of the social networking is a recognizable threat to the business marketers.
The above discussion signifies that in spite of the positive contribution towards increasing number of customer base, use of social networking sites can be much disadvantageous for the business marketers. However, it depends on the proper usage and the level of security. If the business marketers tend to focus on satisfying the customers with their products and services, it is essential to generate the feedback regarding their demands and necessities. Managing the communication through the social networking is much beneficial. Especially, in order to remain more competitive, this technique is much useful for the business marketers (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014). However, unlike the other business strategies, the social networking system also has the pros and cons in it. Making the rational and significant use though using different approaches to overcome the challenges is necessary to participate in this competitive scenario. The impact of the social networking is widely accepted techniques. While connecting people worldwide, the business marketers become aware of their demands and expectations (Dijkmans, Kerkhof & Beukeboom, 2015). Hence, it is persuading them to introduce the diverse products and services that help the company to secure and sustain the competitive position. Hence, the feedback received and communication through the social networking process is much significant for the business. Simultaneously, it is even essential for the business marketers to be cautious about the negative aspects.
Conclusion
The study explores the positive and negative features of using social networking in the business with special reference to Telstra. The telecommunication companies often sell the similar type of products and services that are difficult to differentiate. In such cases, using the social networking process to gather more customer buzz and remain competitive is much fruitful. This inexpensive way of promoting business has the significant contribution on increasing customer base. Internet is one of the most beneficial advanced technologies that provide the better opportunities to the business marketers to promote their business to the target customers. By sharing the thoughts over the internet sources, the business marketers can find out their target customers. However, the negative consequences such as fraudulent act can also be threatening to the business marketers. However, the impact of social networking on business is much appreciable.
References
Burgess, S., & Bingley, S. (2014, July). The small business social media web presence: an Australian snapshot. In European Conference on Social Media (ECSM 2014) (pp. 72-80). Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited.
Dijkmans, C., Kerkhof, P., & Beukeboom, C. J. (2015). A stage to engage: Social media use and corporate reputation. Tourism Management, 47, 58-67.
Fan, W., & Gordon, M. D. (2014). The power of social media analytics. Communications of the ACM, 57(6), 74-81.
Jussila, J. J., Kärkkäinen, H., & Aramo-Immonen, H. (2014). Social media utilization in business-to-business relationships of technology industry firms. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 606-613.
Kasemsap, K. (2014). The role of social networking in global business environments. Impact of emerging digital technologies on leadership in global business, 183-201.
Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R., & Richard, M. O. (2013). To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media?. International Journal of Information Management, 33(1), 76-82.
Leftheriotis, I., & Giannakos, M. N. (2014). Using social media for work: Losing your time or improving your work?. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 134-142.
Leftheriotis, I., & Giannakos, M. N. (2014). Using social media for work: Losing your time or improving your work?. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 134-142.
Luo, Q., & Zhong, D. (2015). Using social network analysis to explain communication characteristics of travel-related electronic word-of-mouth on social networking sites. Tourism Management, 46, 274-282.
Okazaki, S., & Taylor, C. R. (2013). Social media and international advertising: theoretical challenges and future directions. International marketing review, 30(1), 56-71.
Thomas, J., Barraket, J., Ewing, S., MacDonald, T., Mundell, M., & Tucker, J. (2016). Measuring Australia’s digital divide: The Australian Digital Inclusion Index 2016.
Tiago, M. T. P. M. B., & Veríssimo, J. M. C. (2014). Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.
Tomše, D., & Snoj, B. (2014). Marketing communication on social networks: Solution in the times of crisis. Marketing, 45(2), 131-138.
Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. M., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201-1208.
Tsimonis, G., & Dimitriadis, S. (2014). Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(3), 328-344.
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