Social media has become one of the most important business tools today. The phenomenon is driven by Facebook, Twitter, among others. These social media tools have made it easier to communicate and conduct business. The success of any form of business heavily relies on communication and therefore it is important for businesses to know how to communicate. However, the evolution of technology has impacted the way in which people communicate. This is capable of affecting the productivity of a business because it will be difficult to share ideas. Social Media especially can make people isolate themselves from the rest of the world and in a business context, this is likely to lower productivity and hence reduce profit margins for the company. The new world is majorly controlled and influenced by social media and how it’s used.
Open communication, better engagement with employees and the clients are all benefits that were previously extremely difficult tasks for businesses to accomplish. However, companies have also found that there may be disadvantages associated with social media use in business, rather than limiting it to social and informal communication. It has opened up avenues for cybercrime, and is a double edged sword which could lead to the fast destruction of a business’s reputation form a disgruntled clientele. This paper looks at the application of social media in business, and what the advantages and limitations are.
The objective of this research is to identify the advantages and disadvantages of applying social media to business. The scope of the study will be profit making organizations, to the extent of their engagement with customers.
Social media platforms have seen dramatic growth over the last 10 years, they have changed the way business is conducted, and how people communicate. More importantly, it has changed the way businesses engage their customers, and the tools which are available to them. More than ever before, the costs of advertisement are lower, giving companies’ access to millions of customers at a minimal cost. All these factors make social media the tool to have if a business has any ambitions of being competitive in future. Companies that are able to harness the power of social media are not only going to find an excellent communication tool. They are also going to have at their disposal, a valuable means to gain expertise and opinions from their clients (Neti, 2011).
It can safely be assumed that most young people are on social media, a significant portion of who are active users. This is the most active age group, comprised of the youth, young professionals and young parents. This means that it is only wise to view social media as a giant market through which one can get access to numerous customers. By using social media, companies are essentially ensuring they are not left behind. This factor is best exemplified by the fact that 85% of all businesses in a country such Romania have an online presence. It is therefore no longer a strategic advantage, but a necessity (Ciprian, 2012).
Another obvious result of use of social media by businesses has been the improved relationship between the business and customers. Businesses find it much easier to communicate to customers. They also realise that through social media, it is much easier for clients to air their views and concerns, and have a platform through which these are easily resolved. Through the use of social media, companies are able to enhance their brand awareness. This is done in a relatively cheap way, which most businesses can easily afford. Another net effect of social media has been the increase in customers. Due to the enhanced awareness and visibility, companies are better placed to attract more customers than was the case under conventional methods (Jones et al, 2015).
Market intelligence is important aspect in product development. The company needs to know what the market wants so that it can develop something which fits their needs. Previously, market research was in many cases a complicate and expensive undertaking, involving several people and taking a long time to complete. However, this was changed by social media to an extent. It is now easy to know what the market wants, and therefore make the product development process less expensive than it was. Additionally, the use of social media has made it easy to know the products developed by rivals. This enables them to easily match or overtake their rivals in providing the best solutions (Oyza & Agwu, 2015)
Social media is not all good news. It also has serious short comings that businesses should carefully avoid if they wish to enjoy the advantages of social media. First among these is the feeling around some people that social media is essentially a means by which organizations unlawfully enter the lives of its customers. Some customers may also feel that they are not the intended recipient of social media communications. This may then mean that the organization in question fails to utilise social media for its primary use as a communication tool. This also means that the organization is eventually unable to engage and build well meaning relationships with the people (Baruah, 2012).
The Primary question of this research will be: What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media in business?
The secondary questions will be: What are the advantages of social media in business? , and
What are the disadvantages of social media in business?
The data will be checked for reliability using test-retest check, which will re–verify all collected data for consistency. Sampling will be random. The sample size will be calculated using the number of businesses in the state which have more than $ 1 million in turnover. The data will be generated from the chamber of commerce. Data will be collected using interviews which will aim to see the pre and post social media use statistics, while also using information generated from social media sites run by the relevant companies. The independent variable in this will be use of social media by looking at number of followers or connections. As well as the number of posts per day. The dependent variables will be profitability changes, turnover changes, and brand equity estimates by the company.
The study may be limited by the length of time need, and the lack of enough funds to conduct a thorough research.
The study will take a period of 6 weeks, during which all the stages of the exercise are expected to be complete.
Conclusion
Social media is one of the most important phenomena of modern society. Even more intriguing it is adaptability to different situations, ultimately emerging as one of the most important, if not the most important, business events that have happened in the century. Its abilities are grounded in its core function, to connect people easily, without hassles and at minimal cost. It is clear that businesses no longer have to choose on whether or not to be on social media. In adopting social media however, they face the challenge of being polished communicators to safely get their message out.
Social media is good and as bad at the same time. Good thing is, the negative effects of social media to business can be prevented and thus have a positive impact all together. Any business with a marketing department needs social media for overall growth in profit and also maximising their market share. The only way to realize how important social media is, is to evaluate its important to people in their day to day activities. Almost 90% of marketers will admit to using social media to boost its product awareness and eventually boost sales for their businesses,while 60 % claim to have acquired new customers on social media.
Social media comes in different forms and structures. Mapping these networks will enable a better understanding of the types of ways people form groups and organize online. These would help the people who run the social media accounts for businesses how conversational styles might be applicable and useful to their work. Also this might help them to know and see how the natural structure of conversations around core topics could easily translate to profit adjustments. With this in mind, mapping will eventually help participants to assess the types of social media network in which they should participate and set a particular target of what they want their group to be like.
References
Baruah, T. (2012). Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of communication and its potential for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(5), 1-10.
Ciprian, P. (2012). The growing importance of social media in business marketing, Quaestus Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 94-98.
Jones, N., Borgman, R., Ulusoy, E. (2015). Impact of social media on small businesses. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 22(4), 611-632.
Neti, S. (2011). Social media and its role in marketing. International Journal of Enterprise Computing and Business Systems, 1(2), 1-14.
Oyza, I., Agwu, E. (2015). Effectiveness of Social Media Networks as a Strategic Tool for Organizational Marketing Management. Journal of Internet banking and Commerce, published online.
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