Discusss about the Social media marketing and Contemporary issues in Business.
Definition of social media
It can be well-defined as web-oriented tools of communication which allow individuals to network with one another by both sharing as well as consuming information. It can as well be understood as internet as cellular phone-oriented applications alongside tools for sharing information among persons. It include such prevalent networking websites as Twitter, Facebook alongside bookmarking sites such as Reddit. Bloggings and forums alongside aspect of an interactive manifestation that enables individuals the aptitude to engage in the conversations with each other, frequently as a discussions over a specific blog post, event or news are common features of social media.
Examples and Application
Social media remains a collection of online communications channels committed to community-oriented input, interactions, content-sharing as well as collaborations. Such websites and application include Facebook, google+ Wikipedia, Twitter and Pinterest.
Disruption
Use of social media creates new time theft as workers may waste a lot of time in social sites hence reducing employees’ performance. Social media might also lead to leakage of confidential information about the company to competitors hence a negative effect to the company. Also, it creates a dilemma on what employees are allowed to post concerning the company in and outside the workplace.
Purpose of Report
The report purposes to assess the impacts of social media in a company, dilemma created by social media and how to handle the identified ethical dilemma.
ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE
Who are the users?
Both employees and employers/business use social media in equal measures. For example, marketers have used social media for marketing. Customers are also using social media to get information about the product of the company.
Uses of social media
Facebook remains a widespread interacting website for the listed operators to establish profiles, upload video/photos, send message and stay in touch with family, friends alongside associates. Twitter offers an unrestricted microblogging facility which permits listed users to broadcast short tweets (Kietzmann et al., 2011). The memberships are able to broadcast tweets as well as follow additional tweets from users by utilizing manifold podiums and devices. Google plus also gives a social networking project that is designed to duplicate the manner in which persons network offline narrowly than other social interacting services.
LinkedIn is also designed specifically for the corporate community thus permits listed associates to create as well as document networks of individuals they recognize and trust professionally. Reddit gives a social news website alongside forum whereby stories are curated and promoted socially by the site members. Pinterest remains a social curation website enabling sharing as well as classifying images online particularly visual. A user who clicks on the image can be directed to original sources and make purchases.
Where social media is used
The social media is used in marketing of products to promote such products. The company marketing departments uses social media to ensure that the products reaches out to many customers.
When social media is used
Social media has been extensively used during the marketing and advertisement by the company. It is also used by the company to gather information regarding the product when the product has been launched (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Why use social media
Social media is being used in many occasions since it gives a large community of people or provide a wider coverage. People can interact and get the immediate feedback they need regarding the products. In this regard, it helps the company know what people talk about its products and uses the complaints and feedback to adjust or improve the quality of the products (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
How social media is used
Social media is used by creating contents and sharing to the required users. The users then give feedbacks on these contents and the business uses the feedback or complaints to adjust where necessary.
Benefits of social media to employees
It gives users information through podcast, webinars and blogs. They can inscribe reviews and generate wikis, fora as well as videos and link with one another as well as providers via virtual worlds alongside social network communities. It has led to significant fundamental alongside transformational swift in the manner individuals are linking, as knowledge is shared alongside flowing information. It has engaged employees thereby increasing their gratification on job since staffs feel engaged in respective work.
An online network provided by social media engages employees at all levels of company globally in discussions relating to industry trends, new-fangled technologies, economies and issues impelling company’s triumph. Problem-solving among employees has been moved to innovation and creativity by making information comparatively easy to locate as well as summarize (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Social media has also facilitated talent management where it contains policies, procedures, invitations, forms, and forums and photos.
Such cases use social media in recruiting process via ‘alumni’ relationships. Social media also increases employees productivity by creating an environment whereby employees continuously contact each other’s for strategies, advice and best practice JIT to employ in on the job. This assist curtail need for undertaking training outside of organization thus saving money alongside time. It also helps employees connect, and cultivate their relationships as information alongside knowledge remain shared with individuals, not businesses.
It also help in enhancing communication among employees by allowing people to get as well as remain in touch, thereby reducing need for boundless email watercourses or waiting for experts. Workers feel share of entire thereby snowballing worker satisfaction at workplace by facilitating incessant worker communication that indorses consciousness of as well as aids workers better comprehend responsibilities and roles of coworkers in supplementary departments.
Benefits of social media to employer/business
It enhances communication which leads to timely communication thereby fostering customer satisfaction and thus creating brand loyalty as well as contributes to bottom line. It makes the employees feel part of a whole which increase their satisfaction and hence increased performance and productivity. It helps the business in the formation of business strategies as well as strategic alliances. It increases productivity of their employees since workers are comfortable communicating with one another and researching customers’ solution hence increasingly likelihood to collaborate with people they are not familiar with in real world.
It increases employees’ retention by motivating and engaging them fully. Through social media, performance and recognition is promoted as employees can easily congratulate one another hence building an environment of team work as well as encouraging peer-to-peer feedback. This leads to a more engaged employees hence likelihood of retention. Social media also reduces employees’ turnover as employees’ performance are tracked besides social media utilization alongside found digital connectivity that raises employees’ retention.
Accidentally exposed the deal
Social media may make employees to exposes the deal arrived at by other partners accidentally. This will negatively impact the business by making its competitors know the strategies and deals the business is using or has engaged in respectively. This makes the firm to be less competitive and may even lose the deal.
Breach of Confidentiality
Social media may allow employees to give confidential information to an unauthorized persons including the competitors. When this happens, the business may be vulnerable to the rivals. In this case, the business will lose its points of strengths and get outstripped by rivals.
What type of Risk affecting business/company?
Social media may lead to a range of risks including reputational risks, risks of losing confidential information, risks of losing customers among others. In 2013, 69% agreed that they waste their time on a daily basis at their work, but in 2014 almost 89% people agreed that they waste their time on a daily basis (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Employees are spending more time on social media this can be shown through this data which states that almost 31% employees waste 30 minutes on social media, 31 % waste 1 hours on social media, 16 % waste 2 hours on social media, 6 % waste 3 hours on social media, 2 % waste 4 hours on social media, and 2 % waste 5 hours or more on social media. It is necessary to restrict the use of social media at workplace if is not important tools for employees to work, and it is also important to secure the productivity of an organization.
How much time is reasonable?
It is necessary for organization to make changes in their policies because of technology which become important part of our day to day life. Restricting complete access of social media is not right, but it is necessary to monitor the use of social media at workplace for maintain the productivity of employees. Employer can use various methods to maintain the productivity of organization and preventing the overuse of social media such as training, hiring social media officer who keep check the activities of employees, monitoring, and limit the time for use of social media (Stelzner, 2011).
What Boundaries
Social media should be used extensively in recruiting process via ‘alumni’ relationships. It should also be allowed extensively for marketing and promotional purposes. Employees should allowed at times to use social media purely for increased engagement to make them feel part of the company (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). The social media should as well be allowed strictly to promote employee retention. Marketing and recruitment firms should spend more time in social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to get the required information about the product reaction/response and information pertinent to potential employees unlike the production firm which should avoid the use of social media as this will decrease productivity.
Implementing changes in company policies
Socializing outside the office- few years back employers avoid happy hours and get together with their employees outside of work, but now it become trend to know your employee at personal level. Such interactions build trust between employers and employees because employees get encouraged and build good connections with their boss at personal level (Ellison, 2007). It is necessary for employer to maintain professional boundaries at these events too because employers and employees use social media to get socialize with each other which can affect the productivity of an organization.
Social media team set up
Management has to make social media teams to oversee how users use their time in social media. The team will be responsible for ensuring that rules and regulation alongside policies guiding use of social media are adhere to effectively.
Guidelines and policies
Set example for others- it is always the responsibility of the boss to set example of professional boundaries at workplace. Therefore it is necessary as boss that you also avoid the use of social media at workplace.
Social media breaks
Employees appreciate short breaks- there are number of employees who work more productively if they receive frequent short breaks to refresh their mind. None of firms want their employees to ignore work anytime time from their working hours but it is true that short breaks allowed to employees throughout the day will actually increase the productivity of employees because it gives chance to employees to refresh their minds and disconnect them from their work for sometimes (Correa, Hinsley & De Zuniga, 2010). It is proved that minutes break for social media actually refresh the mind of employees and they start their work with fresh energy.
Small breaks of social media help to keep the employees happy and dedicated towards employers. Social media at work is the important topic to consider which must be considered by employer (Barefoot & Szabo, 2010). Employer must determine the factor that employees also access social media through their personal devices, and it is necessary for employer to include all such factors in their policies for avoiding future conflicts and time theft.
Conclusion
The main topic of discussion is impact of social media on business and productivity of organization. In this context, three questions which include topics such as time theft because of social media, boundaries set up by employer for accessing social media, and benefits of small social media break are answered. It is clear after analyzing all facts on social media that restricting complete access to social media will lead to frustration among employees and reduce the productivity of employees. As stated above, social media is important part of day to day life of people and it is beneficial for organization to allow social media access at workplace but with some set rules. Therefore, at last it is concluded that social media policies must be framed after conducting all relevant factors.
Reference
Barefoot, D., & Szabo, J. (2010). Friends with benefits: A social media marketing handbook. No Starch Press.
Correa, T., Hinsley, A. W., & De Zuniga, H. G. (2010). Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2), 247-253.
Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication, 13(1), 210-230.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons, 54(3), 241-251.
Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52(4), 357-365.
Stelzner, M. A. (2011). Social media marketing industry report. Social Media Examiner, 41, 1-10.
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