Question

Consider the following

Social Media: Its role, importance and effect on business communications and business in general.

Write a paper on this topic. Paper should highlight how social media is used in business and its advantages or disadvantages. Make sure you cite your sources. Paper should be about 1-2 pages in length, Ariel 12 pt font, properly double spaced, one-inch margins and only 1 line for the heading

Answer 1

Media can be defined as any conventional medium for example broadcast, print outdoor and new digital media which is used to spread and communicate the message, information or opinion.

Social media is the use of any media which permits the users to interact and communicate by using various online and mobile technology resources.

At present, there is an intense use of social media in order to spread the news about the businesses, newly launched products, in fact, most of the organizations are utilizing social media as an effective tool of Public Relation and advertising purpose. With the increasing spread of social media all over the globe, it makes marketers and business to contact the target customers without investing huge funds in advertising and publicity. Use of social media has been quite effective as the business owners can be in direct touch with the customers and can have the direct feedback about the products and services.

Thus, by using social media, many business organizations have created a unique position in the mind of the customers and created a strong brand recognition and association. If the social media is used effectively by the business, this will communicate with the customers that brand is active and is focused on having a two-way communication with the customers.

When social media is used in Integrated Marketing Communication program, it provides an opportunity to the business organizations to have a direct interaction with a large number of target customers so that they can communicate their offers, features of the products and various schemes about the product in the market.

When it comes to communication objectives, we can say that social media provides an effective platform to the marketers and business to establish a direct communication with the customers and receiving the direct feedback about the effectiveness of the IMC programs. McDonald's, Unilever Ltd. And many other organizations use social media to a great effect.

By using social media, the business can be benefited by a number of ways which are illustrated as below:-

• It can help the business to have greater brand awareness. The companies can run social media campaign using networking sites, blogs and so on
• With the spread of information about the product and brand, the organizations will have greater inbound traffic as presence over social media will increase the interest in the products.
• The customers will feel more comfortable while buying the products if the brands promote itself on social media and highlight the positive reviews and feedback received.
• By facilitating the customers to contact the company through social media and resolving their issues through social media will help the company to have greater customer satisfaction.

However, the various disadvantages of using social media for business are given as below:-

• In order to ensure presence over the internet and social platforms, more resources will be required
• If social media is not managed effectively, the results may not be as expected
• There can be issues of bullying and harassment of customers by other customers can also be resulted.
• There can also be chances of negative feedback, recommendations of hacking.

Thus we can say that social media has provided a great platform which can be used by the marketer with a great effect to communicate with their target market but if it is not used effectively, it can also backfire.

Reference:-

Marc Oliver Opresnik, Philip Kotler; Social media marketing: A practitioner guide, second edition