Social media creates an avenue through which people can share, interchange ideas and information through the virtual communities and networks. In other words, it is a cluster of internet-based application that allows the formation and exchange of user-generated materials. Unlike the traditional media, social media has superior features that permit better quality of materials as well as wider reach, more usability, and most of all, it is instantaneous (Qualman, 2013). That explains why it has had an immense impact in all aspects of human life not excluding business. The impacts of social media will be deliberated herein as well as elucidating on how social media send the positive or negative to business.
There are various ways that social media impact on a business. The first way that business was affected with the advent of social media that includes Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Pinterest was through the strategies that were created. Considering the fact that business would take the opportunity of attracting and interacting with their customers through the various social Medias, it gave businesses opportunity to create new brand profiles for their products and services (Qualman, 2013). Secondly, it was a platform through which a business would grow faster bearing in mind that the social media was widely used worldwide. Hence, a business stands to gain wide coverage by using and applying it in their strategies (Hinchcliffe & Kim, 2012). Close to that was the fact that it acted as a feedback platform from their clients. That implies that the business will be in a position to improve the aspects of their products and services based on the negative remarks clients give in the social media. That way, the business will develop innovative ways of improving its products and services thanks to the negative remarks given on social media. In broad-spectrum, social media was and is still retaining the capabilities of influencing a business and how competitive it might be in the future. That was as a result of the above deliberated aspects among many more not mentioned within the paper.
Coupled with the exceeding reflected features, social media might send a positive or negative to business. Taking the negative aspects for instance, social media might allow unauthorized employees to negotiate with customers as well as stakeholders on behalf of the company. Bearing in mind that it would be difficult to monitor all employees’ social media, preventing them from conducting business of behalf of the business is difficult (Hinchcliffe & Kim, 2012). Unintentional publication of confidential information to the public would be an additional negative aspect of the social media on business. That might take place bearing in mind that anyone (workers with inside information) might decide to place confidential information about the business on the social media something that will negatively impact of the image of the business. Likewise, social media allows everyone and anyone to join a conversation (Richardson, Gosnay & Carroll, 2010). As a result, competitors might opt to offer defamatory or misleading statements on the social media. Although the business might follow up on the misleading statement, the damage will have been made and correcting would need more effort as well.
Despite the negative attributes that the social media brings to a business, more positive attributes that a business stands to enjoy exist. For instance, through the social media, a business might pass its information at a faster rate than any other Medias combined. In addition, the social media allows a business to reach more customers while creating many more in the process, and the business increases the options from which they might decide to market their products and services (Richardson, Gosnay & Carroll, 2010).
Reference
Hinchcliffe, D., & Kim, P. (2012). Social business by design: Transformative social media strategies for the connected company.
Qualman, E. (2013). Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Richardson, N., Gosnay, R., & Carroll, A. (2010). A quick start guide to social media marketing: High impact, low-cost marketing that works. London: Kogan Page.
