Abstract
Social media technologies – such as social networking sites, blogs, and social tagging has developed at an incredible pace. Organizations have taken this opportunity to use social media with the aim of improving important organizational processes. Though social media can improve various aspects in an organization, its effectiveness usually depends on the ability of an organization to link its business objective and various social media strategies. Executives need to understand how social media can fit into the overall goals and objectives of the organization in order to improve the connection and collaboration with customers. Social media has assisted many organizations to improve their organizational processes by understanding employees, customers and stakeholders’ expectations.
Keywords: social media, business objectives, organizational processes, customer expectations
Many companies know that there is a huge audience that they can reach online. However, some have a tough time deciding how social media suits their business best. Though it may be difficult at times to see the fruits once a company ventures into using social media when they use it right, then they are bound to be successful (Treem & Leornadi, 2012). One of the companies that use social media in the right way and hence improving its business processes is T-Mobile USA. T-Mobile is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the United States. As a result, they have to do whatever it takes to reach out to their customer base in a market that is extremely competitive. According to a recent survey, by Social Bakers, the company has consistently been at the top in interacting with their customers through social media ("T-Mobile | Detailed Statistics of Facebook page", 2016). The purpose of this report is to find how organizations use social media to improve their business processes and to briefly discuss the challenges and return on investment in using social media.
How T-Mobile Uses Social Media
T-Mobile uses social media to ensure that their customers have excellent service. Unlike other companies who use social media as a platform for delivering messages or promoting a particular product, T-Mobile uses the platform as a medium for listening to customers and offer appropriate solutions (Slack, 2015). Since the company decided to offer a one on one interaction with their customer, its social media fans increased tremendously. T-Mobile invested in the using the social media platforms to improve business processes by hiring Social Media customer service experts to assist them to manage their customers on social media.
The company has done a great job in forming strong customer relationships through their social media channels. Rather than just using the platform to announce promotions, they also use it to post job openings, while at the same time mixing marketing, customer service and public relations for it to be more effective (Slack, 2015). With how the company has used social media for the past few years, it is possible to make some conclusions on how other companies can use the platforms in the right way to improve their business processes. First, customers mainly use social media to get assistance in areas where they have difficulties. Companies should not concentrate on displaying advertising messages on their platforms but rather interact with their customers and cultivate a good relationship while offering assistance when needed (Thackeray, Neiger, Hanson, & Mckenzie, 2008). Secondly, companies should engage well with their customers on social media so as to build a good reputation and public image. Social media is open to everyone, and therefore, every comment or answer is very important (Heller & Parasnis, 2011). Lastly, companies should use social media to engage with customers which will enable them to find areas needed for improvement.
Challenges of Using Social Media
Despite the benefits and opportunities that social media brings to organizations, there are certain issues and challenges of using social media. First, companies like T-Mobile use social media as a platform to recruit employees in some instances. When such is the case, other potential candidates may argue that there was discrimination in the selection process (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). They may claim that the company had access to such information like age, race or disability when they made the hiring decision. Secondly, the social media platforms may be a source of malware that pose great security risks to a company (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). In such cases, the company should use a layered approach for protection. Finally, the company will have to invest in an internet education policy for employees as well as employ effective monitoring tools so that they may be able to solve security issues that will allow employees to be compliant, productive, and safe.
Social Media Return On Investment
With more companies using social media to improve their business processes, it has become of paramount importance for companies to know and measure how the platform contributes to achievement of their business goals. One way they can do this is to measure and track the return on investment of their social media efforts to allow them to make improvement where needed and channel their resources appropriately (Stelzner, 2010). Measuring the return on investment is important to a company due to various reasons. First, it shows how social media can assist the organization to achieve its overall goals and objectives. Second, it allows the company to see areas where there is efficient use of resources as well as areas that need improvement. Third, it allows the company to fill existing strategic gaps and finally, it shows areas that use the social media budget effectively as well as areas that need a budget cut.
Conclusion
Social media has allowed business to connect positively with their customers. As a result, they have been able to improve various aspects of their business processes. However, this is only possible when the companies use the social media platform in the right way. After using the platform, they can measure its return on investment and see areas that use resources efficiently and ones that need improvement. By using social media in the right ways, companies can increase their visibility, cultivate their networks, develop and maintain their relationship with customers, and share relevant information that is of value to customers. All of this result to improvement in the business processes of the company.
References
Heller Baird, C., & Parasnis, G. (2011). From social media to social customer relationship management. Strategy & Leadership, 39(5), 30-37.
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
Slack, M. (2015). How T-Mobile uses social media to provide awesome customer service. - Social Media Forum Blog. Social Media Forum Blog. Retrieved 20 May 2016, from http://www.socialmedia-forum.com/blog/2015/06/social-media/how-t-mobile-uses-social-media-to-provide-awesome-customer-service/
Stelzner, M. A. (2010). Social media marketing industry report: How marketers are using social media to grow their businesses. SocialMedia Examiner.
Thackeray, R., Neiger, B. L., Hanson, C. L., & McKenzie, J. F. (2008). Enhancing promotional strategies within social marketing programs: use of Web 2.0 social media. Health promotion practice, 9(4), 338-343.
Treem, J. W., & Leonardi, P. M. (2012). Social media use in organizations: Exploring the affordances of visibility, editability, persistence, and association. Communication Yearbook, 36, 143-189.
T-Mobile | Detailed Statistics of Facebook page. (2016). Socialbakers.com. Retrieved 20 May 2016, from http://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook/pages/detail/108726828894-t-mobile
