Introduction
Social Media enables the effective communication of people via the use of technology. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are social media platforms that have become a part of people’s daily lives being used to communicate with loved ones who are near and far. This is a positive experience for most people; however, there are also negative experiences to include people living double lives, having affairs, and defaming people’s reputations sometimes without the knowledge of the very people who are being discussed. Businesses are also using social media to enhance their daily business operations. But with every benefit of social media usage for the business platform there are other considerations. An organization’s customer private information can be accidentally released or an angry customer or employee can post negative comments that can affect an organization’s reputation. Businesses must remember that the news on social media travels at the speed of light; therefore, one slip of the tongue can create a virtual nightmare.
Thesis Statement
Over the past ten years, social media has increased relative to business use. Just as people have the ability to communicate quickly, organizations can create marketing campaigns via social media that can increase customers and revenue or if used incorrectly, can hurt the business thereby creating problems that can take years to correct. The consequences of social media will be discussed with a comparative of the benefits and s of its use in the business environment.
Business and Social Media
When organizations make the decision to implement the use of social media, there needs to be an understanding of the benefits and s that can occur to the overall business. Businesses can track and log social media usage giving them a picture of customers who buy their product and/or service. Knowledge of this information can assist an organization in growing its business based on customer satisfaction. In this scenario, social media is used as a game changer giving the business an advantage over its competitors.
Another benefit of social media is the unlimited selection of internet based tools and platforms that can be chosen to assist the organization in augmenting the sharing of information especially when the organization has many locations. This is a process that allows an organization to be sustainable and competitive. As an example, social media can be used as a learning tool. Employees must be continuously trained as technology enhances business performance and changes rapidly. Social media provides better communication with instructors and can also be used parallel with existing organizational training material allowing a deeper engagement in the topic (Wong, 2015). This is of benefit to the employee in that the learning process is enhanced and of benefit to the organization in that employees that are well trained are productive as well as efficient. There is also a cost savings as employees do not need to travel or miss days of work because of training. The detriment could be the cost factor especially for a small business to include implementation and monitoring of the system once the social media platform has been implemented.
Social media also has a stimulating effect on workflow efficiency performance as researchers found that organizations benefit from the interactions within the informal social network through workflow modeling. Resources can accomplish discrete tasks via Workflow Management Systems. A simulation model was used to represent organizational tasks drawn from the workflow and management literatures. Research also found that proposed well connected leaders correlated negatively with team performance because of the burden of maintaining social ties, while the traditional view has been that better connected leaders have better performing teams. It was also found that enhanced reputation of leaders based on previous performance may positively impact leadership’s centrality within the network which could reinforce future performance of leadership (Bajaj & Sen, 2014). The simulation model that was used displayed several inputs and parameters that increased its validity, including a realistic workflow management depiction as well as real-world cognitive strategies by the leaders.
The detriment of this process relative to social media is that with workflow management there must be effective communication. In relating social networks to performance in the content of knowledge sharing among structurally diverse work groups performing complex non-routine tasks, research revealed innovation to be negatively associated with a lack of effective communication (Bulkley, 2006). Managers as well as employees must be taught how to communicate effectively via social media or the lack of effective communication will negatively affect outputs and efficacy of employee assigned tasks.
There is also an association between social media and drivers of loyalty which is of significance to the organization. Hawkins and Vel (2013) state that social media can contribute to the building of loyalty if it can deliver a series of satisfying encounters with the customer thereby being a contributing factor to trust. Social media has the ability to proactively and reactively address negative public relations while addressing specific one to one communication needs. Through the development of trust an emotional bond is derived by achieving consumer trust and satisfaction and is an all important aspect of driving loyalty. Traditional forms of loyalty activities are intended to deliver a high degree of personalization through communication and other benefits that will keep the consumer engaged with the company brand (Hawkins & Vel, 2013).
The detriment of this process is that an organization can fail to build brand loyalty when integrating social media in the marketing strategy (Gokulan, 2014). Employee loyalty is needed to enable the success of the process. If more time has been spent by the organization promoting the company brand without consideration for employee loyalty, the entire process could fail. There must be a balanced approach with privacy rights that should be protected to secure private zones within this arena (Yanisky-Ravid, 2014).
The Disconnect between Social Media and Business Impact
For businesses to be successful in the implementation of the use of social media, companies must understand the disconnect that can sometimes exist between social media and business impact. Research performed by the Stanford University’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, the Center for Leadership Development, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Conference Board has revealed that less than one third of companies today use social media to enable their corporate strategy and risk management practices (New Research, 2012). This is yet another process that must be fully understood to assist an organization in benefiting from the implementation of the social media platform within the business environment. If there is a divide between the organization to include leadership not understanding social media actions, then implementation of the process will abate. This same research revealed that while there are 90 percent of leaders who state that they understand the impact that social media can have on their organization, a little more than 30 percent of these leaders actual monitor social media to identify risks to the business activities and approximately 14 percent use some type of metric from social media to measure organizational performance (New Research, 2012). Without committed leadership engagement, the social media strategy will not deliver the needed results for the organization.
Senior management must understand that social media is changing the way that organizations do business. Successful organizations must also realize that there is a new strategy that businesses need to embrace and that is social customer relationship management (Carolyn & Parasnis, 2011). Social media enables an organization to do business all over the world effortlessly. Consumers understand the use of social media and learn quite easily how to interact with it. And while there are those consumers who will not comment on a web page or write their opinions, these customers will buy a product online and if the service is not as good as it should be, the customer will not come back. This is lost revenue that could have been saved simply by management understanding how to effectively communicate with the consumer.
This is a process that management must understand and learn how to manage their business in a manner that will bring about continued customer satisfaction. Leadership must understand customer values to also include knowledge of what leads a customer to seek out a company or brand via social media. This knowledge can enable leadership to become involved in the social media platform building a stronger and more meaningful relationship with the customer and with the employees. This is yet another way for the business to increase sustainability in an ever changing business market.
Conclusion
Social networking has increasingly become the most common venue of self-expression in the world with the business arena realizing the importance that social media plays in the success of an organization. Benefits of social media within business includes the ease of communication, allowing employees to brainstorm via shared links while building a strong working relationship, improves the business reputation and customer base with effective marketing, and enables an organization to reach more people efficiency. These benefits are needed to assist an organization in growing its business.
There are also detriments relative to the use of social media within the business arena to include the possibility of hackers and virus attacks, negative comments from non-loyal employees concerning the organization which could also lead to legal problems especially if employees use social media sites at work to view illicit material, and the potential of employees becoming less productive and less efficient because of updating personal information on social platforms like Facebook when at work. For social media to work positively for an organization there must be an understanding of the benefits and detriments of the process.
References
Bajaj, A., & Sen, S. (2014). Simulating the effect of social network structure on workflow efficiency performance. Social Networking, 3(1), 32-40. Retrieved from
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=42391
Bulkley, N. S. (2006). Email and output: Communication effects on productivity (Order No. 3237912). Available from ABI/INFORM Complete. (305304555). Retrieved from https://login.ctu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ctu.idm.oclc.org/docview/305304555?accountid=26967
Carolyn, H. B., & Parasnis, G. (2011). From social media to social customer relationship management. Strategy & Leadership, 39(5), 30-37. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10878571111161507
Gokulan, D. (2014, Jun 29). Companies set to build brand loyalty via social media. TCA Regional News Retrieved from https://login.ctu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ctu.idm.oclc.org/docview/1541115939?accountid=26967
Hawkins, K., & Vel, P. (2013). Attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, and social media: introspection. Marketing Review, 13(2), 125-141. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.cecybrary.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=17&sid=21c34d7f-7707-4a57-8e87-bf946b6d8776@sessionmgr4004&hid=4205&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==
Lyncheski, John E,Esq, F.A.C.H.C.A. (2010). Social media in the workplace. Long-Term Living, 59(10), 32-35. Retrieved from https://login.ctu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ctu.idm.oclc.org/docview/761339262?accountid=26967
New research finds a serious gap between executives' knowledge about social media and its use at their companies. (2012, Oct 25). Business Wire Retrieved from https://login.ctu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ctu.idm.oclc.org/docview/1114964117?accountid=26967
Wong, Z. (2015). The use of social media in educating the next generation of business managers. International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 6(4), 295-299. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7763/IJIMT.2015.V6.618
Yanisky-Ravid, S. (2014). To read or not to read: privacy within social networks, the entitlement of employees to a virtual "private zone," and the balloon theory. American University Law Review, 64(1), 53-104. Retrieved from https://login.ctu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ctu.idm.oclc.org/docview/1629660844?accountid=26967
