The Growth of Social Media as a Marketing Tool and Its Impact on Businesses - Essay Example

The growth of social media as a marketing tool and its impact on businesses Introduction The explosion of social mediain the last few years is one development that has been properly documented and in present times, life cannot be imagined if there was neither Twitter nor Facebook. The development of this media has been so fast that it is hard to believe a decade has passed since Facebook first came into the market. Presently, how the world communicates and interacts has significantly changed; something that has led businesses to include social media into their marketing menu. This paper will look at the growth of social media in the next 5-10 years and the kind of challenges and opportunities the media presents to businesses. Using social media in promoting their brand has been a challenge for many businesses. In the recent past, consumers have not only become too savvy, but have also become immune to traditional marketing techniques. The use of leaflets, mails and Ads do not impact consumers as they used to because of increased awareness among audiences. Businesses have to therefore, craft new ways of creating a different impression form their competitors. The use of social media in this regard, creates a strong brand presence where online interaction is facilitated. In the online platform, brand values can be communicated to a wider audience which in turn opens up the possibility of beginning conversations and expanding the online society to win new brand ambassadors. To achieve the desired growth projections, businesses must not fall into the traps of traditional marketing tactics. They need to harness opportunities presented by online platforms through the presentation of fresh and captivating original ideas to their audiences. Sending regular Tweets or continuously update Facebook page is not enough, because the audience needs news and innovation, so businesses should feed them with such. Illustration In order to stand out from the crowd, businesses must pay attention to their audience and match their strategies with the happenings in the social media world. They must look into existing tools and use such to fit their corporate objectives with fresh and exciting social media activities (Thomas, David, and Barlow 56). An organization can use online recruitment tool to attract new talent and create brand awareness all at the same time. A campaign can also be designed through LinkedIn, for example, where users not only acknowledge professional relationships but also appreciate such through a special note. By doing so, social media tools can have an impact on businesses by demonstrating innovation to a much larger audience. According to Piskorski 36, being a thought leader on social media has the potential of improving B2B (Business to Business) arrangements to a new level as it forms useful associations in the online platform. Large audiences can, therefore, be reached and brand names ingrained in the minds of potential consumers with the help of social media. Riding on existing networks, new contacts are easily established and new connections formed. A company that fails to adopt this new technique where consumers are connected in one interactive pool will clearly fail. Analysis This part of the essay carries in-depth analysis of social media on business in 5-10 years. It will look at the opportunities, challenges, strategies and how this media can contribute to either growth or decline. In the end, deeper insights on the chosen business issue will be gained to the benefit of organizations. Opportunities presented by social media to businesses According to Kaplan and Haenlein (09), social media has presented numerous opportunities to businesses and if pointed in the right direction, success can be realized from the relatively new concept. The following opportunity areas are highlighted in the article: Promotion of a company’s brand to new audiences: The Sales and marketing divisions have an opportunity to expand their outreach through social media. Because social networking allows consumers to interact among themselves, they have the chance to share ideas on a company’s products and influence potential users to make the ‘buy’ decision. The two way communication channel provided by social media enables consumers to share their experiences which are useful for marketers in establishing personal connections as they build brand loyalty. Sales figures are likely to grow if a comprehensive social media marketing strategy is designed, which in the end contributes to profitability. Better Recruitment practices: The success of any business largely depends on the quality of workforce. In the past, jobs were placed in newspaper ads and job boards, this is now obsolete. Acquiring top talent involves the use of social media where preliminary background checks can easily be undertaken to avoid tones of applications from unqualified job seekers. By performing targeted searches on LinkedIn, organizations are able to identify qualified candidates with the specific knowledge required. Verifying referees has also be made easy with LinkedIn searches were their full profiles can be seen and independent contact made. Reduced marketing costs: Marketing has traditionally received the lion’s share of most businesses’ budgets. Employing social media is the most cost effective sales and marketing tool because it reaches a large audience with minimal investments. An organization just needs to provide superior services to a few customers and the happy clients will take it up from there in blowing the company’s trumpet on social media. Presently, potential customers rely on peer reviews and would go sites that have such before making the decision to purchase. By requesting existing customers to review an organizations product/service and sharing such on social media, half the marketing work will have been done. This is a great cost reduction strategy with amazing results. The ability to be a Thought Leader: With social media, it’s much easier to establish an organization as the industry thought leader. By using blogs, company and industry specific content can be disseminated that will in the end set market trends. Such blogs initiate conversations with consumers where useful feedback and opinions are shared which all benefit a company in maintaining its industry position. The chance to engage customers: All companies across industries have a product or service with a customer base that can be engaged through social media. The manner in which businesses engage customers has been revolutionized by this media and presently, customers seek to be listened to and their feedback taken into account instead of being talked at. On social media platforms, businesses can speak directly to consumers and customers are also free to talk amongst themselves sharing testimonials and product/service reviews. This interaction allows businesses to forge stronger bonds with their clients and address their concerns effectively through the Social media. In the end, better customer service is provided and loyalty to products/services increased. Engaging Employees: Though some sites are usually blocked for fear of wasting valuable employee time, professional ones like LinkedIn allows employees to join useful work groups. Within such groups, employees are able to share industry specific information that serves to improve their efficiency at work. Businesses in foreign exchange or stock trading can share valuable market information in their professional social media groups that could influence significant trading decisions. Ability to share information on one’s business: From social media, customers and other interest groups can obtain useful information on a company. A company with Facebook account can use this platform to direct traffic to their official sites and get the word out on their business. The ripple effect when a customer likes the Facebook page opens up the business to their friends which further increases brand visibility. While sharing positive information, social media also gives businesses the chance to listen to conversations among customers. Such conversations are rich grounds for customer feedback which inform policy decisions on a product or service. Challenges of social media With the many social media platforms, it’s a challenge starting off and knowing which among the many, is suitable for a business. If proper care is not taken, managing social media can consume time away from core business functions. Participation in public forums through social media exposes a business to negative feedback which if not handled properly, has the potential of destroying an organization’s reputation. The wide nature of the web poses a threat of businesses handling new technologies. According to Zarrella, 21, measuring the effect of social media marketing on a business, finding target audience within the vast media, coming up with the best ways to engage this audience, how to use the diverse social media platforms and allocating time to maximize social media results, pose great challenge. Just as explosive as social media has been in the past few years, so is its potential to ruin an organization’s reputation. If a single negative piece of information goes viral, it has the likelihood of destroying an organization’s years of credibility in hours. Unlike traditional media where editors had discretion on what to air or publish, social media has limited control and once information is in the virtual world, little can be done to contain it (Kaplan & Haenlein, 81). This has been witnessed in several organizations among them; the south west airline guitar saga, where a song on YouTube had serious effect on the company’s stock value hours after the video went viral. To establish a strong social media presence, money must be spent and even with the notion that this media is free, it is not always free. For anyone who chooses to do it themselves, then huge opportunity costs will be incurred as they divert from core functions to work on the strategy as earlier mentioned. Other options include involving a marketing agency of having an in-house team, all of which cost money. Measuring Return on Investment (ROI) is equally difficult with social media (Holloman, Christer, and Adeyeri 41). A business cannot, therefore, equate money spent with expected returns because of the interrelated nature of this media where some results, are generated by happy customers instead of direct investments. Formulating social media strategies In developing a social media strategy, it is important to find satisfactory answers to these questions (Olivas-Lujan, Miguel and Tanya, 65): Is there need to use social media? Of what significance is social media to the business? What is the target audience and which among the many platforms can they be reached? Armed with answers to these questions, an organization, and come up with a policy for the chosen social media function. If the purpose of using social media is to drive sales, then strategies around increasing sales are crafted. It is important to acknowledge that such strategies can go beyond the core function to cover other areas like customer service, building industrial reputation to brand awareness. All these can be incorporated in a single operation manual for use by those tasked with managing a company’s social media program. Social media and business growth/decline If proper strategies are adopted, social media has the potential of rapidly growing a business. Several companies have experiences overnight success and their brand known in all corners of the world thanks to social media. Unlike traditional media that required huge resources, social media can prove useful without any cash investment except for time online (Kaplan & Haenlein, 16). In equal magnitude, social media, as earlier mentioned, has ruined reputable organizations with its ‘wild fire’ speed. Understanding precisely what function social media is to perform in a business is a pivotal entry point into the long term success of the strategy. Companies can, therefore, use the various platforms to achieve diverse results so facilitate effective management of their universal strategy. The conclusion This study has revealed that even with its relatively young age, social media has quickly entrenched itself in mainstream business. Any organization planning to for long term growth; in 5 to 10 years, must have social media strategy at the heart of its core policy. The study has revealed immense opportunities presented by this media with little shortcomings, leading us to believe that it is possible to achieve better results than harm for any business with growth prospects through social media. From the reviewed literature, social media is a business issue that will be properly defined in the coming years and its significance better understood. For now, industry experts will continue to conduct further studies and help shape this useful media for cross - industry application. Works Cited Holloman, Christer, and Eb Adeyeri. The Social Media Mba: Your Competitive Edge in Social Media Strategy Development & Delivery. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley, 2012. Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. Consumer use and business potential of virtual worlds: The case of Second Life.The International Journal on Media Management (2009a). Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. The fairyland of Second Life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them. Business Horizons, (2009b). Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media (2010c) Olivas-Lujan, Miguel R, and Tanya Bondarouk. Social Media in Strategic Management. Bingley, UK: Emerald, 2013. Piskorski, Mikołaj J. Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media. , 2014. Thomas, David B, and Mike Barlow. The Executives Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy: How Social Networks Are Radically Transforming Your Business. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2011. Zarrella, Dan. The Social Media Marketing Book. Beijing: OReilly, 2010. Print. Read More