Information Assurance and Security - Social Media Power - Literature review Example

? Information Assurance and Security: Social Media Power Social media is considered as one of the most significant technological improvements, which empowers effective communication. This social media provides a platform for organizations in order to conduct marketing activities effectively. Social media has huge influence on different scenarios of organizations. For instance, it provides great opportunities for marketers to develop relationships with online communities. With respect to sales, social media can help to generate awareness among people in order to enhance sales. The power of social media can be observed in different industrial sector. For instance, apparel fashion sector, hospitality sector and education sector utilize social media in order to develop reputation. However, in order to successfully utilize social media, organizations in different industrial sector should select appropriate media and should integrate media plan in the business activities effectively. Introduction Throughout history, the development of new technology has empowered more effectual and broader communication. One of the most significant technological developments is the introduction of social media which has led to changes in thinking and behavior of people. Nowadays, social media is affecting the principles and experiences of people in different nations. Social media has brought about a noticeable transformation in society, resulting in changes in activities at a remarkable rate. Social media has started a new type of communication among customers and organizations. The power of social media can be observed in several scenarios i.e. from business to education. Social media has renovated the traditional thoughts of marketing and brand management while generating new prospects for different organizations to understand the stakeholders and to interact with them carefully (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2010). Rather than simply accepting any brand, people today has become much more dependent on trusted social networks for guidance about the value of each spending (Oracle, 2012). Considering this aspect, the report is based on analyzing the power of using social media in different scenarios. The objective of the report is to understand how social media can provide benefits to industrial segments and how organizations can use social media techniques for better performance. Literature Review Background Knowledge about Social Media Social media is a collection of individual channels and an elaborate network of interrelated websites operating internationally. Social media comprise a dynamic collection of information and view of people which can unavoidably and directly relate with certain brands or organizations. The corporate social presence of an organization comprise website, contract center, branded community and existence in popular social websites. The participation in social media allows organization to earn trust. However, the major challenge for organizations in relation to social media is to involve effectively in such a manner so that it can provide benefits to the brands and the customers. The social media is used for creating a positive impact by developing a social strategy within the experiences of the customers, resulting in transformation of business (Oracle, 2012). In traditional media, the communication between organizations and customers was one way process. The customers had no involvement in the marketing communication procedure. People received messages inactively as they were unable to participate in creating information. With the introduction of social media, marketing communication has become truly participative. In social media, consumers are able to form and share information. Nowadays, marketing activities have become specific, individual and social. Social media provides marketers new types of sophisticated marketing channels in order to advertise the products. Through social media, organizations can provide direct and customized messages for each target customer group. Utilization of Power of Social Media The emergence of social media has remarkable influenced the theory and practices of marketing and communication. Social media allows people to connect, interact, produce and share information. According to Lewis (2010), digital media has changed the marketing world significantly. Lewis had described that branding has become more crucial with the creation of social media choices. Nowadays, consumers are creating their own sales experiences by using social media. Thus, the control of information about any organization is in the hands of the customers. However, smart marketers take advantages of this notion in order to facilitate customers to use the brands in an honest and authentic manner. Engaging with people through social media necessitates thorough research and communication with community. Scott (2007) stated that internet marketing is useful for providing valuable information which is required by most of the people. Social media has allowed strategic communication to meet the requirements of wide customer base and to react with their discussions and opinions. In large social networks such as Facebook, an organization can create fan page as a representative of the brand and thus can become a part of conversations of fans. With the help of social media, organizations can provide information through videos, pictures and special offers. According to Duncan (2005), communication is a vital aspect of marketing in today’s business environment. Duncan described marketing as a constant effort which includes employees in planning procedure and then communication of the decided plan is made to attain their support. By ensuring personal communication with the employees, social media can prove to be an effective way for conducting internal marketing activities. The use of social media is a part of strategic communication initiative which includes attending and connecting with customers and stakeholders rather than merely spreading the marketing message (Lewis, 2010). Several organizations have acknowledged the power of social media as a new communication channel. However, the reality is that the impact of social media can be felt in the entire value chain. Thus, in order to properly use social media, organizations need to reconsider the outmoded business practices and generate prospects to leverage the new abilities in powerful manners. The power of social media can be described through the following scenarios: Marketing Scenario The power of social media can most effectively be observed in marketing scenario. The increasing usage of social media allows people to share information regarding products or services and to compare prices among different brands. Considering this aspect, many sophisticated online retailers have used this trend in order to take the advantage of social media. Through social media, retailers allow user reviews in order to develop trust and to increase the tendency of customers to buy a particular product or service. For example, several online organizations such as Netflix and Pandora are popular for having recommendation systems which help them to effectively provide those products which are desired by a majority of customers (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Social media also provides an effective channel for commencing new products or services in the market while gathering instantaneous response. For example, in the year 2011, Ford Motor Company had changed its traditional marketing practices by promoting the launch of ‘Explorer Crossover’ car on Facebook, accomplishing higher level of interests from customers. Furthermore, using social media as a marketing tool also provides advantages in terms of better cost savings than traditional advertising media which requires significant amount of money just to purchase a spot in a popular broadcasting program (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Small organizations can also be profited from social media by investing on providing enjoyable contents to the users. Furthermore, several organizations also use the power of social media in order to generate a feeling of urgency about limited time offers. For example, airline organizations use Twitter in order to promote fixed availability or final moment flight contracts (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Sales Scenario Sales are related with awareness and understanding of customers. Due to this reason, every organization researches the opportunities before fulfilling the desires of customers. In this context, it can be stated that social media can create opportunities for organizations to complement traditional sources of customer awareness. Social media monitoring provides organizations with exclusive access to understanding the opinions from customers which are inaccessible in other methods such as customer survey. Social media has opened a way for organizations to conduct market research more quickly and cheaply than before. Furthermore, social media also helps to engage in real time discussions with a variety of customers in order to gain their insights. For example, Best Buy, an e-retailing organization, involves with almost 5,000 customers in a week by internet medium. Furthermore, the organization has above 1.3 million followers on Facebook with whom, it can cooperate frequently. This direct cooperation can help organizations to benchmark themselves against other competitors and to collect valuable information about customers’ likings (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). It is a fact that in order to sell any product or service, it is vital for an organization to find the appropriate purchasers. Due to the introduction of social media, the purchasers have become far more open about their intentions to purchase. Through social media, purchasers can provide indications to organizations by posting different comments on forums. By online advertisements, social media also allows organizations to attract crowds to their own websites. As a consequence, organizations can rapidly generate sales. Nowadays, the expectations of customers regarding internet buying experience has ascended, as several e-retailing organizations continue to increase their strengths by customizing users’ recommendations and reducing the number of procedures for online purchase (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Innovation Scenario Social media plays a vital part for fostering innovation. Through social media, organizations can easily recognize and satisfy the unmet requirements of customers. After recognizing the unmet requirements, organizations can involve with employees, customers and other third parties as active members for innovation procedure by intensifying a variety of concepts and collecting instantaneous feedbacks. For instance, a popular mobile manufacturing organization Nokia runs an online laboratory which permits users from the whole world to provide feedbacks regarding any new product concept to the product development team. Furthermore, social media also provides organizations to recognize possible problems and warnings to the product developers about any product which should be addressed. Social media allows organizations to tap customers’ opinion directly for any new product and service ideas. For example, Energy Brand, a US based beverage organization has developed new product named ‘black cherry and lime flavored drink’ through gaining insights from Facebook users (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Customer Service Scenario Social media does not always provide advantages to organizations, in certain scenarios such as in case of poor customer service; social media can negatively affect the reputations of organizations. Social media users can effectively broadcast poor performance of any organization with the help of blogs or podcasts which can cause substantial negative publicity to brand status (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Simultaneously, social media can also provide opportunities for organizations to improve the customer services. Innovative organizations use the power of social media to become more active in pursuing the response of people and engaging with them. As a result, it helps to identify and resolve any problem. For instance, organizations such as Microsoft use social media in order to allow customers to receive solutions directly from other customers, particularly expert workers. As a consequence, social media acts as an informal problem solution center for an organization (Firstbrook, Wollan, Arnott, & Miller, 2011). Discussion on Uses of Social Media in Industrial Sector The core notion of social media is to gain knowledge from people through online discussion. The online discussion helps people to express and pay attention about different views, to explain and learn from other users and to motivate each other regarding any aspect. For organizations, social media provides the prospect to involve in discussions with the audiences such as customers and industry followers among others. Organizations can easily take advantage of social media in order to discover the opinions of people and as a result can utilize those discoveries for developing the brand image, product positioning and brand awareness. Social media also assists in creating more impetus in the minds of the customers for the organization. According to Forrester Research, organizations can easily share their marketing messages by using social media tools and can use word-of-mouth strategy in order to provide quantifiable outcomes. Winer (2009) stated that since the contents of social media are generated by users, organizations have low control over the discussion between users or the messages which are delivered by users (Tollinen, Jarvinen, & Karjaluoto, 2012). Nevertheless, by intelligence and sensible participation and by comprehensive listening and reaction, organizations can effectively share valuable information to the audience of social media. As a result, social media guides customers in such a way which in turn benefits the organizations. Social media provides a medium for organizations to display their personality. The most important advantage of social media is likability. By using social media tools, organizations can enhance the likability of products and services which help to foster sales. In industrial segment, organizations need to find out where social media tools can fit in the marketing strategy (Globalspec, Inc., 2010). A few of the uses of social media in different industrial segment are as follows: Social Media Power in Hospitality Sector The improvement of social media has enhanced the possibilities of growth for hospitality industry. Hospitality organizations are fully conscious about the advantages of social media as a method of advertisement and consequently to generate brand awareness. According to Milovic (2012), in order to enhance the business, the hospitality organizations must form mutually favorable cooperating relationships with the visitors. The existence in social media can enable the hospitality organizations to simply stay in touch with probable and regular visitors on an individual basis. The internet technologies can easily be learned and utilized by hospitality organizations, for instance, hotels can update new information or images in their social networking websites. Effectively administered websites can work as one of the best methods for hotels to develop an association with the customers and to generate superior brand image. Nowadays, hospitality industry is rapidly evolving, as the introduction of new technology necessitates hotels to become more public. The travellers in present generation search for the best value proposition and consumer demand is forcing hospitality organizations to make intensive efforts on improvement of services (Milovic, 2012). Social networking websites have several exclusive effects for hospitality segment comprising visitors, employees and management. The websites provide a platform for people that can be used to create, observe and assess the reputation of hospitality organizations. Online consumer generated information is highly reliable and indeed beneficial for the company. Hospitality organizations involvement in online social networking has presented a lucrative way for communication and involvement with potential clients. Involvement in social media websites delivers hospitality organizations with direct access to people. It is a fact that nowadays several hotels, restaurants and travelling organizations have arrived at the social networking space. Hospitality organizations are actively interacting with the customers by providing innovative customized solutions and by becoming much reactive and prompt towards customer service. In social media, online customer review plays a vital part while selecting hotel or travel agencies. Several traveling agencies such as Yelp and TripAdvisor use social networking sites which provide possible customers an opportunity to search reviews of other real customers. Making their presence on social networking website provides guests to share thoughts, approaches, stories and pictures which can be the basis for hospitality organizations for achieving competitive advantage. If a user decides to participate in the online network of a hospitality organization, and share recommendations or checks experience of others, he/she would probably be affected by the opinions of the postings provided by other users. The research of Seth (2012) has proved that hotels which involve with the customers through social media can effectively entice customers to spend more, can have higher repeat customers and can receive more recommendations from the guests (Seth, 2012). Social Media Power in Apparel Fashion Sector Social media is also useful for apparel organizations, which helps to augment the customer loyalty, raise the brand awareness, spread the advertising messages, form online communities, interact with customers and in certain circumstances drive sales. Social media creates a relationship between apparel brands and customers which determines purchase motive and word-of-mouth. Additionally, social media can assist apparel organizations to put their best products forward and to notify to the conscious target customer segment. Dorado (2011) stated that in online shopping, customers usually search for purchasing products from those websites on which they have complete faith. In this context, it can be stated that social media carries new components for online shopping experiences of people and it is a powerful catalyst for apparel organizations to gain extra revenue. Social media provides apparel brands the capability to place the best products in front of millions of probable customers in an acquainted and easily accessible environment. The customizable and user-friendly interface of social networking websites presents a perfect platform for apparel organizations to approach a large audience and to enlarge business in a cooperative business environment. According to the research of eConsultancy in 2010, social networking is considered as one of the most common activities of people. People around the world spend significant amount of time on social media websites. According to the report of Apparel Magazine in the year 2010, individuals spend in excess of 700 billion minutes in a month on Facebook alone. On the other hand, people around the world watch and upload over 2 billion YouTube videos every day and produce over 65 million Tweets in a day. Furthermore, the report of ExcatTarget in the year 2010 stated that almost 5% of American online customers follow at least one organization on Twitter. On the basis of a research conducted by Nielsen in 2010, it can be recognized that most of the customers trust the reviews provided by peers and the ratings given on internet advertisements. This huge amount of time and effort of people spend on social media provides amazing prospects for apparel organizations to promote themselves. An example of using the power of social media in apparel industry can be described by Gap’s promotion of a new logo on social media website. Within a few days of launching the new logo, it had gained significant posts and supports from fans on social networking websites (Dorado, 2011). Organizations especially apparel retail brands cannot ignore the power of social media. In fashion industry segment, social media has the potential to create a huge stimulus. Social media has unlocked the opportunities for luxury fashion brands to provide customers more access to product related information. Nowadays, it is difficult for luxury fashion brands to differentiate the products on the basis of price. Thus, social media platform provided a way for these brands to prove their worth. Luxury fashion brands provide elegant experiences for customers by creating a significant online existence (Abrams Research, 2011). Social Media Power in Education Sector Education organizations has also found social media to be most useful for establishing brand awareness, for building customer based communication and for developing marketing understandings. Social media acts as an investment for education organizations for gaining long- term growth which can influence the business. Nowadays, it has become vital for education organizations to turn existing customers into a community which can inform others and market organizational services to their personal social networks (Khedo, Elaheebocus, Mocktoolah, & Suntoo, 2012). The appearance of social media has influenced the communicative behavior of people along with opening up new avenues for providing education to younger generation. There are several internet tools which help students to engage in online learning activities. By using social media tools, education organizations can provide information regarding curriculum and other important aspects. Social media allows educational organizations to work on online projects as a part of the end of semester examinations. Several researches depicted that online social websites had provided new potentials for learning, where teachers and students have the flexibility to access and interact with each other. According to an investigation of Loving and Ochoa on University of Florida, it has been observed that a number of educational institutions have selected to use the power of social media in order to encourage communication, group discussion and to share assignments. Social media provides the liberty to educational organizations to ask questions to a certain group regarding the progress of learning (Khedo, Elaheebocus, Mocktoolah, & Suntoo, 2012). Furthermore, social media is also a useful tool for distance learning. According to Brady, Holcomb, & Smith (2010), students of distance education require a place to unite and actively involve with other associates of class. Social media allows the students the platform to unite with each other and share the learning experiences. It encourages a feeling of community in online courses. Social presence results in a low level of isolation and detachment of students and it instantaneously inspires collaboration and participation in online courses (Brady, Holcomb, & Smith, 2010). Drawbacks of Social Media Although there are several potential advantages of using social media in different industrial segments, there are certain drawbacks which are related with the utilization of social media. Accuracy of Information The occurrence of incorrect and false information is an intrinsic problem of social media. In social media, outdated, inaccurate or false information can easily be spread by different users. Therefore, at times, social media can confuse the situational consciousness of people and can consequently hinder or delay their reaction on organizational efforts (Chi, 2011). Damage of Reputation One of the most vital drawbacks of using social media is damage of reputation. Any kind of bad review or comment provided by users on prominent social media website can generate negative influence about a brand or organization in the minds of the potential customers (Chi, 2011). Security Security is the other vital drawback for the use of social media. The use of alerts and the establishment of personal webpages can generate privacy concerns for organizations. Two of the major security risks of social media are malware and involuntary revelation of sensitive information. These security risks are a vital reason for organizations to not allow the utilization of social media tools. According to Schroder (2010), many organizations believe that the use of social media by employees can pose threat to the business by leakage of sensitive information. Chi (2011) stated that the incidence of malware has increased in recent times in most popular social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter among others. Furthermore, there has been a growing occurrence of receiving spam messages through social media websites. Organizations which use social media can also become a victim of internet related attacks from viruses and spywares. Moreover, security breaches can also become troublesome for organizations to use social media for marketing activities (Chi, 2011). Factors to Be Considered While Using Social Media Appropriate Media Selection Selecting the right social media for business is vital for any organization to attract potential customers and increase brand reputation. The selection of appropriate social media relies on target customer group. Every social media application is targeted for specific groups of people and thus organizations need to be active in reacting with the demand of customers. Media Plan Integration Integration is crucial for gaining success in using social media. Although traditional media and social media are different but in front of customers they both are part of corporate image. Thus, in order to develop a strong brand image, it is vital for organizations to integrate both traditional as well as social media (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Activity Alignment Organizations can use numerous social media activities such as advertisements and public relations in order to reach out to a huge audience. In this circumstance, it is vital to make sure that all social media activities of organizations are associated with each other. It should be remembered that although different social media activities is a part of valuable and profitable marketing strategy but these activities should fulfill one marketing communication objective. Otherwise, a lack of alignment between different social media activities can generate confusion and contradictory messages within different channels (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Conclusion From this report, it can be observed that the power of social media can be utilized in different industrial segments in diverse scenarios. Organizations can be benefitted from using social media by understanding the opinions of the customers regarding the performance of any product and service. Involving with large customers through social media allows organizations to recognize what people think about the brand and accordingly take measures. Through using the power of social media, organizations in different industries can demonstrate as well as develop the brand personality. As people in present days have become much involved with the use of internet, social media provides great opportunities for organizations to provide the information, products and services they require. Nevertheless, the usage of social media also has certain drawbacks. Social media not only builds brand reputation, but can also damage the reputation in case of any bad performance. Furthermore, there are also several incidents of security breaches which might hamper the use of social media. The accuracy of information is also a vital factor which can cause negative impact on brand image. Thus, organizations need to be very careful while using the power of social media. Organizations need to align the social media activities carefully. In today’s age, the power of social media cannot be ignored. Thus, appropriate selection of social media can bring success for a business. References Abrams Research. (2011). Social media guide for luxury brands. Retrieved from http://www.abramsresearch.com/static/guides-whitepapers/ARSM_Guide_Lux.pdf Brady, K. P., Holcomb, L. B., & Smith, B. V. (2010). The use of alternative social networking sites in higher educational settings: a case study of the e-learning benefits of Ning in education. Journal of Interactive Online Learning 9(2), pp. 151-170. Chi, M. (2011). Security policy and social media use. 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