Future Business Use of Social Media - Case Study Example

Future Business use of Social Media Name: Institution: Course: Date: Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 What exactly is social media? (Technology description) 3 Benefits of social networks to a business (Industry Evaluation) 4 Common Social Media Applications 4 MySpace 4 Face book 5 LinkedIn 5 Twitter 6 Swot analysis 6 Strength of Social Media 6 Weaknesses 6 Opportunities 7 Threats 7 Status of Social Media Technology 7 Social Media Capabilities 10 Business Context 10 Implementation issues with social media 11 References 12 Executive Summary Social media are revolutionizing the way people communicate and interact. These particular web 2.0 applications are robust and they have ushered in a new channel for communications with the result being a rapidly changing environment for various types of communication that ushers in new opportunities and challenges as well. As a matter of fact business leaders have begun realizing the impact potential and even certain enterprises are now providing case study pertaining to the impact of these new technology. Incredible growth provided by social media is continuing to grow, and today more than 30% of the global population is online, and social media has been found as an activity that occupies most of peoples time than any other endeavour online. Some of the contents being developed by social media users amount to over 250 million tweets and over 800 million face book status updates published every 24 hours. For instance in the US social networks reach approximately 80% of internet users, with approximately 20% of page view coming from Face book alone. However, according from research work from numerous sources, it has been revealed that corporate brands only account for 16% of customer engagement, however, this particular figure is expected to increase to slightly over 57% within the next five years (Alex, Derek, & Justin, 2009, p.19). What exactly is social media? (Technology description) Social networking tools have ushered in an opportunity that can be used for personal interactions outside traditional communication channels. These new automated tools comes with capabilities to combine the power of human connectivity with state of the art systems hence providing a rich experience of connecting with business partners, co-workers, and clients at large. Previously social media technologies were only thought to work form a Business to a consumer (B2C) standpoint, but today enterprises have begun to discover that these same social media can also be utilized for Business to Business (B2B) interactions. In this regard, social media provides a much broader communication platform with huge potential for the customers and other businesses (Michael, 2012, p.8). As businesses begin to realize the benefits provided by social networks and associated technologies, the enterprise is set to embrace more social applications such as Face book, Twitter, LinkedIn, Twitter, Wikis, Blogs, and Discussion groups. Benefits of social networks to a business (Industry Evaluation) These tools are beneficial in the sense that they assist the enterprise track the evolution of societal trends, if properly used can be applied as business intelligence tools, and a rich way of engaging with clients and also nurturing business trust and reputation. When business build personal connections then this can be regarded as the first step towards establishing reputation, trust, and building business relationship. This also develops a sense of community within the social networks themselves in relation to the business itself. For enterprises that have already established social networking technologies, these tools can also be used to facilitate online chatting and user interactions pertaining to topics that are relevant to the business, and as a result, this improves on trust and gives out the image that your organizations has a genuine interest on your client concerns. Even though businesses tend to initially express wide concerns when it comes to utilizing social networks in order to engage with potential and existing customers because social media poses the risk of entertaining negative feedback to an organization. It is quite vital that business should take into account that users will be using tools such as online blogging and chatting. In order for enterprises to apply social networks to their business operations they should begin by talking to departments such as sales and marketing and customer support. There are various technologies that easily integrate with social networks and this includes applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems (Dave, 2010, p.178). For instance with CRM 2.0 technologies it is easy to integrate a holistic approach of discerning client specific needs. Essentially this implies that having a direct dialogue with the customers and truly hearing what they would like to tell the company, while at the same time these CRM 2.0 tools also provide vital information resources that can be used to find solutions that directly meet the needs of these specific clients at an individual level. A perfect example of a CRM 2.0 approach is what dell company is using courtesy of ideaStorm.com. Here visitors can suggest and vote on new concepts that they have some particular interest with. This provides a rich way of communicating with the PC manufacturers as a fellow client with related interest (Catherine, John, Shaun, 2012, p, 39). Common Social Media Applications MySpace According to research some of the organizations that have been found to incredibly benefit from this particular platform include fashion and music companies, companies geared towards teens, social media groups, social awareness groups, and non-profits and charity organizations. Even though my space can be used to promote organizations from multiple industries, it is not regarded as a right fight for many professional groups due to the concerns that MySpace is mainly used by businesses that are pop-culture based and it comes with a strong relationship to videos and music. MY space comes with few excellent modules that can be used by individuals, even though it is possible for businesses to integrate their own modules. For instance, a charity organization can implement a fundraiser donor module to enable MySpace users donate some cash to non-profit organizations. MySpace also comes with the ability to integrate a link back to the company website and also with the capacity to advertise events on the MySpace homepage calendar. Companies can also customize their profiles to depict the look and feel of their official website or corporate colours. Face book It is regarded as the leading social media due to its ability to assemble “fan groups” for companies, concepts, or any other business entity. By attracting new “fans” for an entity, it becomes possible to nurture chatter pertaining to topics or services that an organization may be interested in presenting to either a B2c or a B2B cases. With face book companies may bolster their branding by presenting company specific images and discussions, not mentioning the ability of the platform to create links to a company website and also provide traffic to pages that contain marketable contents. With applications such as facebook an organization can either advertise their products or develop a networking opportunity either through a B2C or B2B. LinkedIn What makes LinkedIn a killer social media application is the ability to enable both individuals and organizations to connect and communicate with thousands of experts in a B2B and B2C social networking environment. LinkedIn works under the principle that every person at least knows someone who might be an individual that you would one day want to connect with. The various degrees as to which individuals are connected naturally expands the network, hence delivering business and employment opportunities that couldn’t otherwise been noticed. With LinkedIn it is possible to create free group pages and discussion forums hence enabling users stay connected on relevant business topics. With features such as LinkedIn events business can either advertise or create networking opportunity in either B2B or B2C. There is also support for rich tools such as advertisements, polls, and events. What even makes LinkedIn advertising unique is the fact that marketers can target leads that have been broken down into specific that cannot be found in other social networking locations or even ad words for that matter. It is also possible to integrate various add on applications such as travel, reading, and Word press blog posts. Twitter It provides real time messaging updates that enable users to have an instant messaging environment and as a result organizations can create some kind of a dialogue with other businesses. These tweets can also be linked to business websites hence creating traffic and visibility for the company. Twitter comes with rich capabilities that make it possible to brand the homepage with company specific name, logo, and background image hence creating the necessary environment that can be used to further the company’s brand. Meaningful interaction with users can also be achieved by automation via tools such as RSS feeds or Hoot suite from news sources relevant to your particular industry. Swot analysis Strength of Social Media There is direct contact with the audience resembling almost face to face communication Social media facilitates communication it engages audiences deeper hence build relationship with audience It is more measurable compared to other traditional channels of communication Leverages the reaching of a wide audience base with much less efforts Cost effective in the sense that the platforms are free to use They are in continuous change and improvement The brand is more human because there are real people behind it The company established strong and long term relationship via online social networking at much faster pace compared to conventional face to face networking Weaknesses Efforts VS Results: Even though it is more measurable compared to other channels, it becomes extremely tricky for organizations to balance the efforts gained on social media against the results obtained Personal: The Company has to ensure that they obtain the best out of social media as a channel, and such efforts should be handled by experts who properly understand the operations of the company Ever-changing environment: because the social media environment changes so fast, this implies organizations have to adapt effectively and in a prompt manner Consistency: Because the organization is in a position of engaging directly with the audience at direct level this means that they are able to keep a consistent message Correcting mistakes: there is less time to correct mistakes that directly affect audiences Opportunities There are B2C or B2B research opportunities for various products and services, and if the company is present in an interactive environment, there are numerous opportunities for engagement, conversion and most importantly clarification of doubts regarding the company brands are countless. The audience auto nurtures itself and the audiences automatically become the company’s best sales people Talent: Due to the fact that social media enables interaction, this implies that future talent in terms of partners or employees may come via power of connecting of connecting online Threats The brand is exposed and this can be used in appositive or negative manner The competitors are likely to engage in acts of espionage because they know what the company is doing Mistakes are easily noticed and the consumer is likely to notice you Status of Social Media Technology Social media has transpired as the most dominant communication platform in the world today due to its ability to create a communication environment with different parties which can be as far as continents apart. This particular technology mainly depends on web based applications to deliver highly interactive platform that enable both individuals and organizations to share information. Today’s enterprise environment are characterised by globally dispersed employees, and as a result, workforce demographics are rapidly shifting, the number of mobile workers are on the up rise, modern automated tools are transforming the workplace. With information being generated each and every day and stored in different formats, big data is generated, and at the same time employees are busy building online communities and social networks outside their conventional corporate networks. As a result of these developments, organizations are now beginning leverage web 2.0 and associated technologies in order to realize the value of these untapped intelligence from their business partners, customers, employees, and knowledge residing in documents and databases (Jim, 2010). Due to the above, employees likewise expect some stimulating work environment that has been supported by social technologies that help the organization to connect, learn and share ideas in a natural and informal manner, and in the enterprise wide context web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, podcasts, and blogs may be utilized by information workers to capture and share knowledge thus enhancing innovation and team work in the organization. With social media technologies it is for employees to create social networks and communities of interests for cross functional exchange of information, knowledge dissemination, and idea sharing. With the technology in question, it becomes possible to view profile of other employees, easily identify talent, and track activities across the entire organization. According to a certain study that was commissioned and conducted by enterprise 2.0 conference, approximately 65% of business executives agreed to shift some of their technological budget towards Enterprise 2.0 applications. More of this information is going to be illustrated in the table below. Organization function Useful social media related tools Potential uses and benefits Internal Use Corporate functions HR IT Finance R & D Composite applications Wikis and blogs Document management Enterprise search Delivering networks and at the same time connecting with experts courtesy of personal website and blogging solutions Capturing knowledge and opinions og how employees are using wikis External Use (Customer Management) Customer service Sales Marketing Product lifecycle management Electronic forms and workflows Collaboratively working on creating customer proposals with expertise location, task allocation, wikis, Document management, and file sharing Minimizing on time for creating customer presentations by leveraging on existing customer sales materials courtesy of document management and collaboration Crowd sourcing courtesy of customer/user network in order to harness collective intelligence and actively building useful outcomes External Use (Supply Chain management) Sourcing Procurement Manufacturing Warehousing Transportation Dealership management Wikis Podcasts Electronic forms and workflows Document and content management Minimizing turnaround times for invoices and other payments courtesy of real time communications and document management with vendors Minimizing time of resolving issues via real time communication with vendors Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment by embracing applications such as wikis, document management, and workflows Enable sharing of information and best practices across dealer networks in order to drive sales and minimize on costs Table 1.0 Business operations use of social media Social Media Capabilities According to Andrew McAfee who is the associate professor from Harvard business school, social media applications should come with the following capabilities if it is to be integrated into the enterprise. Search: Should come with features that enable searching for other users or contents Link: It should come with capabilities to group similar users or contents Authoring: these are the blogs and wikis Tags: should allow users to tag contents Extensions: should come with capabilities that support recommendations for users Signals: enable the audience to subscribe to users or contents that have RSS feeds Sharing: The ability to share files of different formats Business Context Increase usage of external partners and sourcing has led into complex supply chains systems hence calling for real time information sharing and collaboration especially with geographically dispersed customers. Because social media is a collaborative technology, it will go a long way in ensuring real time sharing of information across multiple stakeholders. Procurement and supply chain executives are today beginning to appreciate the value of web 2.0 technologies, and companies can now expediently receive critical information. For instance drivingsales.com which is an open community is already proving an open platform for its members, dealers, dealership managers, industry experts, and vendors to collaborate together and share best practices, strategies, and also to rate themselves. Due to this the organization has embraced social media to facilitate networking across partner and dealer networks with the ability to support the development for supporting strategies, sharing vital business information, building business networks, and creating profiles. For instance, with the above partnerships it is possible for the organization to partners and dealers to from their own discussion groups and deliberates on industry specific topics such as growing sales while reducing costs, and at the same time sharing performance ratings, and functional best practices such as finance, marketing, and general management. Other enterprise use of social media may include; customer support, marketing branding, public relations and customer support, sales, customer acquisition and retention among other and these are depicted in the diagram below. Fig 1.0 Enterprise use of social media Implementation issues with social media Most organizations have a social presence but few of these enterprises have implemented a comprehensive and a successful social media strategy that comes with benefits while mitigating risks. The underlying reason is very simple, most businesses walk towards an approach that is often narrow, and these organizations are mostly worried by the content and not focused so much on context and conditions. Organizations have been found to view social media on the context of Facebook or Twitter context which they mainly perceive as a marketing PR and website function. However, in order to be truly successful with social media, these very web 2.0 applications need to be implemented at the senior level and trickle down systematically down into the lower hierarchy of the organization. This requires that business leaders should fully understand the t context of the environment in which social media operates hence should nurture conditions that are necessary for the successful implementation of these web 2.0 tools within the company. By embracing a holistic approach this is likely to maximize on opportunities while eliminating risk and overcoming main obstacles which are mainly people problems and not technological related problems. References Alex Newson, Derek C. Houghton, Justin Patten (2009). Blogging and other social Media: Exploiting the Technology and Protecting the Enterprise. Illustrated Edition, Gower Publishing LTD. Michael Mandiberg (2012). The social media reader, illustrated edition. NYU press. Dave Evans (2010). Social Media Marketing: The Next Generation of Business Engagement. Illustrated Edition, John Wiley & Sons. Jane Bozarth (2010). Social media for trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and extending learning. John Wiley and Sons. Jim Sterne (2010). Social Media Metrics: How to measure and optimize your marketing investments. John Wiley & Sons. Catheryn Cheal, John Coughlin, and Shaun Moore (2012). Transformation in Teaching: Social Media Strategies in Higher Education. Informing Science. 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