The Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication

Question: Discuss about the Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication. Answer: Introduction Social media is an online group where users are permitted to share and get to a wide group of clientele while concentrating more on the substance of the information and taking an interest in sharing thoughts and giving feedback. Social media enhances client correspondence and helps an organization save money. As business communication is a method for passing information about products or services to clients, it is successfully accomplished through social media. The utilization of social media has enhanced numerous business functions making them viable and develop quick for the past years and changed the way potential clients associate with products of their interest. The coverage of customers has likewise been enhanced as there are increased interconnection channels amongst customers and organizations and this has guaranteed productive and viable correspondence. Most organizations that have embraced social media are benefitted as their method for operation has totally changed. The es say hence talks about the impact of social media on contemporary business communication under a case study of cell phone business. (Meredith, 2012) The Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication The universe of business has encountered an essential facelift all through the most recent 20 years. While some business practices have proceeded as some time recently, different parts of cooperating are in a general extraordinary today. The way organizations market to customers and take part in business transactions has gone up against another presence of its own. The greater part of this principal move in how business is done today comes to fruition in view of changes in technology and how people approach exchanging money. Twenty years back, the general use of the internet was still in its early stages, individuals were less involved with mobile payments and touch screen product access in retail foundations, David Chaum and the online Digi-money venture were well in progress, but in 1998 Chaum's business was crashed and propelled to bankruptcy. In 1995 compact mobile phones were finally starting to achieve a manageable size. The overall population was beginning to get on to the cel lular insurgency. (Vibes, 2015) A dozen or so years back when the internet was quickly starting to pick up a solid footing in people's way of life, smart organizations set up their online presence where they had a high level of command over their message. Interactivity and discussions were restricted to putting an email interface or a contact frame on the website; comment frameworks, input, and reviews were almost non-existent, and "going viral" were messages with headlines like "Fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd: You need to see this!" Early forums were utilized by just a minor part of the internet-connected populace. The search engines were moderate and wasteful, so there was next to no obstruction in business-to-consumer communications. (Siu, 2017) Meta-Filter was the only genuine social media website, but with the little number of advanced early adopters. To get an advertising message on the webpage was almost unimaginable. Social media marketing happens in a law based condition that has moved the control over 10 years back from the organizations to the individual, and smart organizations have changed in accordance with this model and made sense of how to take advantage of the structure without depending too much on the framework which as often as possible has exceptionally negative results. To prevail in the social media universe, a brand must find ways to discover approaches to value their message with an aim to get the number of up-votes, likes, or shares to rise to the top. (Siu, 2017) Consider that, in a singular time, organizations have expected to conform to new advancing channels (web and social), choosing how to place assets into and utilize new advances, and contend on a worldwide stage. These things were scarcely conceivable to the previous generations. (Marr, 2017) The challenges faced by businesses include uncertainty about the future because of changing economic environment. As business sectors and technologies have changed, so do standards and regulations. The key to sustainable future for an organization will be to recruit correctly skilled people, innovation, match up with the new technologies such as web, app development, cloud computing and presence in social media. Extracting correct information and instantly providing customer service also gives the company an edge above its competitors. Social media basically plays an extraordinary part in helping an organization get numerous businesses, fabricating a discussion with clients and make organization's image surely understood to clients. Most cell phone business organizations are utilizing social media to interact and associate with their clients. The organizations utilize social media platform to associate with customers by sharing most recent information about the products or services, sharing pictures of the new items or of any changes made at present on the item. Over the long run this guarantees information about new product or about changes made on the existing item should reach the clients on time in such a manner that it makes a long-lasting association with the clients. (Basri, 2016) The organizations additionally utilize social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote the cell phones. This will help the organization cover a wide audience since the world has numerous users of the social media platforms and once they visit their media pages, they will tend to go over the commercial and all the information about the new items. This will in the end empower the organization make a considerable sale because the promotion catches numerous customers around the world. Social media guarantees an organization gets customer feedback in a quick way. For example, if the cell phone sold to the client had an issue with its components, the client can raise a complaint through the social media platform. It can be attended as quick as possible subsequently building a decent image for the organization and draw in more customers over the long run. The organization likewise utilizes social media in completing statistical survey to discover present and more information about their rivals and search for methods to outsmart them. (Capriotti, 2009) They also use the social media platform to investigate on statistic information with the goal that they can have an insight of the populace they should serve; this data helps the organization anticipate the number of products to produce so they can fulfil their customers demand. Frequent communication made to customers through social networking additionally helps the organization get a chance to raise the brand awarenes s, the brand loyalty, and the acknowledgment of the product brand to all people. (Grayson, 2014) Social media has however introduced a great impact on how business works today since organizations have a lot to gain from utilizing social media and little to lose. As per the case study of cell phones business, most operations in the organizations have changed to be more proficient and successful using social media. Utilization of this platform has empowered faster way to deal with clients anywhere in the world, fast access to items and wide spread of information. Promoting products has been made simple using social media because customers are fetched effectively online which gives a great opportunity to get more customers inside a short period when contrasted with searching for customers physically. This consequently helps the organization increment on sales. Social media is a decent tool that guarantees productive and appropriate client benefit as argued by specialists. This is because the social media platform offers an open door that makes it simple for clients to have a close association with the company. Through this platform, the organization can get information from clients about their preferences and their needs. Experts additionally recommend that social media gives a well-disposed condition to clients to raise their issues which are settled quicker than the normal way the organization may have done. Customer engagement with the organization is likewise accomplished using social media particularly in the marketing field. The fast-developing use of internet by many people makes a durable relationship in business operation activities. (He, Wang, Chen, and Zha, 2015) Despite social media expresses different advantages to organizations, there are different risks and challenges involved in utilizing the platform. Organizations for the most part are structured in a progressive way. The utilization of social media pounds this because most of the customers are attended directly without following the long traditional strategy of the hierarchy. Adopting the social media platform in business operations ruin the execution of the organization approach tenets and directions to customers. This thus results to a noteworthy test of unsafe business since most clients don't know about the organization policy and guidelines therefore end up taking part in business without fitting in with any rules. Another challenge companies face from embracing the utilization of social media is decrease in production because of obliterations by numerous person to person communication exercises. In the past production was steady because of the association of manpower but today m ost creation exercises rely upon innovation which when distracted brings down creation. A few competitors utilize social media platform to post inappropriate material and derisive messages against their rivals. This at last demolishes the notoriety of such organizations because most clients will have the access to the information. Organizations that depends such a great amount on social media platform where they save some of their sensitive information, may wind up losing it if such frameworks fall flat or get corrupted by outsider. Such situation results to a major challenge that such organization will face. Utilization of social media also denies physical collaborations with customers amid marketing process. Absence of direct communication with customers may not give enough data about what the customer needs. However, the utilization of social media has different benefits to the organizations that have accepted the platform. Initially social media has empowered most organizations make productivity in operations inside the organization. It has helped in accelerating development and innovating which was never in existence and enhance services and guarantee quick production. To add to that the social media platform has guaranteed better conveyance of product and services. (Mangold and Faulds, 2009) In addition, social media has additionally improved the promoting and advertising activities. The platform gives detailed information about products or services being introduced in the market, guarantee it achieves numerous clients and furthermore guarantee better understanding of the products as indicated by customer preferences. The use of social media makes a point of contact amongst customers and the product. By doing these customers expect quick response about the product and in case of any i ssue they hope to be attempted immediately. Web-based social networking guarantees quick feedback from buyers and follow up on that feedback as quick as could be allowed. New opportunities are additionally made using social media that people may miss out if they don't utilize web-based social networking stages. Clients are kept happy by tending to any negative comments or experience they face giving the organization a chance to outsmart their rivals. (He, Wang, Chen, and Zha, 2015) Social media also makes a possibility for the organization to find out about its target group and consumers, whereby it gives insights about the need of the audience. Getting to realize what the customer require helps an organization find different innovative ways to contact their audience which can be through promoting subsequently leading to increased conversions. Social media if applied correctly, it will likewise help the organization see an increment in its sale. Customers that are interested in the advertised item on a social media platform will inevitably react to the business messages and to add to that, having a social media presence gives a chance to think about the product over the long run allowing the organization to acquire deals and build their brand name. (Thallmaier, n.d.) Conclusion Social media has an extraordinary effect in branding numerous companies. Having social media methodology makes it simple to accomplish incredible awareness about product, organization image and expanded customer loyalty. It additionally ensures efficiency in all business operations. However, organizations should be aware about the negative impact that social media may convey to the organization. As indicated by past reviews, social media apparently is the most utilized platform for promotion that includes gathering of information from customers and drawing the attention to any unique product. Furthermore, social media being a new phenomenal should be subjected to change with the end goal for it to be valuable for the core business. The future is here so the organizations need to consider the main alternatives to remain in contact with the customers. (Ritter, 2014) References Basri, W. (2016). Social Media Impact on Small and Medium Enterprise: Case Review of Businesses in the Arab World. Arts And Social Sciences Journal, 07(06). https://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2151-6200.1000236 Capriotti, P. (2009). Economic and Social Roles of Companies in the Mass Media. Business Society, 48(2), 225-242. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0007650307305724 Grayson, D. (2014). Social intrapreneurism and all that jazz. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing. He, W., Wang, F., Chen, Y., Zha, S. (2015). An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses. Information Technology And Management. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10799-015-0243-3 Jussila, J., Krkkinen, H. and Leino, M. (2013). Innovation-related benefits of social media in Business-to-Business customer relationships.International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication, 5(1), p.4. Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. 1st ed. London: Routledge. Mangold, W. and Faulds, D. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), pp.357-365. Marr, B. (2017). The 10 biggest challenges businesses face today (and need consultants for) - Hiscox Business Blog. [online] Hiscox Business Blog. Available at: https://www.hiscox.co.uk/business-blog/the-10-biggest-challenges-businesses-face-today-and-need-consultants-for/ [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Meredith, M. (2012). Strategic Communication and Social Media: An MBA Course From a Business Communication Perspective.Business Communication Quarterly, 75(1), pp.89- 95. Ritter, M. (2014). How Social Media is Changing the World of Business Communications - Techstars. [online] Techstars. Available at: https://www.techstars.com/content/entrepreneur-resources/how-social-media-is-changing-the-world-of-business-communications/ [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Siu, E. (2017). Impact of Social Media in Today's Business World - Single Grain. [online] Single Grain. Available at: https://www.singlegrain.com/blog-posts/impact-of-social-media-in-todays-business-world/ [Accessed 15 May 2017]. Thallmaier, S. Customer Co-Design. Vibes, B. (2015). How Doing Business Has Changed in the Past 20 Years Read more at https://www.business2community.com/trends-news/how-doing-business-has-changed-in-the-past-20-years-01340827#wo43F2g3EGjY8Ssr.99. [online] https://www.business2community.com. Available at: https://www.business2community.com/trends-news/how-doing-business-has-changed-in-the-past-20-years-01340827#CzlEpjQ1cUQoFDxb.97 [Accessed 14 May 2017]. The Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication Question: Discuss about The Impact of Social Media on Contemporary Business Communication ? Answer: Introduction Communication is an integral part of organizations, as it assists in communicating vital organizational information regarding the products or services with the stakeholders (Aral, Dellarocas and Godes 2013). The study will discuss the impact of social media on contemporary business communication. The study will also select an example of suitable business organization, which uses social media platform in its business communication. The study will also highlight some examples through which the organization is utilizing social media channels for its business communication. Discussion Business communication is the way of communicating vital business information with the internal as well as external stakeholders of the organization. It is used for promoting the products or service of an organization towards the commercial benefits of the organization. In the early days, the business communication was quite different from contemporary business communication. According to Trainor et al. (2014), traditional business channels are mostly included publications, billboards, face-to-face, radio and television and telephones. However, most of the business communication channels are able to target limited numbers of organizational stakeholders. Hajli (2014) opined that traditional communication channels are also having lack of timeliness towards reaching the valuable information to the right audience. Over the last 20 years, the ways of business communication has completely changed. With the advancement in technology, modern business organizations are more willing to communicate with the customers personally. High competition in the market has raised the requirement of speed in business communication for beating the market competition. Moreover, personal information about the target audience is more accessible on the internet. In this extent, the concept of social media has come in the business operation and communication of the contemporary business. Contemporary businesses are more inclined to interact with the customers towards understanding their dynamic changes in their needs and demands (Ngai, Tao and Moon 2015). Moreover, with the globalization nature of the business, the contemporary businesses are more likely to reach timely and valuable information to the global customers and stakeholders. Social media has become an integral part of almost every people in the world in their daily life. Paniagua and Sapena (2014) opined that the mobile-based and web-based technology of social media allows the contemporary business towards interactive communication with the customers. Rather than mere information sharing, social media allows the contemporary businesses towards enhancing customer relationship. With the interactive nature of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, the customers can easily share their feedbacks regarding the specific products or services. Hence, the organizations can understand the customer perspectives of their products or services. In this way, the organization can customize their products or services as per the needs of the customers towards gaining competitive advantage. On the other hand, Tsimonis and Dimitriadis (2014) opined that this communication medium also allows wide customer reach worldwide in a fraction of second, as social media platform is used by huge people in the world. It can also minimize the advertising cost of the contemporary businesses through positive word of mouth in social media platform. As per Gensler et al. (2013), social media channels allow the customers to share interesting image, important links and information about their preferred products with each others. In this way, contemporary businesses are more effective towards better promotion of their products or services. It can also be used for enhancing the customer base of the organization through electronic word of mouth on this platform. With the growing needs of beating competitive pressure of market, contemporary businesses face challenges in terms of speed in business communication. It is also a challenge for the global business to maintain timeliness in business communication. According to Tsimonis and Dimitriadis (2014), social media platform allows the business organizations towards communicating the products features in few seconds. On the other hand, Huang, Baptista and Galliers (2013) opined that business organizations have no control over the communication of the customers. Often, the negative feedback provided by the customers regarding a specific product or services can bring disastrous impact on the business operation. With the decentralized nature of workplace management in global businesses, the organizations often face communication issues in the employee engagement. According to Huang, Baptista and Galliers (2013), social media platform allows the business to create strong employee network through sharing important organizational information. However, Wagner, Vollmar and Wagner (2014) opined that employee may share confidential information about the organization, which is actually not intended to promote. It can causes security breaches for the organizational information, which can lead to damage to the organization. Contemporary businesses are having wide customer groups. They are to deal with wide range of customers in daily basis. In such situation, the contemporary businesses face huge challenges in maintaining personal relationship with wide range of customers. According to Gensler et al. (2013), social media platform has enhanced the customer interaction ability of the contemporary business. Hence, the organizations are highly capable of identifying the customer issues and resolving those immediately towards maintaining good relationship with them. On the other hand, Paniagua and Sapena (2014) opined that the cost per interaction in social media is practically zero. Hence, the web is getting more and more spams and irrelevant information. In this way, the contemporary businesses are facing it hard to communicating the informative message with the target audience to resonate. Coca-Cola Amatil can be considered as the suitable example of organization, which effective use social media for communicating with its global customers. The organization post interactive and attractive images and videos on Facebooks and YouTube regarding their special products (Ngai, Tao and Moon 2015). Moreover, along with the images and videos, the organization also shares the important information regarding the products on the social media channels. In this way, social media can effectively promote the products of this organization. On the other hand, positive feedback posted against the product image of videos can actually foster customer attraction towards increasing product sales. On the other hand, the organization also shares some useful links reading the product discounts and offers on its Twitter account (Treem and Leonardi 2013). It helps the customers to get useful and attractive product information in terms of discounts and offers. In this way, social media has huge eff ective on the organization towards enhancing customer loyalty. Apart from only sharing the organizational information, Coca-Cola also uses social media platform for establishing personal relationship with the customers. The organization asks the customers regarding any changes, which they want to include in the products for the improvement. It enhances customer value by providing more value to the suggestion of the customers. In this way, the organization is quite capable of building personal relationship with the customers and maintaining customer loyalty (Paniagua and Sapena 2014). Moreover, through incorporating the unique customer suggestion in the products, the organization is quite capable of gaining competitive edge over the rival organizations. Conclusion While concluding the study, it can be said that social media goes beyond just sharing organizational information to the customers. In this competitive business world, organizations have high needs to provide useful information to the customers in timely manner. Social media is an effective way of offer detailed useful information to the customers and getting reply of those customers. Apart from that, contemporary businesses are also quite capable of building strong personal relationship with the customers. Coca-Cola Amatil is effectively using social media platform towards enhancing its customer loyalty and customer base. 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