Impacts of Social Networking on Business Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Social Networking. Answer: Social Networking In this digital era, humans have developed digital platforms that bring human activities together around the world. Companies were skeptical about the durability of the use of social media and they thought it was just a passing phenomenon. In the early days of social media, it was seen as a platform that young people used to interact and that business could not benefit from it. Currently, almost every company has an account in social media where they conduct their operations such as marketing. Social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have become marketing giants that every company is fighting to have a share of the services they provide as explained by Welton, T. (2015). Social networking applications use internet and companies create their profiles on a specific social network where they can connect to target customer groups. These platforms use different types of communication tools such as desktop, laptops, tablets and smartphones where users can access these platforms. Social networking also referred to as online community allows companies to share content to their followers who give feedback through responses and this creates an interactive communication between the company and the customers (NAKAYA, A. C. 2014). Social media managements provide companies with a seal that improves the validity and authenticity of information they post through verification of accounts as official company accounts. Research on the impact of social networks on companies around the globe shows how it has shaped the business dynamics over the past decade. This has been engineered by the increase in a number of social media platforms and the number of users across the globe. Increased globalization has impacted how companies conduct their online activities as information from one corner of the world could reach to different parts of the world with just one click on social media. Social media has got a lot of research but the area of study is still new and still developing, therefore, requires a lot of research to be done. This study focuses on addressing the overall impacts of social networking on business and how they can maximize them to their benefit. These impacts could either positively or negatively influence activities of the specific company on social media platforms as argued by Berlatsky, N. (2013). The literature on impacts of social media over the past decade have increased and more content is being created as social media broadens. Social media is no longer being used as a tool for families and friends to keep in touch but used to shape how companies approach marketing, public relations activities, education, innovation and also professionalism as explained by Nakaya, A. C. (2014). Social media has transformed communication from complex traditional marketing approaches to into a simpler platform which is more reliable and accessible in most parts of the world. Scope According to social media statistics, Australia research was done in 2016, the number of social media users is close to 24.3 million of the total population. This research will focus on the impacts of the use of social media on business operating both locally and on international markets. The impacts of social media have influenced approaches to marketing and strategies to expanding market share locally and globally. Social media took center stage just at the beginning of the 21st century, therefore, the research will cover all literature from mid-first decade of the 21st century to recent literature on the research area. The study will use secondary sources that are relevant to the research topic. The research topic is a relatively new; therefore, there are limited research works and more literature is being generated. Online academic journals and websites are the most relevant sources for the research topic and produced regularly and studies are improved each time a new research is done on the area (Mckinsey Global Institute, 2013). Therefore the study will use journals and websites to discuss the research topic and critically analyze the advantages and the disadvantages of the using of social media. Books are also an important source of the research as they have an in-depth discussion on the topic. The research will use the most recent research works on the research area to provide current issues in the area. The most relevant sources that will feature more in the research are sources written with the past decade as social media has developed and its use has expanded in the past 10 years. The research focuses on all segments of the world population groups that have access to social media. The research will entail different aspect of social media; companies, demographics of the users, the reason for use of social media, impacts of social media and also the extent of social media usage all over the world. The accessibility of these platforms depends on the internet accessibility in the region and also media censorship dynamics in the country or region (Wasko, M. M., Di Gangi, P. M. 2016). The study discusses how such countries have developed alternatives platforms to conduct same activities. Many companies from different regions are increasingly dependent on social media for different purposes that include marketing, market analyses, feedback collection and education purposes. Tech companies have a social media presence through different sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Weibo. HP has 3.6 million followers on facebook globally; Samsung has 3 million followers on Facebook. Lenovo has 6 million followers on facebook. Apple has been reluctant to have social media accounts it has created support accounts such as App store, iTunes, and Beats1 on Facebook and Twitter and its followers have grown to thousands. Aims The aim of the research is to narrow this research topic to specifically discuss the advantages and disadvantages of social networking on business (Gupta, V., Gupta, M. 2016). The study will focus on how companies mitigate risks of social networking and how they could maximize opportunities provided by the platform. The study will give a contribution to other research work and provide new perspectives on the impacts of social networking. Social media has become a sensation that nearly more than half of the world populations have access to services it provides. It also provides an understanding of the dynamics in the marketing of products and services provided by companies. Objectives The aims discussed above can be achieved by implementing the following objectives: Review literature on user experiences on social media networking and how it has shaped opinions and views about products and services. Establish improvement strategies that could be implemented by companies to increase user experience on the social media networking sites used by companies. Identify the demographics segments in social media to and in the creation of content for various segments. Identify the impacts of social media networking on business operation and how companies can utilize the opportunities presented by the social networking sites. Identify social media sites that favor the nature of companies product and services and provide rich customer experience on the site. Literature review Research on social networking has increased over the decade due to the increasing influence of the users, companies, and communities. The literature on the topic issue is continuously being shaped by the changes in social media sites and network. According to a survey done by New York Times (2016), the use of social media has impacted how companies operate and maintain their market shares. Social networking traditionally was used as a tool for keeping in touch with friends and families to now shaping politics, careers, culture, companies, and education. Social networking has impacted how companies operate in the market as they shift from traditional marketing approaches to digital marketing. Companies have shifted to using social media to market their brands and to increase awareness. Companies choose to use social media as it makes it easier for them to interact with customers and collection of feedback is immediate. The be fearless campaign created by Samsung aimed at empowering younger people to face their inner fears through virtual reality gadgets produced by the company. According to Gupta, V., Gupta, M. (2016) many of the tech companies have a social media strategy that focuses on engaging with customers on a personal level. Organizations identify platforms that provide interfaces that they could manipulate to suit their products. For example, Apple has more presence on Tumblr through the music account which is regularly updated. Online marketing results in offline conversations about the brand which creates awareness and results in increased referrals. Many small companies are adopting the strategy to increase their presence in the market by increasing the offli ne conversation. A lot of literature on digital marketing study the performance of products and how their ability to maintain or increase their market share. Many tech companies are competing for the same market share with similar products. Apple, Samsung, and Lenovo produce same products that are to be sold in the same market; therefore, the individual company has to identify a niche in the market to enable market penetration. This has increased the quality of the products are companies seek to create uniqueness to their products to increase market share. Samsung and Lenovo have a high social media presence unlike Apple hence the increased market share of these two companies in different countries across the world. Social networking provides companies with an inexpensive method of promoting the business while distributing content. Creation of Ads enables the business to reach the target audience without much effort. Samsung has a developed creative Ads featured on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter which features relatable stories to the companies gadgets. Such ads campaigns bring more success when shared to a bigger audience through a medium that most people are more engaged in at the time, for example, Super Bowl and Olympics provide advertising platforms that require advertising agencies to be creative on how to maximize the once in a while opportunity. Apple created Ads which show features of gadgets such as watches and displays specific features Running Ads on social networks such as Facebook and Linked is specific to customer groups, for example, these groups can be segmented into demographics, locality, interests, and behavior as explained by Cross, M. (2014). Their activities can be tracked and monitored which gives a business a perspective on how their operations can be improved. Lenovo developed internal social networking to improve employee engagement and empower external marketing through employees. In a report by McKinsey Global Institute (2013), it shows that distribution of information and data impacts the quality of products and services provided by companies. According to the report, companies that fully implement the use of social networking improve the interaction and build a highly skilled and knowledgeable staff which is turn increases the output. Social media is an important tool in sharing knowledge among different groups of professionals present in social media sites. Social networking brings together companies, therefore, fostering collaborations and linkages. Social media has impacted how companies are ranked as they popularity is determined by traffic on websites. Healey, J. (2011) argues that companies could benefit from using social media as users are directed to company websites resulting in increased traffic. Companies that receive more social media shares either Facebook or Twitter are likely to be ranked higher on Google search. Social media for business shows variations in popularity of business among social media users. The lack of official Apple account creates traffic to companies website through support accounts. Social networking gives a business pool of skilled personnel that could be assimilated to the company to improve performance and output. According to a report by the Staffing Industry (2013), the hiring of employees is increasingly being influenced by social media activities of an individual. LinkedIn is a social media application in which people create professional accounts aimed at linking them to potential employers. This application brings together professional communities where they could share knowledge and their experiences working in the different companies in the discussion. Through interaction, individuals could create an impression on potential employers which could eventually lead them to their dream careers as explained by HEADWORTH, A. (2015). Although social networking has positively influenced companies, there are setbacks in using social media that have affected their operations. Companies have been forced to change their approach to customer relations. Social media provides an interactive platform in which customers have more power to determine the success or failure of a product which is a difficult approach to companies that traditionally had a one-sided form of communication. This approach requires companies to approach marketing through a complex combination of relatable stories of the product to the culture of the target market. For example, the decision by Apple not to use social media for marketing has received some criticism from the customer and trend analyzers as they expect the company to follow digital marketing trend. The use of social media requires caution in all business practices as the spread of information has been revolutionized by the freedom information sharing. Many companies are finding it hard to contain information unlike before when information could be contained within the relevant circles of the organization (Nakaya, A. C. 2014). Social media has created an increase in publicity to companies that has resulted in vulnerability to damage to image and reputation in case of any damaging information going viral. The unfortunate event that has led to the jailing of Samsung officials has influenced opinions that people across the world has about the company. The Samsung Conglomerate scandal in South Korea has received a lot of media attention which has been engineered by online activities of social media users. Increased use of social media with limited control and regulation has increased activities that do not represent the official information about a company. Unauthorized representatives can give information to social network groups that do not represent the true image or operations of the organization. There are many scam accounts that do not represent company views and give false information about the company. This has influenced how these companies recruit employees by checking on social media activity of individuals before hiring them as explained by Wasko, M. M., Di Gangi, P. M. (2016). Employees are expected to be assertive on the use of social media to ensure that their posts do not compromise the reputation and the image of the organization. Conclusion Social networking has become crucial to operations of companies; therefore, management should devise ways to manage their use. Information is power and through social media, companies could harness this power for their own benefits (Welton, T., 2015). Sharing of information on social media last long compared to stories posted on webs considering the fact that more people in the contemporary society use social media to access and share information. Social media has revolutionized the circulation of information across the world and reshaped marketing among tech companies. Information spreads faster and more debates can be generated from a single issue. The world is moving at a faster pace compared to decades before social media took over the world. Although social media has brought some harm to business, it has done a lot good which cannot be written off as explained by WELTON, T. (2015) in his book Getting the Most from Social Networking: Social Networking Risks. References BERLATSKY, N 2013, Social networking. Detroit, Greenhaven Press. https://find.galegroup.com/openurl/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctxreq_dat=info:sid/gale:ugnid:lln_ptamm/ptamm52570res_id=info:sid/gale:GVRLctx_enc=info:ofi:enc:UTF-8rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:bookrft_id=info:sid/gale:bmcode:recid/6ALB. CROSS, M 2014, Social media security: leveraging social networking while mitigating risk. https://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=58873. GUPTA, V GUPTA, M 2016, Social Media Mining: A New Framework and Literature Review. International Journal of Business Analytics (IJBAN). 3, 58-68. HEADWORTH, A 2015, Social media recruitment: how to successfully integrate social media into recruitment strategy. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truescope=sitedb=nlebkdb=nlabk AN=987749. HEALEY, J. (2011). Social impacts of digital media. Thirroul, N.S.W., Spinney Press. https://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx? p=635520. MCKINSEY GLOBAL INSTITUTE, 2013, Resource revolution: tracking global commodity markets; trends survey. [Washington, D.C.], McKinsey Global Institute. NAKAYA, AC 2014, Social networking. San Diego, Reference point Press. PUPINO, AM HA, EJ 2015, Uses and perceived credibility of social networking sites for weight management in college students. https://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view? accnum=kent1428685808. TURNER, K MAGAZINE, E 2013, Staffing service: your step-by-step guide to success. New York, Entrepreneur Press. https://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx? p=1649197 WASKO, MM DI GANGI, PM 2016, Social Media Engagement Theory: Exploring the Influence of User Engagement on Social Media Usage. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing (JOEUC). 28, 53-73. WELTON, T 2015, Getting the Most from Social Networking: Social Networking and Social Media. https://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=85737. WELTON, T 2015, Getting the Most from Social Networking: Social Networking Risks. https://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=85745. YELLOW PAGES AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN INTERACTIVE MEDIA INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, 2013, Yellow social media report: what Australian people and companies are doing with social media. https://about.sensis.com.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/Yellow%20Pages%20Social%20Media%20 Report_F.PDF.