Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networks in Media

Question: Discuss Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Social Networks In Media? Answer: Introduction Social media is the important concept which has brought an effective change in the business of any organization in terms of business-to-business communication, customer-to-customer communication and business-to-customer communication. The objective of this report is to provide the study of social media applied in the business. Social media has made it possible for the people to talk with many other people around the world. Social media has provided of opportunities to present the product in the various communities that may be involved. Social media comprises various functions in the technological terms which allow the customers to tag, post, dig, blog etc. There are many social media platforms i.e. FaceBook, MySpace, Digg, Google plus, Twitter and LinkedIn (Barefoot Szabo, 2010). These platforms are helpful for any kind of business to provide the information regarding products and services to the customers. Social media can be considered as an attractive tool for the various trades to market their products and services. It can be seen that users of social media are highly motivated. It is observed that around 70% of social media users are engaged with although social media marketing has much remuneration on the customers and marketers but on the other hand, it has unenthusiastic impact also. Due to lack of monitoring and control, and ease way of getting information, there is the disadvantage related to many risks and cyber crimes (Sheth Sharma, 2005). Literature review: Social media marketing Social media marketing is rapidly increasing way in which many businesses acre able to target the customers easily. Social media marketing can be described as the use of social media channels to promote an organization along with its products and services (Watson et al, 2002). By encouraging the customers to spread the message, social media has engaged with mass marketing and mass communication. There are many new tools being developed for the businesses. Social media marketers are effective in the market by using various social networking platforms. There are many social media sites having many different forms and features. Gordhamer (2009) has related the social media marketing with the relationship marketing of the various companies try to maintain market connection with the customers in the market. This fact of the social media marketing shows different face of the relationship marketing in which building and maintain the potential relationship with the customers is important to improve customers loyalty towards the particular products and services. Jan Khan (2014) started that Social media is an innovative and important tool by which organizations are able to cater very strong relationship with the consumers on the virtual networks. It is very easy now to manage and maintain public relations by the social media as large number of potential customers are active on various social media platforms (Fiore, Kim Lee, 2005). In present time, consumers are more powerful and busy in their daily life, so, companies must be available in each and every social media platform such as Twitter, FaceBook, Blogs and Forums at any time. Provided opportunities are very important for every company (Tanuri, 2010). Palmer and Lewis (2009) argued that various media channels are facing many issues and challenges in present times and the companies are facing down turn in their profit levels. So, they are correlating these traditional channels with the social media in the brand management and marketing. So, in the tough economic environment, companies are focusing on budgets especially advertisement budgets that have shifted towards online channels. According to Forrester research study (2011), companies are continuously shifting towards online advertisements according to the choice of buyers. In current trend, buyers and consumers are more social media enthusiasts and tech savvy. From last few years, various kinds of social media platforms are available that connect people to each other (Fogg, 2003). There are many popular sites which are widely used by people i.e. Twitter, YouTube, Face Book Flicker and LinkedIn. These are the most common channels used by various companies for the online marketin g to create brand awareness and to engage the customers with the products or services (Hill, Provost Volinsky, 2006). Social media marketing is basically helpful for the companies to establish the relationship on the professional level. Social media marketing has both advantage and disadvantage on the business practices. There are many researchers who gave their different opinions regarding advantage and disadvantage of social media on business (Kaplan, Haenlein, 2010). Arguments for both aspects are described below. Advantages Watson (2002) argued that due to attractiveness of digital marketing, there are many businesses are focusing on social media to endorse their products and services to possible and existing customers. There are popular social networking sites i.e. Twitter and FaceBook which have changed the way of business in terms of promotion and advertising. Some businesses attract the customers directly by social network pages more than attracting by the website of the company. There are some advantages of social media marketing for the companies. The key advantage of social media in the business is that it reduces the cost of the business. The cost incurred in social media marketing is comparatively lesser than other marketing tools such as distributors, middlemen or salesperson. Along with this, social media marketing enables the companies to connect with the customers which cannot be possible by other distribution channels. Various social media platforms reduce costs and increase customers access by providing advantage in two areas for the customers (Gurau, 2008). First, the marketing companies are able to provide unlimited information to the customers without any kind of obstacles. This is a key advantage over the other forms to contact with the customers because by the social media networks, companies provide amount of information as compared any other form of communication (Gommans, Krishnan Scheffold, 2001). Along with this, one more important thing is that information can be provided in such a way that customers can easily understand. This can be understood by an example, reservation system and scheduling in the airlines is complex to generate and sustain according to individual needs. In this situation, web-based format is very helpful to maintain customers loyalty as choices of consumers are large (Xiang Gretzel, 2010). Second, by the social media marketing, companies are able to make communications by modifying information for the consumers. Information allows the consumers to select the products and services that meet up with their definite needs. For instance, seat arrangements and online checking can b e done by internet now. Social media tools allow the companies to do transactions with the customers which require human contact (Forman, Ghose Wiesenfeld, 2008). To identify and address various advantages of social media, there are five major advantages in this field and those are described below: Interactivity- By the interactivity of new media, consumers are becoming more active in their shopping behavior. Interactivity is one of the defining factors in new media technologies which provide better admittance of information with the control over the social media content. In the online social networking context, interactivity can be described as consumer centered communication with messages, machines or other users which focus on experimental features of social networking process. Studies reveal that increased level of interactivity is the cause of higher involvement and more positive attitude of the customers towards a particular brand (Liu, Yuping Shrum, 2002). Cost-related- Based on the research of Weinberg (2009), the key benefit of social media is cost-related. The majorities of social media sites are free to access and post the information. By the social media campaigns, business can run easily with a limited budget. Social media provides advantage of targeting most of the consumers with little cash investments. Social interaction- This is one of the notable phenomenons in social media to increase and create new forms of social interaction. People spend more time in online involved communication activities. Social networking sites are more popular among the consumers as the most popular destinations (Hill, Moran, 2011). Study related to consumer behavior reveals that individuals spend more time with websites and other researches point out that information on social networks can directly impact on purchasing behavior of the customers (Arthur et al, 2006). Customer service- Customer service is a significant feature for social media marketing. For the companies, it is important to have a thoughtful customer service system. There are links to online representatives and frequently asked questions (FAQs) that are very useful for the customer decision making in terms of buying process. According to Gommans (2001), order completion and delivery systems are important for e-loyalty expansion. Logistics system in the companies provides guarantees for fast delivery after checkout process which contributes in improving customers satisfaction. Along with this, logistics system allows many different ways to deliver the products (Hafele, 2011). Targeted market- Social media provides ability to the firms to attract various people and customers base. For instance, if a person likes music of specific country on the social networking site, then these sites will show ads related to that country music performances and performers. Some sites will also emphasize which country artists the person will like to have personal connection. Along with this, social networking allows word of mouth to advertise and promote beyond advertising. Traditional marketing methods are not applicable in some segments of the customers. Thus, social media is helpful in promoting new and exciting products (Huang, Lurie Mitra, 2009). Disadvantages Although social media creates many opportunities for businesses but there are many complications and challenges in social media marketing process. The key disadvantages of social media in business are as follows: Time intensive- It is well known, social media is interactive and two-way exchanges take commitment. In social media marketing, somebody must be responsible to monitor each activity and answer the questions. It is difficult in the business to manage the service with the social networks. A company in the market must identify the important time commitment or accept or the commitment in the operations (Teinman Hawkins, 2010). Trademark issue- According to Hawkins and Steinaman (2010), there can be the issues related to trademark or copyright. The brand and other property of the company are valuable for the products and services they offer. The form of business impersonation can harm the brand image of any company (Ray et al, 2011). Markers should check their copyrights and trademarks regularly to avoid misuse of intellectual property. There are internet tracking and screening services to monitor marks and copyrights. Trademarks and copyrights are important factors but it can also be affected by the abuse of businesss trademark (Weinberg, 2009). Privacy issue- Further, there can be security, trust and privacy issue while using social media marketing in business. So, it is crucial for the companies to be aware about these issues. Trust is closely related to the security which is an important factor in the online buying behavior. Customers cannot feel, touch or smell the product in the online marketing so, it is important for the companies to build brand trust to reduce uncertainty. There are some perception regarding internet i.e. internet is unsafe, unreliable and dishonest marketplace. So, this perception creates disadvantage for social media (Weiss, Lurie Macinnis, 2008). Negative feedbacks- Consumers are able now to create positive or negative pressure on the company by giving their feedbacks regarding products and services. Customer-generated reviews impact the business process of the company in the market. Negative feedback damages the brand image of the company. Unhappy customers are able to post negative comments or pictures which affect marketers and performance of the company. Negative feedback cannot be ignored by the companies (Fiore, Kim Lee, 2005). Conclusion Social media is an important tool which can be recognized anywhere and should be measured by advertisers, marketers and content creators as the key part of communication. Now, customers are getting a new role in social media. Social media tools are effective in creating and sharing the videos and pictures of the products. Based on above discussion, it is observed that there are both advantages and disadvantages in the social media marketing for the companies. Numerous corporations are still struggling to discover correct method to use social media. Still, many marketers are not fully aware of risk and challenges associated with social media marketing. So, before using social media in business, companies have to do full study on the social media practices. A company must identify essential values and plans of using social media in the business practices. Main aim of the company must be to encourage, increase loyalty and provide good quality products and services to satisfy the require ments of the customers. References Barefoot, D., Szabo, J., (2010), Friends with benefits: A social media-marketing handbook, San Francisco: No Starch Press Arthur, D., Sherman, C., Appel, D. Moore, L. (2006), Why young consumers adopt interactive technologies: Young Consumers, 7(3), pp. 3538 Fiore, A.M., Kim, J. 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