Social Media Impact on Business Success †My assignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Social Media Impact On Business Success? Answer: The use of social media is growing at a significantly high rate. While naysayers predict this trend will change soon, there is no denying that social media have a substantial impact on the operations of businesses. Social media websites like Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, and Twitter present a significant opportunity for business to grow, but businesses must employ a variety of tactics to reap from these sites. This paper demonstrates how social media impact business success by analyzing the opportunities that it offers. Additionally, it provides tools for measuring the impact of social media on business. Social Media Opportunities Drive Website Traffic and Encourage Recommendations Social media offers companies an ideal platform to take full advantage of word of mouth and see the popularity of their brand's increase. In most countries, many people are connected on a global scale and frequently communicate through social media. A simple action like liking a Facebook post can make a word to spread very quickly throughout many other social media platforms, and given that human beings like the opinion of their peers far more than a polished magazine advert, a few likes can help increase the sales of business (Plotting Your Social Media Marketing Strategy 2011; Baker 2017). When their peers endorse a product, they can follow the link to know more about the product and endorse it as well. Additionally, since million of people visit social media sites to find product reviews to be able to make informed buying decisions, small and large business have an opportunity to provide products to popular Facebook and Youtube users to review for their subscribers and win more leads (Venkatesh, R, Jayasingh 2015). Form Closer Relationships with Customers Social media is also a way that businesses use to communicate with their existing customers and create an online family. Through this, the customers can trust them and their products more. When companies notice the spread of negative reviews, they can use this to their advantage and provide the right features of their products to the public. Through this technique, companies can reach out to dissatisfied customers one-on-one and find innovative ways of enhancing the products that they are offering (Making a Business from Social Media 2011). For a business to be successful in the use of social media, they need to be strategic with their posts. They should share their success and failures and avoid being too formal so as to build trust within social media consumers. It is important to respond to as many comments as possible and use hashtags along with geolocators. This way, businesses become more personalized. People look for specific hashtags and allow people to see that the business has a face. People want to see that the business is operating in different places (Evans 2010; (Venkatesh, R, Jayasingh 2015). Increase Influence by Broadcasting Article and Products Social media also enables businesses to broadcast their products, news, and articles and have greater influence in their markets. When they are creating a social media marketing strategy, for that reason, businesses should target the right people and networks. An effective strategy allows people who are not the companys customers to be part of the network but have a massive impact on their marketing efforts. According to digital analyst Augie Ray, there are three critical social media influencers. These influencers are social broadcasters, mass influencers, and potential influencers. According to this expert, more than 80 percent of people on social media are potential influencers. By making to an effort to identify and connect with them, the business can attract shares and likes that in the end play a major role in the spread of the brand name (Li, Stacks 2015). Get Instant Customer Feedback Other than talking to customers, social media enables companies to listen to their customers. When they monitor what people say about their products and services on Twitter and other sites, a business can get real-time feedback on what customers expect from the business. Business use tools such as Google Alerts to monitor and listen on the social web (Venkatesh, R, Jayasingh 2015). Measuring the Impact of Social Media The understanding that social media can help a business to grow rapidly has influenced many companies to increase their investment on it. If businesses to succeed, there should be no disconnection between goals and metrics (Frunk 2012). Use Goal-driven metrics Companies can measure the impact of social media by setting specific goals for all their digital campaign goals. If a company wants to generate brand awareness, the can measure their success through engagement. However, if they envision driving purchase, the conversation rate from visitor to buyer can be an appropriate metric (Li, Stacks 2015). Build Predictive Models Metrics can be used to forecast what might happen depending on the tactics used for example media placement and spending levels. Companies can leverage metrics to build the models and plug in different inputs to prompt outcomes (Li, Stacks 2015). Conduct Experiments A great way to truly understand the impact of social media is conducting scientific experiments. Businesses should conduct small pre- and post-tests to gauge the activity of the customer before and after online campaigns. Another great way is including control groups that matched on observable characteristics for comparison to the treatment of the group (Moorman 2017). Allocate Funds to Metrics A recent CMO Survey revealed that most companies spend only 2.3 percent of their marketing budgets on measuring social media impact. Those that succeed invest more. This particular investment can include advanced technology, customer databases, models, agency partnerships, and dedicated staff (Moorman 2017). Conclusion Social media has continued to have a considerable impact on business success. The use of this communication tool to share and engage with business stakeholders such as customers and potential influencers continue to grow a high rate. Through social media, businesses can drive traffic to their sites, form closer relationship with their customers, increase their influence, and get instant customer Feedback. Businesses are also able to measure the impact of social media on their activities using a variety of methods including using goal-driven metrics, building predictive models, conducting experiments, and allocating sufficient funds to metrics. References Barker, M 2017, Social media marketing: a strategic approach, Cengage Learning, Australia Evaluating Social Media Marketing 2016, Strategic Social Media, 196-209, doi:10.1002/9781119370680.ch12 Evans, L 2010, Social media marketing: strategies for engaging in Facebook, Twitter amp; other social media, Indianapolis, Que Publ., IN. Funk, T 2012, Advanced Social Media Campaigns, Advanced Social Media Marketing, 173-206, doi:10.1007/978-1-4302-4408-0_9 Li, C, Stacks, D 2015, Measuring the Impact of Social Media on Business Profit Success, doi:10.3726/978-1-4539-1590-5 Making a Business from Social Media 2011, Social Media 101, 203-205, doi:10.1002/9781118256138.ch53 Moorman, C 2016, October 17, Measuring The Impact Of Social Media On Your Business. Retrieved May 13, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinemoorman/2015/01/18/measuring-the-impact-of-social-media-on-your-business/#32c9079915e5 Plotting Your Social Media Marketing Strategy 2011, Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies, 33-55, doi:10.1002/9781118257661.ch2 Venkatesh, R, Jayasingh, S 2015, Transformation of Business through Social Media, Social Media Listening and Monitoring for Business Applications, 1-17, doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-0846-5.ch001