Social Media’s Impact on Businesses

Social media has become a sensational theme and a trending topic for many internet users, specifically marketers or businesses. The reason is because social media has become an integrated part of our day-to-day life; thus, the feeling is that companies who are not utilizing this phenomenon will become obsolete in the near future. Before going any further in discussing this theme from businesses’ perspective, let’s first define the buzz word for our everyday users:

Definition of social media by Merriam-Webster:

“Forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)” (Merriam Webster, 2016).

Diagram of a conversation prism depicting how social media has penetrated people around the world:

Source (Solis, 2008)

The massive progression of social media can be viewed as the “gold-rush” like sensation by businesses. According to the Pew Research Center article by Perrin Andrew, the use of social medial has increased 10 folds between 2005-2015 (Perrin, 2015). The statistics show that 65% of American adults now use social media on a day-to-day basis.

The entire Pew Research can be accessed using this link: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/.

Businesses focus on various behaviors of consumers and use social media to target these consumers to purchase certain products of interest. Some tactics used by businesses include but are not limited to: visuals, catchy titles, customization of items, timing of a product launch, repeated postings, cultural background of the buyer, and public relations with the consumer. Therefore, social media plays an integral role for businesses of all sorts.

Another interesting phenomenon linked to social media’s impact on businesses deals with word-of-mouth (WOM) communications. Smart businesses understand how rich literation shows digitization of WOM is being utilized by social media platforms. For example, many advertisers are utilizing YouTube to impact buyers’ decision. Susarla, Oh, and Tan conducted a research on YouTube’s impact of channel influence and other network parameters in commencing WOM communications. The team concluded, “WOM travels through networks of influence and susceptibility in disseminating awareness, and holds insights in regard to designing social recommendation systems and identifying trending topics in social media” (Susarla, Oh & Tan, 2016). The research depicts how individuals or businesses that are intertwined with social media outlets are influencing behaviors of viewers. I can simply relate to how a trend starts with one person or a handful and then spreads around. I have two daughters ages 9 and 13. My 13-year-old is getting pretty trendy. If her friends have it, she wants it. Just yesterday, we were watching a movie and she noticed Adidas shoes worn by an actress. My daughter asked if she can have these shoes on her next birthday. The visual and WOM spreads like fire these days and this is one example of how social media is impacting businesses in all realms one can think of, and the age groups being influenced range from all generations.

Now that we have a better understanding of what social media is all about, we will delve into discussions of how it is impacting businesses around the globe. Some themes I would like to cover in my upcoming blog entries will include:

1.    How companies are using social media for marketing

a.    Case study of 2-3 different business types

                                      i.     Food industry

                                    ii.     Make-up industry

                                   iii.     Day-to-day accessories 


2.    The different kinds of social media and their strategic uses

a.    Case study of 3-4 major social media sites and their utilization by marketers

                                      i.     Facebook

                                    ii.     Google Plus

                                   iii.     YouTube

                                   iv.     Twitter

                                    v.     Instagram

                                   vi.     Pinterest 



3.    Social media’s impact on advertising


4.    Social media as a channel for public relations

5.    Social media as a means of getting information from the end user

References:

Merriam-Webster. (2016). Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/.

Perrin, A. (2015). Social Media Usage: 2005-2015. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/.

Solis, B. (2016). The Conversation Prism (Brian Solis JESS3). Retrieved October 29, 2016, from https://conversationprism.com/.

Susarla, A., Oh, J., & Tan, Y. (2016). Influentials, Imitables, or Susceptibles? Virality and Word-of-Mouth Conversations in Online Social Networks.Journal Of Management Information Systems, 33(1), 139-170. doi:10.1080/07421222.2016.1172454.