Source: 1stwebdesigner.com

It’s almost a surprise to find a business nowadays that doesn’t maintain a presence on Facebook, Twittor or LinkedIn. But how effective are these social media tools to companies in the first place? Do they serve a purpose other than to gain awareness about the company? Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald’s post in the Harvard Business Review blog network recommends that social media break free of its marketing role.

Bradley and McDonald’s main point is that currently, social media is mostly used as a marketing tool. While it raises awareness for the company, this ‘tool’ is not being used to its full potential. Social media can do much more, such as mass collaboration, The two say that “[w]e need to determine how to apply [social media] in order to do things that were previously impossible or prohibitively expensive.”

In a different online article, a few exemplars are mentioned: H&R Block, Skittles, Starbucks, and Comcast. These companies use social media in ways that actually make an impact on business strategies, in forms such as mass collaborations, forums and discussions.

Source: Wisdump