Businesses, Social Media and Management
Feb 11th, 2011 by irfandhanani
Owners and marketers of businesses often ask themselves how they can use the internet to find new customers and engage with existing customers. Social Media gives businesses the ability to amplify visibility and create a value proposition for their target customers.
Social Media serves as a platform to identify, learn, and connect with customers and prospects along with those who influence their decisions.
This means that Social Media provides a business the opportunity to:
1. Identify and attract new customers
2. Continuously engage with customers
3. Develop a high awareness of the business within its target market
4. Collaborate with all within the supply chain
While these opportunities alone can be extremely beneficial, especially for a small business as it can exponentially increase its brand awareness online, there is also another important factor that must be realised – the business image is now largely placed in the hands of its customers and patrons, and a business must be ready to deal with both positive and negative exposure. Learning to deal with these two forms of exposure can make or break a business.
So, how should a business embrace and manage Social Media?
Source: Mashable
1. Social Media is a platform for building relationships
- A business must build a relationship with its patrons in Social Media. Responding to positive and negative feedback, while treating the patrons with dignity and respect, is a big part of maintaining and enhancing the image of a business, and shows that it values its patrons. Dealing constructively with negative exposure is extremely important.
2. Use Social Media as a platform to communicate any special value to existing or potential customers
- Social Media provides a space where businesses can easily advertise special promotions.
3. Become a part of the Community
- Showing involvement in communities further creates exposure, and this exposure is controlled by the business and can therefore almost always be positive.
Social Media gives a business the firewood, and it is up to that business to light it and make it shine, but must be careful not to burn itself.
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