How Social Media Has Transformed The Business Landscape
The advent and subsequent ubiquity of social media has caused multiple upheavals over the years in the business landscape. Facebook was launched in 2004, and the rest, as they say, is history. As of the end of 2016, Facebookhas over 1.86 billion monthly active users, and other popular social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram have a healthy following as well. With 467 million users on LinkedIn and companies increasingly choosing to connect with clients and customers online, business has definitely gone social.
Here are some crucial ways that social media has changed the business landscape as we know it.
Key Job Roles Have Evolved
Being social media savvy is now a requirement for many different job roles. With more business and customer interaction occurring online, professionals across the board now have to be familiar with social media tools and etiquette. This is especially true for those in sales and marketing as well as in customer service.
Since the emergence of social media, many positions have also been newly created to manage this aspect of business. These job roles include data analysis, online community management and content creation, among others.
Customers Expect More From Businesses
Real-time, round the clock customer service and assistance is one that many businesses are now expected to provide. It’s easy to reach businesses through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, and customers have come to expect prompt responses online.
The ease of sharing information on social media has also led to many incidents where companies have faced considerable backlash in the event of a social media gaffe or other similar mistake. The recent incident with United Airlines is a prime example of this. People started lambasting the company once videos and pictures of the incident went viral on social media. Online crisis management has now become, or should become, a key priority for businesses.
Driving ROI through Social Media
Social media has added a dimension to traditional business models that is, at best, tricky to navigate. The upside, however, is that it has made it much easier for businesses now to reach out to existing and potential customers and clients.
Whether it’s through lead generation, advertising or sales, social media platforms have made it much easier for companies to generate revenue online. Facebook advertising is just one way by which highly targeted ads can be created to reach the business’s desired audience, and can be optimized to direct customers to make purchases online.
Organic marketing is also something that has been made possible by social media. Companies have increasingly become focused on creating interesting and engaging content on social media so that it will be shared organically. This helps to either increase brand presence or allow customers to be aware of upcoming promotions or new products and services. At the end of the day, all this translates to increased brand awareness and will hopefully translate into increased sales.
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