Social Media/Social media for business

Social Media for Business

Social Media has become an important area for business. Examples of social media objectives for companies are:

• Market Research (through monitoring of social media content)
• Building brand awareness and brand image
• Reduction of costs (e.g. through viral marketing)
• Targeting (i.e. spreading information only to relevant consumers, rather than to the masses)
• Recruiting
• Brand loyalty

Social Media Marketing

When businesses use social media, this is often termed as Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing is defined as “an interdisciplinary and cross-functional concept that uses social media (often in combination with other communications channels) to achieve organizational goals by creating value for stakeholders.” Organizations can address several stakeholder groups through social media marketing. Examples include (potential) customers, journalists, bloggers, (potential) employees, and the general public. Strategic social media marketing also incorporates the management of the implementation, scope (e.g. more active or passive use), governance (e.g. social media guidelines or social media policies), and the establishment of a firm’s desired social media culture (e.g. top management support). This requires marketers to incorporate user-generated content into their managerial practice.