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Michael Prendergast

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

5 April 2017

The Role of Social Media in Business Success

A current phenomenon that is reshaping the world as we know it, is the accessibility to

the internet. With much of the world having internet access, the lovechild of the World Wide

Web has become social media sites, which are computer-mediated technologies that allow the

creating and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression through

virtual communities and networks. Social media has not only changed the way we communicate,

but also the way we conduct business. Companies are adapting to the new age of technology and

switching to social media-based business models on all levels. Regardless of the fact that social

media is relatively new, it is rapidly becoming an essential component of businesses marketing

and development platforms.

The average person has five social media accounts and spends around 1 hour and 40

minutes browsing these networks every day, accounting for 28 percent of the total time spent on

the internet (Davidson). Business are well aware of this fact, so they have become increasingly

active in the social media world. Among the top 100 global brands, YouTube is the most widely

adopted social network. All 100 companies maintain at least one YouTube channel. Twitter

comes in second, adopted by 98%, followed by Facebook at 96%, Instagram at 85%, Google+ at

78% and finally, Pinterest at 67% (Dazeinfo). This clearly shows the effort businesses are

making to get connected and exploit the vast potential markets that social media holds. With the

use of social media increasing rapidly around the world, companies are shifting their business
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plans and models to unprecedented levels. The business world will never be the same again, all

thanks to the rise of social media.

At the global level, it is apparent that social media has a substantial impact on

multinational organizations. They are embracing the fact social media is a cheaper, more

convenient way of business expansion. This is because corporations can develop their brands

with ease and at a lost cost by using the influential nature associated with social media.

According to Adam Penenberg, a United States investigative journalist, social networking sites

were responsible for more than 13.8 billion display advertisements in 2009, which accounted for

more than 25 percent of all display advertisements viewed via the internet. Today, audiences can

fast forward through commercials on DVR players, listen to satellite radios, which do not have

commercial breaks, and no longer read printed newspapers. Businesses can no longer provide

exposure to their products with the old way of advertising and have largely been turning to social

media. Social media can provide a conversational extension to a companys nurturing programs.

Social media gives us the opportunity to humanize our communications and make our companies

more approachable says Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions Inc. Most retailers have

established some sort of presence online to connect with and reach consumers. Some of these

retailers not only share their new merchandise, products, and updates with social media

followers, but also create an online personality for their company, allowing businesses to

personally engage with their consumers. Globally, businesses are embracing social media as a

cheaper, more convenient way of advertising and promotion. With much of the world using

social media, businesses have a low-cost, but wide-reaching marketing opportunity. As a

marketing strategy, using social media is necessary. Rather than pay for the research of consumer

trends, a business can monitor these trends themselves on websites like Twitter and Facebook.
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Through this research, businesses are better able to direct their advertising to the specific needs

of its consumers which allows for better distribution of advertising resources. With the click of a

button, a message could be sent for billions to see in a matter of seconds. Opinions are shaped by

the material people consistently see on a daily basis. In 2015, Facebook alone influenced 52

percent of consumers online and offline purchases, up from 36 percent in 2014 (The Drum). This

shows that it is very important for retailers to manage their social media channels because it has

a direct impact on purchasing behavior.

Big organizations and corporations are not the only businesses taking

advantage of the expansion of social media. This phenomenon has played a major

role in the growth of small businesses, startup companies, and entrepreneurships. In

an article from Forbes, author Jayson DeMers provides ten benefits of using social

media as a small business. Social media aids in increased brand recognition,

improved brand loyalty, increased website traffic, decreased marketing costs, better

customer experiences, and improved customer awareness. Social media networks

act as new channels for a brands voice and content. This is important because it

simultaneously makes a brand easier and more accessible for new customers, and

makes it more familiar and recognizable for existing customers. According to

a report published by Texas Tech University, brands who engage in social media

have higher loyalty from their customers. The report concludes Companies should

take advantage of the tools social media gives them when it comes to connecting

with their audience. A strategic and open social media plan could prove influential in

morphing consumers into being brand loyal (DeMers 2014). As a small business,

every customer interaction on social media is an opportunity to publicly

demonstrate customer service and enrich the relationship with customers. For

example, if a customer complains about a product on Twitter, that business can

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immediately address the comment, apologize publicly, and take action to make it

right. Or, if a customer compliments a small business, they can thank them and

recommend additional products. Social media also provides an opportunity to gain

valuable information about what customers are interested in and how they behave,

via social listening. For example, a business can monitor user comments to see

what people think of that business. Social media is about building relationships with

people who will eventually become customers. The more relationships that can be

built with people, the more they will begin to trust that particular business, believe

in their credibility, and ultimately, become loyal customers. Branding has become a

challenge in the age of technology and in a world run by social media. The rise of

new technologies has caused a thing called crowd cultures. Crowd cultures are

communities that were once geographically isolated, and now, with the expansion

of social media, are densely connected and their cultural influence has become

substantial. Crowd cultures has posed a major problem for businesses, because

these groups created new markets and companies must find a way to appeal and

target these new markets. The future of social media offers many exciting, new

opportunities for businesses to interact with their customers. Going forward, its

necessary for businesses to integrate social media into their overall customer

service experience. When businesses are focused on creating positive brand

experiences, it can lead to insights that have an impact on their customers. And

most importantly, it builds trust. Social media at the corporate level is seen not only as a

marketing tool, but as an overall investment in the company and an opportunity to access

potential new employees.In an academic article written by Donna L. Hoffman, Professor of

Marketing at the School of Business at George Washington University, and Marek Fodor, the

Chairman of KANTOX, focuses on measuring return on investments by using social media.

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Managers should start by considering the motivation consumers have to use social media and

then measure the purchasing behavior of consumers when they engage with various markets and

brands. They also talk about how using social media to measure ROI and purchasing behavior is

a global phenomenon in the business world. Many corporations have used social media for the

hiring process as well. Survey data shows that within a one-year period, 15 percent of finance

and accounting professionals found new jobs through a form of social media. Social media can

be both helpful and detrimental to those searching for employment. Hiring managers sometimes

search social media to look for reasons to not hire an applicant. According to a 2013 study done

by CareerBuilder.com, 43 percent of employers use social networking sites to research potential

employees. Another 45 percent research the "fit" of a candidate with their company by

conducting a Google search or another search engine. 51 percent of employers who research

candidates on social media say they have found posts that have caused them to not hire an

applicant. Job applicants who have racist or homophobic jokes, inappropriate photos, offensive

content, or photos depicting drunkenness or other potentially undesirable behaviors may be

screened out of hiring processes.

A company such as Pepsi, which has been around for decades was forced to evolve with the

expansion of social media. Social media is helping Pepsi gain insight about its consumers which

previously has not been able to do with the methods that they had formerly practiced. Pepsi

forewent a Super Bowl advertisement for the first time in 20 years in order to use millions of

dollars for social media (Qualman, 2010). The level of commitment from Pepsi regarding social

media demonstrates how business is shifting towards this new model of social media and away

from the more, traditional advertising techniques. Pepsi recognized that they would be able to

reach a great deal of people through the social media route instead. Rather than utilize other
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social media websites to promote their product, Pepsi has converted their own website into an

actual social media site. By allowing users to create their own content on their site, Pepsi allows

its customers to be involved in the marketing of their product. Pepsi realizes the influence that

people can have towards other individuals. While this has been a common conception held

amongst marketing experts, social media demonstrates how much influence friends and family

can have on individuals buying habits and preferences. Ford also used a similar model to the

Pepsi social media campaign. Rather than advertise on Facebook as other companies had done,

Ford created its own website which allowed its consumers to participate in the build of a vehicle.

This user generated social media promotion helped to propel the company forward from some

difficult economic struggles. The website generated thousands of views from multiple social

media sites such as YouTube and Flickr. The campaign also helped to sell more Fiestas than

anticipated as it exposed the model to more consumers who may have bought other vehicles.

This concept allowed for connecting consumers with businesses, the utilization of the input from

the users, the creation of new designs and various ideas based around what the consumer desires.

After the success of this campaign Ford continued to make changes to its business model to

incorporate more social media in their marketing. As said by the Vice President and Chief of

Marketing, Mark LaNeve, At Ford, weve adjusted our marketing business so that 25% is

digital and social media (Qualman, 2010). Ford recognized the direction the company needed to

take as the social media campaign was a resounding success.

As companies get left behind by those who embrace social media, we will see its use by

businesses broaden and expand. These companies will also generate new ways to use social

media to innovate and create new avenues for various means of communication. As more money

is dedicated to social media, we see traditional forms of media such as television, radio and
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newspapers lose much of the advertising dollars that they would have normally received years

ago. This in turn would lead to changes being made in these traditional forms of media.

Television and radio may find more ways to connect with social media or utilize social media in

their own promotions. While certain forms of media have begun to utilize social media in small

doses, they will be forced to embrace social media entirely to survive. Social media is beginning

to infiltrate more areas of our lives as businesses continue to expand their use of the sites. As

social media grows and evolves, the responsible use of it will need to be explored. Academics

and experts in social media will need to emerge as the regulators of the field. While radio,

television and newspapers were once new forms of communication, social media has emerged as

the next stage of the evolution of media and communication.

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Works Cited

Adame, Vivian. Consumers Obsession Becoming Retailers Possession: The Way That

Retailers Are Benefiting from Consumers Presence on Social Media San Diego Law

Review, vol. 53, no. 3, Summer2016, pp. 653-700

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=131978db-2e39-43b2-a867-

2a0062a53153%40sessionmgr101&vid=45&hid=124 Accessed 10 March 2017.

Davidson, Lauren. Is your daily social media usage higher than average? The Telegraph,

Telegraph Media Group, 17 May 2015,

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11610959/Is-

your-daily-social-media-usage-higher-than-average.html. Accessed 2 April 2017.

DeMers, Jayson. The Top 10 Benefits of Social Media Marketing. Forbes, Forbes Magazine

20 Sept. 2015, www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-

social-media-marketing/#175103e1f80d. Accessed 11 Mar. 2017.

Hoffman, Donna L., and Marek Fodor. "Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media

Marketing?" MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 52, no. 1, 2010, pp. 41-49,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/docview/757349606?

accountid=14605. Accessed 27 February 2017

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Penenberg, Adam L. Viral loop: from Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses

Grow Themselves. New York, Hyperion, 2009.

Pick, Tom. 47 Superb Social Media Marketing Stats and Facts. Business 2 Community, 19 Jan.

2016, www.business2community.com/social-media/47-superb-social-media-marketing-

stats-facts-01431126#mRvhEPXYTTUuJiKy.97. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Smith, Kit. 96 Amazing Social Media Statistics and Facts. Brandwatch, 27 Jan. 2017,

www.brandwatch.com/blog/96-amazing-social-media-statistics-and-facts-for-2016/.

Accessed 2 April 2017.

Qualman, Erik. Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business.

Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013.