BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Benefits of Social Media

 "The elevator pitch about these "intangible" or long term benefits of social media is very simple"(Hollier, 2009). Engaging in social media will help strengthen the brand experience which will support brand building. A company becomes more attractive to the customers, and to current and potential employees, if it has a well-built brand name. As a result, social media will help in building a good reputation for a business organization. A couple of words can describe a brand whether in the consumer or in the business space. By building a brand, it helps to reinforce the brand in the minds of the consumers. Through social media, the company can repeatedly reinforce the brand name. Customers experience a brand privilege while using a product or service and also when interacting with a company (Carraher, Parnell, Carraher, Carraher, & Sullivan, 2006). Brand awareness starts with the experiences of the employees of a company. If a company is approachable, people-friendly, then the company must make itself visible by inclusion on the web (Carraher, Parnell, & Spillan, 2009). Social media forum acts as a powerful way to communicate the brand value and brand attribute as they facilitate open forms of communication. Social media is best for the following situations: 

• Promote open communication between employees and management.  
• Enable employees to share project ideas and work in teams effectively, which helps in sharing knowledge and experiences.
• Social media also promotes better content, such as webcast and videos, than just simple text. 
• Helps to communicate collaboratively between current and potential customers, in receiving feedback, product definition, product development, or any forms of customer service and support. 
• Encourage members, or part of the company‟s employees, to become members of a wellrecognized community.  
• Social media becomes a good venue for discussions and becomes a classic goal of marketing and communications, but the companies must ensure that the employees are adhering to the rules and etiquettes of social media. 
  
  
  Another way to create brand awareness for businesses is by becoming a part of an existing forum and opening a new forum for stakeholders (Kukulska-Hulme, 2010). If this can be carried out properly, it can result in good reputation and build advocacy which means that people are tended to speak positively about the company in a practical and sensitive way (Carraher, 2011). The major challenge for a social media is to be a reliable source for communication as it is not for damage control. Social media can be used to be realistic, transparent, and for being able to communicate issues on time; thereby reducing rumors, negative talk, and motivating people to speak for the company (Hollier, 2009). 
  
  
  There are several paid services available for monitoring conversations on the web. They carry out a qualitative and quantitative analysis of how discussions are carried out and how much the information is spread over the internet.
  
  
  It can be concluded that; social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube have become major sources of hiring. LinkedIn is another similar source used by recruiters, and about 80 percent of companies use it for the recruiting process. Social media has also become one of the easiest ways to improve productivity and to generate a natural interest in the work carried out by the employees. Using these media, companies can track employee‟s creativity and enthusiasm. 

BY MWINYIJUMA REHEMA

BAPRM III - 42686