What is the role of social media in business? This question is one we have already begin to discuss in class. Could it be a variety of things? We use social media to connect to a community of those with shared interests. We use social media to give our business a face. Particular representatives take the responsibility of connecting to their public.
One assumption that has sometimes been made is that social media is within the sphere of personal and not business, but it appears to be a hybrid of the two. Social media responsibilities may generally fall within the marketing department, however due to the nature of social media, anyone can be involved. Sharing from a variety of sources as events occur is one of the appealing and unique attributes of social media.
Therefore, an interesting way to think about this issue was brought about by discussing the role of agency in social media. Is it a good idea to hire an agency in order to fulfill ones social media needs? There is no proxy for personal relationships or passion is an idea that sheds some light on how we may look at the role social media plays for a business.
The Twins baseball team is on my Facebook. I receive updates, videos of game highlights, pictures of players in the community, and so on. This way of connecting to their public is interesting in that it updates 'us' with the daily events of the organization and its players. However, would it not be more interesting for the Twins public to additionally hear posts made by its players, manager and others involved directly to add to the personal connection. They appear to use an agency for their social media needs. While many players use Twitter, that is generally more individual and not organizational interaction.
While a business holds a set of goals, the personal connection made through social media plays a part in reaching those goals. An understanding of the role of social media and the assumptions that role brings are important to understand as we interact within this social media driven world.
Yes, I think that the business world, as usual, uses whatever medium has the public attention. Ads in every physical public space attests to this and now virtual space is receiving the same treatment (good or bad). Being able to select our the businesses we see would be best, but not always possible even in the virtual world.
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