The advent of social media has revolutionized communication. A photo or video going viral can elicit public outrage or support to a particular cause. Social media is a handy tool for changing the status quo in our societies. When used correctly social media can help improve the performance of a business. Business leaders use social media to help achieve the business’s objectives. This report covers how social media is used as a communication tool within organizations. The merits and demerits of using social media within the organization are analyzed as well. The intended users of the report are the human resource department within organizations, employees, and business leaders.
Social Media as a Communication Tool
Introduction
Every organization has its own goals. To achieve these goals, every member of the organization needs to be well aware of them. Also, a constant reminder is crucial to help achieve these goals. Proper mediums of communication are essential to ensure that every member knows what they are working towards. This report covers how organizations make use of social media as a communication tool. Also, the report includes some advantages and disadvantages for organizations that use social media as a communication avenue. Strategies on how to make the best use of social media as a communication medium are also provided. In the end, a conclusion is drawn regarding the use of social media as a communication tool in organizations.
How Social Media is Used as a Communication Tool
One of the ways that social media is used to communicate within organizations is when recruiting and hiring. Organizations are continually looking for new hires to improve the organization’s output and grow the current skills in the workforce. However, the hiring process is expensive as it involves the commitment of both time and financial resources. To reduce the costs, organizations should seek internal hires to fill up open positions before finding replacements externally (Appignani et al., 2016). Also, the current workforce better understands how the business works. The human resource department should consider the current workforce first. Social media may be used to communicate to the workforce that a position has opened up and that interested individuals should make applications. A social media platform that may be used to communicate this is the company’s LinkedIn account (DeVaro, 2016).
Social media may be used in organizations to listen to and monitor employees. Listening to employees is vital for them to be effective in their roles. Listening to some of the challenges that they face while executing their functions will see managers within the organization take the necessary steps to remedy the situation. When employees work in a conducive environment, and when they feel valued, their output increases ten folds. Social media avenues are efficient for monitoring and listening to employees. Complains lodged by employees are received by managers, and are resolved promptly. One example of a social media avenue that may be used to monitor and listen to employees is Facebook (Baker et al., 2011). Employees may post their concerns on the company’s employee page, and the concerns will be brought to the attention of the human resource department.
Social media may be used to make essential announcements to relevant stakeholders. Organizations continually make announcements to their stakeholders, for example, employees need to be notified of weekly or monthly staff meetings. Also, shareholders need to be made aware of when annual general meetings are set to happen. With the digital revolution, most individuals get their information from social media. In addition to using the formal communication channels such as memos, making important notices through social media as well ensures that as many intended persons as possible receive messages. Also, social media allows the sharing of information thus individuals who did not receive the formal communication will get access to the important notices being made (Goldwasser and Edwards, 2014).
Many organizations now operate virtual teams. A virtual team refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographical locations (Marlow et al., 2017). There is limited physical interaction within such teams, and they rely on communication technology to relay instructions and receive feedback. Such teams make use of social media platforms to communicate amongst themselves. If communication fails, the effectiveness of virtual teams is eliminated. Virtual teams make use of discussion forums such as Slack. These avenues ensure that there is real-time messaging thus all members of the team receive instructions and feedback promptly (Huy and Shipilov, 2012).
Social media is used to rectify miscommunication in organizations. At times, wrong information may be dispersed to employees. For example, the company may circulate a memo regarding an intended email but the time of the meeting may be wrongly stated in the note. Social media may be used to rectify the situation and avoid confusion within the organization. The reason for using social media to correct miscommunication is that it is fast, cost-effective, and has a high prevalence rate. Using social media to rectify errors in communication is effective. After the situation has been amended, an apology may be issued through formal communication channels.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media as a Communication Tool
One advantage of using social media as a communication tool within an organization is that it helps unlock knowledge and expertise within the institution. Many organizations have internal blogs where members with specific knowledge share their ideas with other employees within the organizations. The blogs allow employees to ask questions, share their views, and add onto what has been posted on the blogs. Sharing ideas enables the development of institutional based knowledge. Also, open forums such as blogs are better compared to emails. These forums ensure that employees are up to date on the developments in their fields of work, they also enable employers to be aware of their employees’ needs (Baruah, 2015).
Another advantage of social media as a medium of communication is that it promotes innovation within the organization. Social media allows the sharing of diverse ideas which are later openly discussed. Openly sharing ideas fosters a culture of innovation and collaboration within the organization. Social media provides a platform where individuals can brainstorm on virtual platforms thus promoting innovation within these enterprises (Fuchs, 2017).
Another advantage of using social media as a communication tool is that it promotes camaraderie within the organization. Social media allows the constant interaction of employees within an organization, this promotes deep connections between them and improves the overall output of employees within the organization. Social media interaction also fosters esprit de corps within the organization.
One disadvantage of social media is that there is a possibility of loss of productivity. Some employees may spend a lot of time on social media for personal reasons while still at work. This limits their productivity because they will not focus on the tasks assigned to them. Another disadvantage of using social media as a communication tool is that it can lead to harassment in the workplace. Some employees may harass their co-workers on social networks.
Strategies for Using Social Media as a Communication Tool
Social media as a tool needs to be managed carefully to ensure there is no misuse and that organizations reap the most benefits from using it. Firms may employ several strategies in using social media to address their communication needs.
The first strategy that organizations may employ is aligning the organization’s goals with specific social media goals. This strategy is crucial in determining whether social media is a useful communication tool for the organization. A business should identify the goals of the organization. It should further identify if social media can help achieve any of these specific goals. If social media may be useful in achieving the organization’s goals, then it may be implemented as a communication tool (Effing and Spil, 2016).
Another strategy is for an organization to identify the most effective social media platform. Numerous social media platforms are at the disposal of businesses. Some of these platforms include social networks, discussion forums, and blogging networks (Ngai et al., 2017). Organizations should decide on the platform that guarantees the most success in achieving its communication goals. Implementation of these two strategies will see to it that firms reap the full benefits of social media in their business operations (Hassan et al., 2015).
Conclusion
The report conducted illustrates the benefits that accrue to a business that uses social media as a communication tool. Also, the report identifies the disadvantages of using social media as a communication tool and the strategies that may be implemented to ensure that firms make the most out of social media. In conclusion, technological advancement is redefining business operations, these changes will keep occurring, and it is essential for firms to integrate these changes in their activities for them to remain efficient.
Reference
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