A Study of the Pros and Cons of Using Social Networking Sites for Business

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Social networks have become the most common contemporary tool utilized by marketers to pass their message to the targeted markets. They include platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Pinterest among others. Social networks have been widely embraced due to the significant benefits realized by businesses upon their utilization. The practice of social networking has been described as the expansion of a person’s business or even social contacts through making connections using the social media sites. The advantages and disadvantages of utilizing social networks in business will thus be analyzed in the literature review.
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This will be done through the utilization of various studies that have been conducted on the topic.
Literature Review Scope and Objectives
The literature review will focus on the benefits that are associated with the utilization of social networks in business. Furthermore, the limitations will also be analyzed as well. The scope will further entail a search across research and evaluation reports, articles, journals and books.

Other areas surrounding the use of social networks will also be considered in the review to be conducted. The objectives of the research will be;

To analyze the benefits obtained with the use of social networks in business.
To explore the limitations experienced with the utilization of social networks in business.
To analyze the main areas in business that mostly use social networks.

Comparative Analysis
The literature can explore various aspects pertaining to the advantages and disadvantages of social networks in business. Zarrella (2010) pointed out that one of the major benefits of using social networks in business is cost-related.
Most of the social media sites are free for users to access and utilize in various ways. Their utilization in the marketing of goods and services thus results in reduced costs that may have been set aside for the commercialization process by a business. They easily give an opportunity to develop a profile and post any information that one wants to pass over to their targeted audience. The benefit of a business having to communicate with their target audience for little or no cash investment is quite considerable. Lubasch (2012) on the other hand asserted that the public who are interested in the information in a spontaneous way also follows or joins the company.
The social networks can also be used for geotargeting purposes in some cases. For instance, the pay-per-click advertisement on sites such as Facebook is geo-targeted in line with certain criteria to reach the right or intended audience. Powell (2010) pointed out that one of the ways that companies use the social networks is to market their goods and services. The use of social marketing is time intensive. Being an interactive, successful and two-way form of communication requires some commitment from the users. There is a change in marketing when the social networks are utilized. The focus is usually placed on developing long-term links that can convert into more sales. It is thus necessary for a person to be put in charge of monitoring every network and react to the comments that may be made about the business. Moreover, they also need to answer questions that may be raised by people and post information about products that the customer may find to be valuable (Oliveira & Gama 2012). It may be hard for a business to compete effectively if they do not have the right services to manage their social networks. According to Hinz, Schulze & Takac (2014), social networks also have a viral nature. This means that every person who reads posts of the business has the proficiency of spreading the news further or to a broad scope through their network.
For instance, Facebook gives users the chance to share posts, and this can reach a wider audience than what was intended since their friends will view the information. The viral nature of the social networks thus enables information to reach a large number of individuals within a short period. Furthermore, through the viral character of the social networks, increased sales will be realized by a business. This is as a result of being able to reach the target audience and even capture others who were not being targeted. Immediacy is also associated with the social networks in business. The utilization of a network such as Twitter depicts that one can contact the campaigner of their brand in a direct way (Cruz-Cunha, 2012).
Besides, they will also be in a position to communicate with the individual. This form of communication has been associated with boosting the firm. It has further been linked to spreading the word on new initiatives, products and even philosophies (Turban et al. 2015). Any emerging issue that a product may have will be handled in a simple way before the situation becomes uncontrollable especially once the good has already been released to the market. The social networks have also been linked with being intrusive. Some members of the social network feel that there is an intrusion to their privacy when they are involved in advertising and marketing activities. Some users are uncomfortable to share their personal information and have thus ranked the social networks in a low manner in the aspect of security confidence. Efforts to undertake marketing activities by businesses may be met by forms of dispute as a result of using information from the social network sites (Cruz Cunha, 2012). In this case, using the social media networks may thus be inefficient, and the business will not obtain the desired outcomes.
According to Leonardi, Huysman & Steinfield (2013), social networks make it hard for companies to compute the return on investment and the worth of one network over another. The return on investment is the profits obtained as a result of the business undertaking some measures and investing some funds in the use of social networks to achieve a large client base or increase sales. Despite the use of social media marketing being satisfying for most businesses, it has been found that only a few marketers have the knowledge of measuring how effective their efforts are in the right manner.
Lubasch also pointed out that controlling of feedback is close to impossible with the use of the social networks. Marketing campaigns undertaken by a company may thus depict negative results as a consequence of the responses that may not be quite affirmative. Negative information may be posted by customers who are not happy. Furthermore, competitors of the business may also take advantage and post negative information. The negative details may be such as offensive videos, posts or even pictures. Once this occurs, there is little that the business can do to correct the harmful content. It is thus necessary for the company to ensure that they manage the social networks in use in an efficient manner (McGloin & Kirk 2010). This is by responding to and even neutralizing posts that are harmful to the image of the organization. This may take more time to undertake, and the damage may also be quite large. There is also the aspect of local trade and distant fans when analyzing the limitations of using the social networks in business operations as discussed by Hinz, Schulze & Takac (2014). A large number of the social networks are usually free to join and operate.
However, the lack of paid advertising to target the base of customers and local businesses will result in the company obtaining followers who are not found in their local region or market. It is thus necessary for a company to ensure that they gather information from clients on their motivations and interests for there to be a repeat business. On the other hand, the social media networks can fail when the targeted customers are not present to visit the local business on a frequent basis and even provide data in an accurate way by making use of the service. The comparative analysis has thus presented the merits and demerits of the use of social networks in business. It has been depicted that both aspects have issues that need to be focused on and if possible, they can also be enhanced and made efficient. Moreover, it is evident that the use of social networks presents challenges and benefits on the users and in this context, to businesses.
Quality and Currency of Articles and Sources Used Credible institutions have published the sources utilized in the literature review. Some of them are also from the government agency while others are self-published but other sources used in preparing the content have been provided at the end of the work. Moreover, the purpose of the publication is linked to the topic being studied which is the aspects of social networks in business and the benefits and limitations to be obtained as a result of its utilization.
The information in the sources also appears to have been well researched due to the critical analysis in their presentation. Some of them have heavily relied on outside sources and hence depicted the rationality of their content. The references are also of high quality since they have links and depict that they are from credible foundations. Upon conducting an analysis of the authors of the sources, it was seen that they are qualified and have what it takes to carry out a research. Moreover, the names of the authors have been cited in other bibliographies, and this portrays their reliability towards the contribution of material. The sources are also current for the topic of being studied in this case. Most of them that have been employed are at least five to seven years old hence portraying that their information is not obsolete.
When conducting this analysis, it is also fundamental to analyze the purpose of the information that was researched and presented. The information given is facts on the benefits and limitations of using social networks in business. On the other hand, the point of view presented by the authors is objective. The language used is also not emotionally influenced in any way. It is free of any form of positive or negative feelings. The organization of the sources is also logical with the most important points presented in a transparent manner. They are also easy to read, and the authors are not repetitive. As such, the information provided in the sources flow in a systematic way.
Gaps identified
Various elements have not been analyzed in the research. Some of the information that has been presented in the different sources entail the utilization of social networks that have not been fully employed in business settings. As such, it is vital for future research to consider whether an individual social network has been utilized in the company setting before being analyzed on whether it brings benefits or limitations. Some of the information pertaining a certain source may not be based on facts and as such, may be misleading to the readers.
Social networks have been associated with marketing, sales, internal communications and public relations in almost all the sources explored. Nevertheless, these are not the only aspects connected with social networks in business. There are other sectors or elements that social networks are employed in the business environment. It is thus relevant for future research to consider this and ensure that it has been fully covered. Appropriate knowledge should also be presented entailing other sections of business that rely on the social networks for business promotion and existence. On the other hand, most of the articles or sources, in general, focused on the use of the social networks mostly in marketing and advertising. However, this is not the case since the social networks are also employed in communicating with customers in an efficient manner among other functions. As such, they are not only used extensively in the field of marketing and advertisement. Most of the papers or sources that have been published on social networks use in business belong to the countries that are well developed regarding the technology. Moreover, these countries also employ the e-technology in most of the operations at a wide rate. However, some of the less developed countries have also embraced the application of social networks in their operations. Future research should thus consider the validation of whether a high portion of the success of social networks is connected to the developed nations only to a large extent.
Conclusion
Social networks in business are mostly utilized for marketing purposes. They are cheap and quite simple to use to pass information to the targeted audience or customers in the market. There is a wide variety of social media sites that can be employed for networking by organizations to obtain the desired results. It is, however, necessary to ensure that a person is managing all the content posted by the business on the social networks since it may set back the reputation and well-being of the organization. It may further damage the image of the firm as a result of not handling or responding to the negative responses that may come from the public. Extra care should also be taken by a company employing the social media networks such that their competitors will not make use of their information. The efficient use of the social networks by businesses will enable them to obtain significant benefits concerning their incomes as a result of making massive sales boosted by the broad audience reached in the market. However, some areas have not been deeply analyzed in the research that has been conducted on the use of social networks. For instance, most of the research as concentrated in the developed countries and their utilization of the social networks. It is, however, necessary for a balance to be established so as to ascertain the use of social networks worldwide. In this way, the reliability of information will have been boosted as well.

Rodolfo Chandler

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