We live in a world filled with social media obsession. From Face book to Twiiter to Youtube people have embraced all the tools that can help them interact and share knowledge from any part of the world. It is undeniable that social media brings enormous benefits to people and all kinds of organizations for different purposes.
A study showed that the consumers who are Face book fans and twitter followers of a brand not only recommend but all buy the brand they tweet about, which results in increase of sales. We cannot deny the good things that social media does but at the same time we should also focus on flaws it can bring for the organizations.
In my opinion all the PR practitioners and companies should think twice before using social media. I feel this because firstly, sometimes online presence can have numerous side effects. An organization or brand present online is prone receive more unconstructive comments than positive ones.
Secondly, if a company opts to use social media it has to be their 24/7.You should be ready to spend all the time to connect with your audience all the time. Otherwise law of reciprocity will apply. The essence of social media lies in give and take. And if you do not satisfy the customer with your feedback or information. Your audience might lose faith in you and your reputation is at stake.
Thirdly, another disadvantage is the viral potential of social media. This can also act as advantage though sometimes. In today’s digital age news spreads like bushfire all around the world. And in the cases when news is in bad taste , the good reputation can be soiled in few hours. For example if a company issues wrong information by mistake, the chances to correct it in time before it is widely spread are very low. It is not even possible to make sure that correct version gets to all the people who got the wrong version.
So it is very important that companies should be aware of both the good and bad when engaging with social media and should not forget the fact that poor management of social media can lead to crisis. The best thing to do before engaging in social media is to make a thorough analysis to see how appropriate is an approach with the company’s objectives.
