Social Media in the Workplace

How do you feel about social media in the workplace?

I strongly feel that social media is very important in most workplace environments. Almost every company could be benefited by some form of social media. One important thing to figure out is which platforms are best suitable for your business. To do that you must first look at your consumer and who you are trying to create interaction with because that determines which platform is best for you.

For instance, I would not recommend a company who was trying to communicate with an older audience to use Twitter. I would more recommend a platform such as Facebook because most of that age group have been or are beginning to use Facebook.

While I do believe that social media is important tool for businesses in today’s social media obsessed world, do not use it if you are not going to put the effort into it. A lack of consistency or other social media mistakes can potentially cause more harm then good.

So use social media, use it efficientally, and allow it to boost your business.

Erik Qualman makes a list of pros and cons in companies in his article,  http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1900169/14-social-media-pros-cons.

I have listed some from his list below:

Pros:

• Low hard costs compared to traditional marketing like print, television, outdoor, etc.
• Quick, honest, and detailed feedback from the customer.
• Allows for deeper engagements with customers.
• Similar to great brand marketing and customer service, the benefits of doing social media right can last for years.

Cons:

• Often, many benefits of social media are seen in the months to come rather than immediately. It shouldn’t be viewed like Google AdWords, which has a quick return. It should be viewed more like brand marketing and good customer service, which pays off in the future.
• Tools can quickly change; one day it is MySpace, Orkut, Friendster, and Bebo; the next day it’s Facebook and Mixi.
• There are a lot of hidden soft costs: it takes time to develop relationships with customers. In the offline world, developing relationships takes time and effort – the same holds true within social media.