To Commit Digital Suicide…Or Not?

The Social Media Strategy module has certainly been quite an informative experience. Traditionally, my perspective of social media was restricted to viewing it as an entertainment channel rather than a form of business interaction. It was great for viewing favourite videos on YouTube and as a bit of a sporadic/lurker (Brandzæg and Heim 2011) on Facebook, who tended to simply wish friends happy birthday and like others’ posts, the perspective of it as a social medium rather than a business tool persisted. No wonder, then, that updating of the organisation’s corporate Facebook page was infrequent – limited to messages for major holidays or important seasons, and greetings to new persons who like the page for the first time. Guilty as charged! 

In contrast, now, an effort is made to update the page daily or every couple of days to keep followers interested and informed – as that’s a key goal of social media marketing. I’m trying to embrace change. Yes indeed. 

An interesting observation arising from this course is that there is greater critical appreciation when visiting social media sites.  It takes effort to spend time to respond to a customer’s query.  Just as a friend needs a listening ear, in a time of need, today’s consumer wants to be engaged by YOU, the business; otherwise, you are nonexistent.  Business leaders need to be aware that the Millennials are the future customer base and it is critical to reach out to them with transparency and directness (Dutta 2013).

Via social media, an organization can connect to customers/influencers beyond the national boundaries of its nation. Considering that online word-of-mouth is now a significant influence on customers, reaching beyond geographical boundaries is not necessarily resulting in the same level of wastage as former mass media campaigns as persons living outside of Barbados, for instance, can recommend services/products to relatives living on the island as a result of engaging with a business via social media.

So the question is: are businesses that view social media as a fad or a waste of time, committing digital suicide? 


REFERENCES
Dutta, S. (2010) What's Your Social Media Strategy? Harvard Business Review 88(11) pp. 127-30.

Brandzæg, P. and Heim, J. (2011) A Typology Of Social Networking Sites Users. International Journal of Web Based Communities 7(1) pp. 28-51.