Introduction to Social Networks in Business

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING SOCIAL
NETWORKS IN BUSINESS
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Objectives...................................................................................................................................3
Project scope..............................................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Critically analyzing the concept of social network in business.................................................4
Social exchange theory..............................................................................................................5
Critically analyzing the idea of Social spiral viral model..........................................................6
Critically demonstrating the aspects of Social staircase model.................................................6
Literature Gap............................................................................................................................8
Summary....................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Reference List..........................................................................................................................10
Appendices...............................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
The emergence of social media is considered to the formidable evolution on business this
media not only contributes in providing contents related customers however also tends to
share information among potential customers through this network. This revolution in
technical field has thoroughly affected the business activities like marketing approaches of
the organisations. Organisations and other marketers are using this era in developing their
relationship with retailers and distribution channel. Business organisations in worldwide n are
using social media are gaining numerous benefits that are contributing in maintaining market
position as well as market shares. According to data, organisations are getting 52% sales
improvement by investing in social media marketing. 88% increase exposure has attained and
78% traffic has increased through social media involvement in business activities
(Statista.com, 2017). In global market organisations has gained 69% loyal customers and
53% partnership growth in market (Statista.com, 2017). However, in spite of several benefits
it also involves several loopholes that affect business operations. This project will attempt to
identify both positive and adverse impact of social media on global business organisation.
[Refer to Appendix 2]
Objectives
 To critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of using social media platform
in business activities
 To demonstrate the concept of social media theories for assisting different
organisations to uplift their current trends of business
 To analyse the impact of implementation of social media platform to gain customer
satisfaction and upheaval brand value
 To provide fruitful recommendations for the organisations to improve the social
platform performance
Project scope
The scope of the project includes the identification of potential benefits of social media in
business activities and adverse impacts of the same that can hamper the market position and
brand loyalty of the company. This project by highlighting these advantages and
disadvantages shows recommendation for the business organisations for attaining
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improvement in business activities. The future researcher can use the data of this literature
review as secondary sources. Even small-scale organisations and SME’s can incorporate
these data for using social media in their market activities by overcoming adverse influence
of the social platform.
Literature Review
Introduction
This literature review section involves the concept of social media in business operations to
investigate the potential effects of this media on the business operations. This also focuses on
theory of social exchange theory and model of spiral viral to identify the advantage and
disadvantage of social media. Social staircase model will also be incorporated in this section.
Finally, the major gaps in the existing literature will be identified here.
Critically analyzing the concept of social network in business
In the present scenario, business organisations use social media platform for accomplishing
business objectives such as increase in sale volume and market share. Small business firms
use social media as potential platform for developing communication with customers. The
business organisations develop marketing activities by using social media as maximum
number potential customer can be traced in social media platform. Organisations use social
media in managing customer relationship. As argued by Zaglia (2013, P.217), the companies
provides information of the brand or products and in return, customers can post certain
positive comments to the brand. This helps in developing positive customer relationship.
However as counter argued by Jussilaet al. (2014, p.607), any customer can post any negative
comment or evidence which can adversely affect the brand image and sale can experience
drastic fall.
Customer retention is another organisation objective that can be implemented through social
media. According to research, 67% of twitter follower is actually turns to be loyal customer
of an organisation (Statista.com, 2017). As argued by Scott (2017, p.5), companies through
social media not only deliver brand values and products information however receives
customers complaints. This helps business firms to convert potential customer to a real
customer and then loyal customer. However, it is counter argued by Galaskiewicz (2016,
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