Critical Analysis of Social Media Tools and Traditional Media Tools

This article provides a critical analysis of the similarities and differences between social media tools and traditional media tools. It also discusses the impact of individual behavior in social media on organizations and the scope analysis of social media policy. The article concludes with the development of a communication strategy for implementing the social media policy.

MEMO
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Subject: Management Communication
Critical Analysis of Social Media Tools and Traditional Media Tools
in the backdrop of the advanced and technologically developed business world, the
corporate houses are relying much on digital content for marketing and therefore, social
media tools have become increasingly lucrative for the management. However, these
tools may pose certain challenges as compared to traditional media tools ( Rutter, Roper
and Lettice, 2016). The table below shows some of the prominent similarities and
difference between these two types of tools.
Criteria Social Media Tools Traditional Tools
Two-way vs. One
way
These tools facilitate two-way
conversation and hence, it is
open-ended.
Traditional media may effectuate
one-way conversation and
therefore it is close-ended.
Scale of
marketing
Social media tools like
Facebook etc. are very helpful
in one to one marketing
Traditional tools, on the other
hand, put emphasis on mass
marketing.
Metric The performance metric is user The performance metric, in this

engagement case, is the reach as well as
frequency
Timing These tools are used for
creating promotional material
and advertisements on a real-
time basis. In other words, real-
time engagement is pos9sble in
this case.
Traditional media are largely
used for the promotional purpose
through an advertisement that
has been previously produced or
scheduled.
Language The tone of the communication
language is informal
(Hausman, 2012)
In this case, the communication
is made with formal language
(Hausman, 2012).
In addition, it may be stated that social media has a significantly large amount of user
base. Facebook has more than 2 billion users across the globe and the cost
implications for using these media for promotional purpose are not substantial as
compared to traditional media like television, radio, newspaper etc.
Therefore, digital marketing has been gaining immense popularity as compared to
traditional media. However, it may also be noted that the control of use or misuse may
be made possible in the traditional media which may not seem to be feasible in case of
social media. As a result, the risk of adversely getting affected by way of negative
publicity is higher in social media than that of the traditional media.

Impact Analysis of Individual Behaviour in Social Media on the Organisation
An individual’s behaviour in social media may considerably affect the organisations’
brand image. Since social media is an open platform with a number of actives users and
potential buyers online, the media is very volatile and receptive in terms of public
actions and reactions. Any comments or behaviours may become viral if the same as
the capacity of disrupting the market (Rauschnabel, Kammerlander and Ivens, 2016).
However, such impact may be of two types namely positive and negative, for example,
it may be observed that a past employee of an organisation has posted his good
memories and satisfying working culture of his past organisation in his own Facebook
page. By looking at such post, unknown people or his friends may become interested in
the given organisation and if there is expectation match from both ends, the
organisation may earn brand reputation and also the prospective candidates applying or
the job (Ott and Theunissen, 2015).
On the other hand, if an employee posts something negative about his own office
culture, like dissatisfaction towards the performance appraisal system of the company,
in his own wall in Facebook, the same may create a negative impact on the brand
reputation of the business in a similar manner. As a result, the people will start thinking
that culture of the company to be not in line with the employees’ need and demands and
therefore, they will refrain from recommending the name of the company to any other
peons looking for the job opportunity (Hsu and Lawrence, 2016).

Scope Analysis of Social Media Policy of the Organisation
Since social media is a personal space for an individual, it may turn to be critical for the
management to monitor the social media activities of the employees. However, since
the employee is bound to abide by the HR rules and regulations of the company he or
she is working for, under a service contract, it may become important for the employee
to comply with the code of conduct of the organisation and ethical practices as specified
within the HR manual of the firm (Graham and Cascio, 2018). Therefore, it is utmost
critical for the HR managers to devise suitable HR policy revolving around social media
usage of the employees.
It is needless to mention that an employee should follow the code of conduct of the
organisation strictly in order to ensure that the brand name and reputation of the firm
does not get adversely affected by his or her any of the activities or behaviours
(Dijkmans, Kerkhof and Beukeboom, 2015). As a result, the HR manager must consider
the few elements in devising a social media policy statement for an organisation. First of
all, any post or comment signifying the immoral activities and behaviours by the
employees should be observed. In addition, the employee should also be directed not to
post or comment on anything revealing business related necessary information.
Moreover, any post or comment with disrespectful words and behaviours by the staffs
should also be strictly avoided. Finally, it may be noted that all these are mandatory and
employees should be encouraged to strictly follow the same violation of which may lead
to severe consequence and even termination at times.

Development of Communication Strategy
The aforesaid policy sets should be well communicated to the staff of the organisation
and hence, it becomes the responsibilities of the HR director to effectively percolate the
given policy sets into the work culture and employees. For the purpose, the
communication strategy will need to be developed and all the employees should be
communicated about the social media policy of the organisation accordingly (Cawsey
and Rowley, 2016). The table below shows the communication strategy in brief.
Timing Preferably real-time data; otherwise, one week old maximum
Audience All the employees
Sender Communication Director and/or Director of Social Media
Key Message Strict bar on any actions and behaviours through post or comment
in social media that may adversely affect the brand image of the
organisation
Desired Outcome No adverse effect on the brand reputation of the company
because of the violation of social media policy sets of the
organisation
` Medium Emails and Training
Materials Samples, screenshots, examples, policy manual etc
Frequency Once in a week (email) and once in a month (training)

References
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