Social Networking in Business: Importance, Advantages and Disadvantages

Running head: SOCIAL NETWORKING IN BUSINESS
SOCIAL NETWORKING IN BUSINESS
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Literature Review
Concept and importance of social networking in business
Social networking is the technique of using a platform that makes use of internet in order
to create relationships and connections between people who have common interests or due to
others reasons (Sajid, 2016). It is a form of communication that helps to connect and
communicate with each other especially for those people who are located at some distance from
each other. These social networking sites are basically computer networks that help in
connecting the users. There are four main types of social networking services- it can be used for
socializing with others, it can be used in business and companies for helping the employees
interaction with each other, it can be used to provide necessary information to the users. Social
networking is used in different fields such as businesses and others. It is used as a marketing
strategy in business. Social media in business can help to improve the communication between
the people within the organization and also to improve the communication with the customers.
The customers can be informed using social media such that they can get all the necessary
information related to the products and services (Nisar & Whitehead, 2016). It will help in
increasing the awareness of the customers about the products and services offered by the
company and therefore help in converting the potential buyers into customers and increase the
sales if the company. This method can help to improve the public image of the company in the
minds of the customer’s and visitors. According to a survey about 3million people use social
networking all around the world so a company or a business that company or a business that can
make use of social media effectively can easily reach the customers across the world faster. It

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has been found that about 78% of the new customers have been attracted by small business that
makes use of social media (Broekemier, Chau & Seshadri, 2015). Social networking is used in
business because of the potential benefits and impact it may have on the business and its
profitability. It is beneficial for the small businesses and entrepreneurs who do not have financial
strength and the social network will help to connect with the people at lower costs and therefore
help in expanding the customers’ base of the company. It can also be used by the company as a
form of an advertising strategy of the company through publishing various images and messages
related to the products (Turner & Endres, 2017). This technique help in managing proper
relationships with the customer base of the company as it will become easier for the company to
send all necessary information of products and services to the customers and moreover this
platform can be used by the customers to give feedbacks about the products and services they
have consumed. Brand networking technique’s can be adopted by the company by making use of
social networking platforms. It is being used within the company for transferring of all necessary
information, sharing files, transferring knowledge and other techniques (Hajli et al., 2017).
The importance of social media can be understood from the fact that customers these
days are quite active in social networking sites so before supporting any company and taking any
decision they go through the profile of the company and its activities in the social networking.
The company can improve its image in front of the customers by updating its social profile from
time to time to include relevant information in its social platform and therefore help in proving
that the business is trustworthy, knowledgeable and other characteristics (Horn et al., 2015). The
confidence of the customers is gained through properly displaying the company values and
offers. If a business has a good profile in the social media it can attract many new customers.
Customers look for the authenticity of the profile on the social media and this is possible if the

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company posts proper information related to the recent activities, offers and other activities
(Carlson & Lee, 2015). The company should be able to use the social networking site properly
such that they share their posts in proper timing and proper tone. The social networking
platforms can be used to engage and attract the interest of the customers with the help of new
techniques such that in day the company can share posts about the company products and
services and behind-the –scenes and others. The other day the company can go live on the social
networks to answer the queries of the customers. This way the company can attract the
customer’s interest. Various types of video content can be created by the company and used in
order to promote its products and services (Niedermeier, Wang & Zhang, 2016). One of the
major benefits that these social networking platforms provide is that the customers can freely
share their opinions and feedbacks about the services of the company. These can be both positive
and negative feedbacks. Before the introduction of the social media platforms, the customers
used to call the customer care services and then wait in line for hours to get the answer a simple
query. Through the help of the social networking sites the customers can share their query and
get immediate response of the same. The company’s need to operate in such a way that the
customers get the response to their feedback, or comment or the suggestion and the company
should make sure that the customers feel heard. The strategy of social marketing is most
beneficial for all those small organizations which do not have so much of financial strength
because if they use other marketing and advertising strategies they will have to make huge
expenditures and it may not be so profitable for the small companies. Social media helps the
business to communicate with the customers at a more personal level and this improves the
customer’s experience (www.academia.edu, 2019). It helps to popularize the brand of a company