Business Communication Evolution: Commonwealth Bank & Social Media

This essay examines the impact of social media on business communication, focusing on the case of Commonwealth Bank. It discusses the evolution of business communication over the past 20 years and how Commonwealth Bank has adapted to these changes by integrating social media platforms into its business operations. The bank leverages social media for various purposes, including informing customers about business decisions, offering new services, and resolving customer issues quickly and cost-effectively. The essay highlights the strategies employed by Commonwealth Bank, such as defining target customers, utilizing different social media networks, listening and responding to customer feedback, and tracking the results of social media campaigns. By building a strong online presence and continuously updating their strategies, Commonwealth Bank aims to enhance its brand value, improve customer engagement, and stay ahead of the competition. The study showcases how effectively using social media can transform business communication and contribute to organizational sustainability.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Social Media and Business Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
In this age of the technological advancement, the use of the social media platforms has
been regarded as a very significant aspect. The social media platforms have become the main
sources for the organizations to make the communication with their customers. In the modern
era, most of the people are addicted to use the social media platforms because they get much
information from it. They like to stay connected with one another because they can interchange
the ideas and get acquainted with the needs of each other. Likewise, the business organizations
also seek to know the needs of their customers and provide them with what they desire.
Thus the customer satisfaction will lead to the sustainability of the organization. This
organizational sustainability is very important for the organizations to thrive. In this essay, the
chosen organization is Commonwealth Bank. This organization has transformed its business
operations in the last few years by the evolution of technology. They have been able to use the
technological advancement for the betterment of their customer services. The Commonwealth
Bank has used these social platforms for connecting with the customers for their benefits and
profits in the business.
Thesis statement: Social media is taking the business communication to new heights for the
Commonwealth Bank.
Change of the business communications over the last 20 years
The use of the social media has been a very interesting fact in the modern day
organizations. They want to build up strong corporate strategies that would cater to their
development and expansion in many countries (Bruhn, Schoenmueller and Schäfer 2012). This is
to say that the organizations always want to build up a strong customer base. This would help

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them to attain the competitive advantage. The chosen organization Commonwealth Bank has
been very adept at using the social media platform to connect with their customers (Jussila,
Kärkkäinen and Aramo-Immonen 2014). The customers can be informed about the business
decisions of the bank whenever they take any major decisions regarding the customers (Laroche,
Habibi and Richard 2013). This is why the Commonwealth Bank has been very much active in
communicating with the customers in a faster method. They want to make their customers know
about all their steps in the business arena in the business industry.
The banking operations of Commonwealth Bank
It has to be mentioned in this mix that Commonwealth Bank has been considered as a
multinational bank based in Australia that has their branches in the countries like New Zealand,
Fiji, U.S.A. and United Kingdom (Commbank.com.au 2018). This bank has the responsibility of
providing the different services like finance, retail, institutional and business related banking,
fund management, insurance and investment management and brokerage services. As they
provide these different types of services to the customers they come up with several new offers
for the customers as well. One of the best ways to let their customers know about these offers is
the social media. At the beginning of their operations in the year 1912, they only took care about
the savings and general banking services (Commbank.com.au 2018) This is why they began to
expand their range of services in many ways. At this point of time, they have made around
800,000 shareholders and about 52,000 employees all around the world. They began the cloud
banking services in their arena as well.
The impact of social media in business operations of Commonwealth Bank

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The Commonwealth Bank has realized that it would be better for them to provide their
services all over the world through the social media channels for different reasons. They have
identified the issues that have been troubling them in order to connect with the customers. If they
want to connect with bigger number of customers they just cannot simply follow the door to door
approach. This will indeed be a time consuming way. They have to reach to the customers in a
faster and cost-effective method. One must come to the conclusion that social media platform is
indeed that way. It will be cost effective, less time consuming, beneficial and attractive as well.
This is how they can get the attraction of the customers. This is the very reason as to why they
can attend to the various problems of the customers and resolve the issues very fast.
Changes in business communication
Thus the managers of Commonwealth Bank have found it a very effective way to
communicate with the customers. The traditional ways of business communication are very
much costly so they want to make larger profits through utilizing the process of social media
strategy in their operations effectively. They will need to make up for the losses in the best ways
so they could invest the dollars in making better strategies indeed. This is why they want to have
a strong presence in the social media and achieve the best results. The brand value of
Commonwealth Bank has really increased after they have integrated their marketing strategies
through the social media. They have identified some methods by which the brands can make a
strong presence in the concerned industries.
Starting as small
The managers of Commonwealth Bank have addressed the fact they started with the
target of being successful in the banking industry (Castronovo and Huang 2012). At first they

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began their journey by launching just one or two websites for the proper communication
(Commbank.com.au 2018) They had dedicated about half an hour time on social media to post
comments, updates, images or events for the various events they organize. These posts can be
given during the peak times in the business operations for attracting the customers’ attention.
Defining the customers
One of the most important steps in this scenario is define the customers and identify their
needs and desires (Wang, Yu and Wei 2012). Social media has been used as the medium for
connecting with the larger audience in the industry. These audiences can belong to any country
or continents. This poses a good idea for the business expansion of Commonwealth Bank as
well. They must have a clear idea about the current customers in their business
(Commbank.com.au 2018)
Only then they would be able to justify their needs by taking into consideration their age,
gender, common interests and their professions (Constantinides 2014). After that the
organizations must be able to address the different issues the customers are facing at that
moment. Commonwealth Bank determines to know about the problems of each of the customers
and provide the solution by judging their situations (Erdoğmuş and Cicek 2012). This would help
them to address the various issues in the best ways and find out the best alternatives. Thus they
have delivered a good message to the target audience and have gathered a good response from
them as well.
Social media networks
There are several kinds of social media networks in the modern era. They have to
understand that different social media platforms have different target customers. This is why they

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will need to identify the different distribution channels of the social media networks (Tuten and
Solomon 2017). Then only they can approach to those types of different social media networks
that would help them to choose the best social media for the benefits. Then they can use those
social media aspects for the effective outcomes according to the needs of their target market
(Armstrong et al. 2015).
Listening and giving response
Two major things in the social media marketing are the listening to the complaints of the
customers and readily responding to them. The marketers always provide the customers with the
needed scopes for the understanding of the problems that they are facing (Tuten and Solomon
2017). The customers can give the essential feedbacks to the marketers about the problems they
are facing regarding the services. Then the marketers of Commonwealth Bank can check the
updated mailbox and give the proper replies to them. Thus the social media pages will really be
effective for the feedbacks from the customers. Thus the Commonwealth bank can improve their
business performance in the best ways (Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi 2012).
Kind of information to be provided
The main purpose of the marketers is to help the customers with all sorts of information.
This is why they will need to address the different issues that they are facing (Erdoğmuş and
Cicek 2012). The marketers approach to their customers to share any information about the
prevalent issues in regards to their services like finance, retail and other necessary banking
services. In the other way round, the customers will also get to see all the relevant business
decisions and important information about the new offers that they post on several social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and others. They can also create an

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editorial calendar that would be effective to keep a track on the contents (Saravanakumar and
SuganthaLakshmi 2012).
Build a proper target audience
Commonwealth Bank has relatively joined the different social media groups and
communities to seek the opinions of the customers. They should build a proper target audience
based on the demographics indeed. This will be helpful for them to get a proper target people of
the young generation. It is because the young people are more likely to use the social media for
their benefits. If the managers of Commonwealth Bank can connect with them, this will be very
much helpful for them from various angles (Vinerea et al. 2013). They can welcome the new
followers in their strategy and get more likes. The marketers will definitely thank the customers
or participants for taking part in their social media campaigns and leading them to the success.
Track the results
The social media marketers must target to get the most effective data from the social
media performance of the firm. Thus they will be able to denote which social media tactics are
working for them (Tsimonis and Dimitriadis 2014). Some important things that could be given
special focus on are the growth of the firm from the last calendar year, engagement of the target
audience in the social media campaigns and the sharing of the contents among the followers
(Erdoğmuş and Cicek 2012). The various social media platforms have the necessary tools that
could measure the business performance of the organization Commonwealth bank. They can take
the assistance from the different cost-effective dashboards that will be suitable for them to
analyze their business performance (Tsimonis and Dimitriadis 2014)
Always leading the way

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Social media platforms are very much dynamic and they are evolving at every stage.
These social media platforms are getting updated almost every week. This is why
Commonwealth Bank has to keep them updated with their services as well. They have to go
through the evaluation process of their objectives and update them regularly (Mitic and Kapoulas
2012). Thus they will be able to stay ahead of the competition than their rivals and communicate
with their customers all significant matters. Thus they can be able to make all the adjustments
and stay ahead in the race (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014).
Identifying positives and negatives
Commonwealth Bank is very much intent on building a good reputation with the help of
a strong presence in the social media. This is why they will look to bring out all the positive and
negative points regarding the social media strategies (Mitic and Kapoulas 2012). They have to
plan everything very carefully and execute them properly indeed. If they have any unfinished
profiles in their websites they have to complete it and bring it into the focus of the target
audience (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). They should be aware about the over-promotion of their
financial strategies and services. They can make mistakes in their strategies but they will have to
rectify them and use the social media strategies for the best benefits of the organization (Barker
et al. 2012).
Conclusion
The conclusion can be driven in this context is the fact that the social media marketing is
the one of the best methods for gaining the attention of the customers. It is a very effective tool
for the business communication as well. Thus Commonwealth Bank has utilized this tool for
their benefits and larger profits. The ways Commonwealth Bank has used this social media have

8SOCIAL MEDIA AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
been discussed in this essay. They have strived to gain the customer loyalty and sharing their
feedbacks. They have been very much successful in adopting the social media strategies by
which they can get the best outcomes or solution for their problems indeed.

9SOCIAL MEDIA AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
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