Exploring Social Media's Role in Business Communication: A Case

This essay examines the relationship between social media and business communication, highlighting the shifts in communication styles due to technological advancements and increased customer demands. It discusses how social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest have been leveraged by companies to enhance customer engagement and brand management. The essay also addresses the challenges associated with social media communication, such as security threats, employee efficiency, and potential reputational damage. A case study of Woolworths, an Australian retail company, is presented to illustrate the successful and unsuccessful attempts at utilizing social media for business communication, emphasizing the importance of a well-planned social media strategy for effective customer reach and revenue generation. The essay concludes that a strong presence on social media platforms is crucial for modern companies to establish effective communication processes, but careful management is necessary to mitigate potential risks.

Running head: RELATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
RELATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA & BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The process information sharing between the employees of the organization and the
stakeholders or customers is known as business communication. Communication of this kind
mainly occurs for the purpose of providing different monetary profits to the company. The
process of business communication of a company involves several departments that are,
management of the brand, consumer behaviour, public relations, customer relations,
employee engagement, reputation management and interpersonal communication (Cardon
and Marshall 2015). The different mediums that are utilised for the resolution of business
communication process are social media or internet, television, radio, word of mouth, print
media and ambient media. Communication in business can be further explained as the
methods by which employees and stakeholders communicate for the purpose of discussing
their goals in the organization. The different ways of completing business communication
are, web-based communication, video conferencing, telephone meetings, reports, face-to-face
meetings, presentations and forums (Swani et al. 2017).
The business communication styles have experienced numerous changes in ever-
changing environment of modern business. The different changes have happened as a result
of the increase which has happened in demands of the customers and the growth in the
necessity to communicate with the consumers on a steady basis. These variations which have
occurred in the communication process will be examined with the help of the example of an
Australian company named Woolworths. The company operates in the retail industry of
Australia and holds the highest spot in the industry in terms of the revenues generated from
the retail based procedures (Schivinski and Dabrowski 2016).

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Exploration of the variations that have occurred business communication process
The pace with which the business organizations are moving is faster in comparison
the situation that was prevalent in the earlier times. The organizations have started expecting
from staffs in the modern business environment. The establishments are passionate about the
speed of their operations to sustain positively in the extremely competitive business market.
The internet and mobile communications have been able to affect the situation with the
increase in speed of different processes. The procedure of business communication is now
centred on short messages in place of the long procedures. The fast progression in the
technologies have affected the process of communication in the business organizations
(Vernuccio 2014).
The modern business is going through a lot of innovation and this is likely to make
more variations in communication process. The transformation which is driven by technology
is utilised by the companies so that they can be able to reduce the costs which deal with the
communication with stakeholders and customers. The reach of internet has increased and this
can offer an enormous technology base to the companies which can assist the processes of
communication. The nonstop altering technologies are causing intense variations in the
procedure of business communication (Dijkmans, Kerkhof and Beukeboom 2015). High
amounts of advancements in technologies have taken place in the business environment in the
last ten years which were able to offer new path to the developments of business
communication. The changing technologies will thereby cause many variations in the process
that is related to business communication in the different companies. The trends and the
different tools that are part of the process of business communication are related to the
developments in technology and the applications of these in the business processes (Ngai,
Tao and Moon 2015).

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The use of technology in the communication process of business has improved the
swiftness of the process and messages are received by the target audience sooner than before.
The chances that are provided as a result of the growth of communication are also vast. The
individuals are capable of communicating with each other for the purpose of conducting a
business association without even facing each other in a direct manner. The usage of
technology has thereby affected the processes of communication in a vast manner (Olteanu,
Vieweg and Castillo 2015).
The process of business communication is facing many different challenges in
21st century which have affected the companies in a adverse way. The use of social media
and technology for the purpose of communication have improved the opportunities which are
provided by the companies. The various social media websites like Facebook and MySpace
have allowed easier ways of communication between the stakeholders and the organizations.
This process of communication has some adverse effects on the associations that are
established among the individuals within business organizations. The threats related to
security are a major concern for the process of communication which is conducted with the
assistance of the social media (Grayson and Hodges 2017). The efficiency of employees is
also decreased in some cases as a result of the broad use of social media for the process
communicating among each other. This further can cause a disruption in the work procedure
of the staffs. The consumers are also highly concerned about the confidentiality related issues
that are associated with the communication which takes place with the help of social media.
This can avert the consumers from utilising this media to communicate with the assistance of
social media with the companies. The return on investment which is made by the companies
on the communication through social media cannot be calculated effortlessly (Ashley and
Tuten 2015). The staffs form a main part of the image of the brand on the social media and
any incorrect step taken by the employees on the platforms provided by social media can

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have adverse effects on the status of the companies. The material which is shared or
communicated by the companies on social media platforms are entirely out of their control.
The sharing of incorrect information can make everlasting harm to the appearance of the
brand. The bad reviews which are provided by consumers on the social media platforms of
the companies can also harm the image and the incomes of the firms. The high mass of
content on the different social media based platforms can occasionally cause problems in the
sharing of information based on the operations of the different companies (Fan and Gordon
2014).
The company that has been selected for the examination of communication based
on social media is Woolworths. This is a company that operates in the Australian retail
industry. The company has greater than 950 stores in the different areas of Australia and the
employee base of Woolworths consists of more than 115,000 members. The company is
known in the retail industry of Australia for working closely with the farmers of the country
and the growers to produce the fresh products to the consumers. Woolworths has acquired the
position of an innovative retailer in the country and the organization has been working by
placing the consumers at the centre of all its operations. The customers are provided with
huge opportunities so that they can connect with executives in an easy manner
(Woolworths.com.au. 2018).
The communication process in Woolworths is mainly based on four major pillars of
communication which can be used for creating campaigns which will be able to attract the
consumers. The four different pillars of communication which are said to form the basis of
the organization are, “try this”, “new”, “win”, “special”. The company has established links
with various social media platforms like, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to establish
successful connections with the customers. The consumers are also able to contact the
executives of the company with the assistance of the different platforms based on social

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media. The feedback that is received from the customers based on the different services and
products on the social media pages help the operations of the company. The organization is
thereby considered to be a powerhouse of the retail sector of Australia (Kumar et al. 2016).
The revenues of Woolworths in Australia have increased with the help of the consumers. The
social media based platforms are used by Woolworths to reach the consumers and understand
the needs. The footprint of the ecommerce that has been made by Woolworths in Australia
has been impressive in nature. The information about the various services and products that
are available on the website of the company is highly detailed. The website also provides a
link to the famous social media website named Facebook. The organization has acquired
more than 80,000 followers on the Facebook page and has become widespread among the
users of this media. The home base of the organization in social media has been successfully
created by Facebook (Agnihotri et al. 2016). The page of the organization that is active on the
social media site is updated on a regular basis. The pictures based on the different products of
the brand are displayed on this page. This service is used by the organization in an attempt to
engage its operations with the customers. The loyal consumers of the organization are a part
of this page of Woolworths and they are able to provide their opinions regarding the services
and the products that are displayed. Another social media website that has been successfully
used by Woolworths is YouTube. The organization has created its own channel on this
platform. Woolworths displays the various recipes and the products of the company are
showcased in this website (Obar and Wildman 2015). Then channel that has been created by
the organization on YouTube is of high quality and this also enables the consumers to
connect with the company in a successful manner. However, the low views of the videos
posted by the company on this channel further led to its withdrawal from the platform in
2015. Woolworths has used Instagram as well to create its own space and establish
connections with the customers effectively. The page that has been designed by the company

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on this platform also has greater than 20,000 followers. Some of the feed that is displayed on
the Instagram page of the business are generated by the users which has proved to be a useful
way to provide the opinions to the executives of Woolworths regarding the services and
products that are designed by them (Hsu and Lawrence 2016). Pinterest acts as another
platform which has helped Woolworths to connect with the customers successfully. This has
further been able to increase the presence of the company on the social media. The page of
Woolworths that is displayed in this website has been designed in a careful manner so that the
information related to various products can reach the customers in a swift manner. The
customers are also able to provide their valuable opinions with the help of this page which
can reach the management of the company. The positive reviews received by the company on
the various websites and the social media based platforms can help in increasing its revenues.
On the other hand, the negative reviews can also affect the reputation of the organization in
an adverse manner (Yadav, Joshi and Rahman 2015).
Woolworths has proved to be quite successful in the different attempts that it has
taken for the purpose of reaching the customers with the help of the social media websites.
The company has been able to establish successful communication process with the
consumers which has increased their reach and revenues in the market. The organization has
however faced some issues in the course of its operations related to the social media based
activities. The major failure was related to the YouTube channel of the company which had
to be taken back due to less number of views (Woolworths.com.au. 2018).
Conclusion
The essay can thereby be concluded by stating that presence of the various
organizations on the social media based websites helps in establishing effective process of
communication. The modern companies have been successful in the creation of new and

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improved ways of communicating with the customers who are the centre of the operations.
This has been made easier by the usage of social media by the company management.
Woolworths has been analysed as an example of an organization which has been successful
in the usage of social media for the purpose of creating long-term relationships with the
customers. The presence and the reach of the organization has also been increased with the
implementation if social media. The scene of business communication has been entirely
changes after the advent of social media. This has further made it easy for the organization to
reach the customers faster.

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