Question

Has social media changed how you interact with businesses? If so, how?

If you were the CIO of a company, how might you use social media to help achieve competitive advantage?

Answer 1

Social media is nothing but a collection of social communication platforms that are dedicated to the society based interactions, collaborations and content sharing. In my views, the overall impression of social media is positive, as it has given us a chance to stay connected all across the world. Within seconds, I can collaborate with a colleague of mine, located in another continent. Through the usage of social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn, I can collaborate my ideas with many similar minds spread across the world. The impact and reach of social media is quite huge and this indeed works in its favor.

The pros and cons of social media for business:

• Pros
  • Inclusion of social media increases business opportunities
  • Social media establishes a better connect between the consumers and business
  • Marketing costs get reduced substantially, as promotion on social media is very cheap and easy.
• Cons
  • Social media has increased avenues for business frauds
  • Risk of doing business has increased

The usage of social media to create competitive advantage of business:

• Social media extends the reach and coverage of the business and so more loyal customers can be made
• Social media is information oriented and creates awareness about the business in the market
• Usage of social media raises the market entry barriers, thus making it difficult for new companies to enter the market