Social Media for Communication in Margaret & Sons Textiles Limited

Introduction

Many scholars and researchers have supported the use of social media in companies to improve communication and engagement with their employees as well as customers. In particular, social media have been proved effective in improving job satisfaction, productivity and information sharing among organization members, and promoting stronger relationships and engagements between the organization management and employees (Meredith, 2012).

The Purpose of the Proposal

The purpose of this proposal is to propose the idea of implementing the social media for communication in Margaret & Sons Textiles Limited. This is a family business which has recorded excellent performance in the last twenty years. However, things have changed for last three years; for instance, the company sales and profitability dropped by almost 30 percent last year. A critical observation made in the year was that there were three employee strikes which affected the operations of the company leading to lose of a significant proportion of clients. The company has not been using social media communication in its operations, instead, it holds one meeting in a year with all employees, and does not invite their customers. A whole year is a very long time; thus the company’s management cannot be in a position to identify problems as they arise. Introduction of social media communication would really help in improving both internal and external communication; hence the management would know and attend to approaching problems before they destroy the business.

The Emergence of Social Media Platforms

The emergence of social media platforms that have gained wide support from the general public have created a new method and channel of communication between various organizational stakeholders. The use of Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, YouTube, photobucket, podcasts and Twitter among others in business communication has become popular in the recent past. Giant brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Cadbury and Microsoft have pooled their fans and followers all over the world in active social webs. For instance, the Coca-Cola Company has over sixty-three million fans and followers in its main Facebook page. Companies operate social media sites for various purposes. For example, consumer brands like Red Bull and ASOS push regular updates in their social media platforms in order to keep their fans interested in their products, while Coca-Cola is aimed at maintaining its brand image and increasing awareness of its adverts and campaigns, hence it does not update its page frequently as ASOS and Red Bull does. According to Edosonmwan et al. (2011), social media has played an important role in the transformation of business and communication, and it is currently a significant player in many people’s business lives.

Importance of Internal Organizational Communication

Employee or in internal organizational communication, an area which was previously neglected has of late gained importance. Studies have revealed that effective internal communication produces positive impacts in the workplace environment, employees and productivity. Communication is critical to being a good leader; thus, an effective leader communicates with the employees hence motivating the workforce to contribute towards the productivity of the company. Meredith (2012) has argued that organizational leaders should maximize the use of social media in reaching out to their internal and external audiences including employees, customers, shareholders and media.

Enterprise Social Media

Leonardi et al. (2013) have used the term Enterprise Social Media (ESM) to describe web-based platforms as important avenues for serving multiple goals within an organization. ESM allows interpersonal communication between specific co-workers and the mass communication that is broadcasted from one worker to all the workers in the organization. Secondly, EMS implicitly and explicitly show who are the communication partners between and among the organizational workers. Thirdly, EMS allows workers to post, edit, and sort files, and text hence connecting others in a web-based relationship which can be viewed and accessed by everyone in the organization.

Call of Action

Today’s organizational leaders and managers seek a highly engaged workforce to support them towards achieving their organization’s growth strategies at a faster pace. Thus, a need for call of action to employ social media strategy to set out platform for the organization’s internal audiences as fundamental communication’s tool to be used in noting, deciding and acting on the information that is relevant to carrying out the work and increasing productivity (Meredith, 2012).

The Benefits of Social Media in Organizations

Scholars and researchers have argued that there is a need for top business executives to personally get into the social media communication. This is because these platforms are not only beneficial to the business organization, but they also enable in making of day-to-day communication in the office more effective. The use of social media in organizations also allows in the collection and sharing of information in the organization; thus these platforms can be used to internally collect, share and retain information. The benefits derived from embracing social media in the workplace have surfaced with the improvement in the level of employee engagements and improved knowledge management and collaboration (Leonardi et al. 2013).

Impact of Social Media Communication

The use of social media communication in business communication is an important element of today’s organizational communication studies because this communication affects all organizational members, consequently affecting the performance of the organization. With the increase in the popularity of social media, corporate leaders should adapt their thinking and embrace the opportunity to connect online with other business leaders, employees, stakeholders and clients. Mastering the skill of using social media does not consume much time and efforts, but investing that little time and effort to connect with employees, customers, and other organizational stakeholders in a transparent, relevant, and timely manner can help to shape the perceptions of the company and brand in powerful ways (Edosonmwan et al. 2011).

Keeping up with Employee Demands and Preferences

The use of social media in the workplace has also been identified as an important consideration for helping in keeping up with employee demands and preferences, and also maintaining innovation and competitive advantage. In addition, its use in the internal communication helps to increase trust between leaders and their subordinates. It also allows employees to share their ideas concerning the organization; thus, they take part in its running to achieve the desired goals (Leonardi et al 2013).

Limitations and Controls

With every advantage coming from any strategy, there are also disadvantages. The use of social media in organizations has some weaknesses too. Social media can be misused; hence impacting negatively to a firm. For instance, it has been very difficult for organizations to control what is private and what is public when it comes to the use of social media. For example, while knowing more about other employees in the organization can help to improve working relationships among employees, it can also contribute to an increase in awareness of the differences between them hence leading to conflicts. Similarly, a negative post about a company posted on Facebook maliciously by a rival company or a dissatisfied customer or employee can negatively impact the company even before it realizes its presence (Meredith, 2012). However, the benefits derived from the use of social media in business communication cannot be assumed. Therefore, organizations should exercise stringent controls in their use of social media in order to ensure that they are used well for their benefits. Margaret & Sons Limited should introduce the use of various social media as a business communication strategy to improve communications in the organization. With a successful social communication network, it will be able to identify their employees’ demands, grasp their ideas, and be in a position to engage them in the running of the business; hence increasing mutual trust and eliminating conflicts. In addition, the company will know what their customers want and be in a position to know when competing firms and products enter the market; thus be in a position to improve their business in order to remain competitive. However, the company should monitor its use of social media tools to avoid their misuse.

References

Edosomwan, S., Prakasan, S. K., Kouame, D., Watson, J., & Seymour, T. (2011). The history of         social media and its impact on business. Journal of Applied Management and      entrepreneurship, 16(3), 79.

Meredith, M. (2012). Strategic communication and social media. Institute for public relations. 1-     50.

Leonardi, P. M., Huysman, M., & Steinfield, C. (2013). Enterprise social media: Definition,       history, and prospects for the study of social technologies in organizations. Journal of        Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), 1-19.