Nathan Holzworth

Dr. Juila Intawiwat

ENGL-2116-012

11/24/2017

Abstract

As social media continues to grow so does its role in business. It is becoming more and

more important for businesses to effectively use social media. This essay explores the way social

media effects the spread of information, describes a few social media platforms that may be

useful to certain businesses, and then shows how social media can both harm and benefit

businesses.

Effects of Social Media on Businesses

In our constantly connected world social media plays an ever increasing role in not just

the lives of people everywhere, but also the businesses they interact with in their day to day

lives. The purpose of this essay is to explore the ways in which social media affects businesses,

both benefiting and harming them in different cases. Social media is an indispensable tool to

businesses that know how use it, greatly changing how they are able to interact with their

customers in some cases. On the flip side of this, social media can have extreme impacts on

companies whether or not they even use it, as customers dissatisfactions can spread at

unparalleled speeds over social media. These sometimes dramatic impacts of social media mean

that it is important for any company operating in the modern day to understand the impacts of

social media.
 The first important lesson in social media for any business is the way social media allows

customers to stay far more connected to businesses and each other than before, sharing

information at speeds magnitudes faster than in the past in many cases. A few examples of social

media platforms and how a business might use them:

1. Facebook:

This social media site allows users to connect with networks of friends and family, and

allows businesses to make pages where customers can find information and updates about the

business or even allow businesses to sell products. Facebooks also sells ads, which allow

businesses to increase their exposure among Facebook users (Spencer, 2017).

2. Twitter:

Twitter lets users post short updates (or tweets as it calls them) for their followers to see,

as well as follow other users. Businesses can use twitter to give users information about updates,

events, promotions, and more (Spencer, 2017).

3. Instagram:

Instagram is a social media platform that allows users to post pictures with filters and see

those posted by others. While Instagram is of more limited use to larger companies, it can be a

great way for smaller or more boutique businesses to gain exposure early on (Spencer, 2017).

4. Linked In:

Linked In is a social networking site that allows professionals to connect to each other

and to businesses. Linked In is a good resource for businesses in industries such as tech looking

to fill positions (Spencer, 2017).

5. YouTube:
 YouTube is a video-sharing social networking site that allows users to upload their own

videos, and watch and share those posted by others. YouTube can be a way for businesses in

industries like entertainment to generate hype for new products with trailers and videos.

YouTube also sells video ads, providing businesses with another way to generate exposure for

their brands (Spencer, 2017).

Having gone over a few useful social media sites the next step is to examine the benefits

businesses can obtain from a variety of social media platforms. The most obvious uses a business

has for social media is to establish a social media presence. Using their social media presence a

business can connect directly with customers, increasing brand awareness and loyalty. Another

benefit of social media is the ability to run highly target ads, and view analytics on their

effectiveness in real time (Copp, 2016). One of the greatest benefits of social media marketing is

the low barrier to entry when compared to traditional media- it is both easier and much lower

cost to advertise using social media than traditional media. This also means companies that are

successful with their social media can see large benefits for very low amounts of investment

(Tiago, 2014).

While businesses can reap tremendous benefits from well managed social media, they

can also face great problems because of social media. While the positive effects of social media

can spread quickly so can the bad, as Cathrine Lovering puts it: stories of bad customer service

and disappointing products can run quickly through social media networks (Lovering, 2017).

This means that a small number of incidents can quickly balloon into a PR nightmare for a

company, especially if they arent prepared.

In conclusion the effects of social media on a business can vary greatly depending on

how well the business handles its social media presents. It can be anywhere from a boon to the
companys marketing that catapults them into rapid growth and success, or a PR nightmare that

leaves a black mark on the companys reputation for some time afterwards.
 Works Cited

Copp, Emily. 10 Benefits of Social Media for Business. blog.hootsuite.com. Hootsuite. 17

Aug. 2016. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.

Lovering, Cathrine. Negative Effects of Social Media on Business. smallbusiness.chron.com.

Chron. 2017. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.

Spencer, Jaime. 60+ SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IN

2017. makeawebsitehub.com. Make A websitehub.com. 24 Oct. 2017. Web. 24 Nov.

2017.

Tiago, Maria Teresa Pinheiro Melo Borges, and Jos Manuel Cristvo Verssimo. Digital

marketing and social media: Why bother? Business Horizons, Volume 57, Issue 6

(2014): 703-708. Web. 27 Nov. 2017.