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Social media for business can be used in the Human Resources (or HR) department of organisations. It is a very useful tool when hiring new employees, as it allows them to be looked up and their life outside of the workplace analysed. On sites such as Facebook and Twitter, profiles show people in a different light to how they would be in an interview situation. They show interests, hobbies and the language or humour they use. This means businesses can ensure they only hire people who are suited to the company and their message, and won’t possibly cause problems or tensions. By only hiring people who are suited to the feel of the business, the efficiency of the business will be improved, and a better feeling of unity within the office. Social media for business can also be used within the work force themselves; employees can make groups or boards for collaboration of ideas and internal communications. This also acts as motivation within a job, as seeing other people’s ideas and successes could motivate others to do well in their area too. Sites such as Facebook and Google+ are also useful for gaining feedback about the company’s strengths and weaknesses, and for assessing if employees are happy with their jobs or working with a company. It allows the higher management to address any issues within the business, again, improving efficiency.Social media for business is also a valuable tool when networking and developing a service or product. Because social media is global, the market research can be both international and scaled down to a specific location. When researching the development of an idea, social media such as LinkedIn can be used to network and collaborate with people from all corners of the world, and sites such as Twitter ensure organisations have their finger on the pulse at all times. By having a range of nationalities on a team developing a product, there is a higher chance that the product will be successful in a number of places, as appose to being developed by a small group of people from the same area of the world. This connection also means that businesses have a larger range of possible resources. For example, if a mobile phone business wanted to make chip boards, they may use metals from Europe, and have the electronics manufactured in Asia. With social media, these networks between companies are made much easier.However, social media is not just used on a large, global scale. Social media is vital to a business who wants to appeal to a small target market, as sites such as Facebook can allow businesses to advertise to people based on location, age, interests etc. This is also useful when selling a product, as businesses can tailor their message to suit the demographic.Sales and social media for business go hand in hand. Sites such as Facebook allow people to ‘like’ or ‘follow’ brands they are interested in, and then any status updates the brands make automatically appear on their newsfeed. It is important that businesses ensure they do not just blatantly advertise on this platform however, and that they remember the reason people use social media-for social purposes. Businesses can improve the reputation of the company by posting interesting or entertaining things, that engage the customer to trusting and becoming familiar with the brand. For example, Cadbury Crème Egg has millions of ‘likes’ on Facebook, and they are often posting recipes (that people send in mostly) that involve crème eggs. Not only is this entertaining to people, as it is providing them with a reason to view their profile or statuses, but it is also encouraging them to buy the product from them in order to make the recipes. Keeping it friendly and relaxed is also key. Nobody wants to read through a hard written essay about a company that pops up on their news feed. To appeal to a customer you have to give them what they want, and the confidence and respect in the company will follow. CITATION Abi13 \l 2057 (Duro-David, 2013)Customers often have questions about a product or service a business offers. Recently, Twitter has become a very popular platform for customer service concerns. It is a simple way for anyone (with a Twitter account) to ask questions, complain or praise a company, and usually receive a speedy response. Customers need support 24 hours a day and services such as Twitter are much more convenient to people than having to ring up a customer service line, wait for possibly a long time, and have to pay the phone call cost. Social media means problems can be solved within minutes or hours, and there isn’t lots of waiting around for the customer, so solutions can be made in real time.Almost everyone has some sort of social media on their mobile phones, so can access it all the time. How a business responds to a customer service request says a lot about how it functions. If a business responds to a complaint with anger, or doesn’t respond at all, the business will have a disadvantage to others that respond quickly or turn around a negative response into a positive result (e.g. the customer ending up satisfied because they were given a refund and/or money off voucher). If using a platform such as Twitter, businesses have to be aware that there is a 140 character limit, so if there is a significant problem to something, they will have to link the customer to another help page. However, for small problems, having a limit means that solutions are simplified and fast to respond.Social media for customer service is also advantageous to the business itself, as it allows them to search for issues that people are having by searching for common phases (such as ‘why doesn’t or ‘problem’) associated with their product/service. It allows the business to gather an understanding to what common problems people are having, and their feelings about new products/services. Some platforms, such as Google+ allow you to set alerts every time your name is mentioned by someone, so makes it even easier for a company to find peoples queries. Although complaints are time consuming for a business to deal with, they can provide information for improvements for a company. Because social media is informal, customers may not hold back on their opinions of a product, and that information is vital catalysts for implementing changes within a business and how it functions. CITATION Soc14 \l 2057 (Social success)Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY Duro-David, A. (2013, September 30). Social Media And Business Functions. Retrieved June 3, 2014, from Bubble Blog: success. (n.d.). How can I help? The mini-guide to social customer service from . Retrieved June 3, 2014, from Social success: ................
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