Are companies wasting their time with social media profiles?

Social media can both be useful and practical; it can actually be a good use of time. Like most powerful tools, it can be used well or badly. Below are some points I’ve taken from articles I read on this topic.

Reasons why it is important: 

Social media provides virtually instant access to information throughout the world,     thus giving businesses the ability to share news about their products and services with people that were once out of reach.  It gives you access to prospects and alliances worldwide therefore your advertising opportunities can grow exponentially. 

Social media opens your business-door to the world, both in a personal and  professional capacity. As the result of your core relationships, other relationship opportunities become available within the various social media platforms. Social media can be utilized in the same way as face-to-face meetings.  Social media offers the ability to meet people online that you may never have the opportunity to meet in person.

Reasons why it matter:

Social media is a ubiquitous part of everyday communication. 

In just a few years, Facebook, Twitter and other social media have changed the way we communicate about everything from the brands we like (or dislike) to the way we shop as well as how we manage projects. With the technology still maturing – along with some of its more colourful users – social media is a powerful tool for connecting with customers, because the cost of reach is low and the number of people it reaches is potentially very high. 

“Employers need a clear strategy on how they address social media and present their brand. It has to be part of an overall brand strategy and not a free-for-all,” says Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of recruiting firm Hays in Australia. According to Mittelmark, “One of the reasons for the success of social media networks is that they help address a major flaw in current search technologies”. Now, the Internet provides the opportunity to monitor not only your own profile, but also that of any competitors, and relevant developments in your industry for little or no cost. A few simple steps allow you to react, engage and connect with the people talking about your brand. 

Personally, I don’t think companies are wasting their time, but they have to check whether they still keeping the main thing the main thing. They should also check whether their reason for using social media has changed.  

While social media may help raise a company’s profile, Hays Journal found that social media ranked among the top five sources of risk to a business. Just as social media has the power to support and drive an employee value proposition; badly handled, it can completely undermine those efforts. And worse, the evidence remains online indefinitely.”

Why is it so difficult to adapt to change?

“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial & error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Out of over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clear vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.”

- Bruce Barton

“Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies”

– Robert Kennedy

How shall we define change? Shall we say it’s a modification to a person’s environment or situation? 

Change is hard, because it’s scary. It freaks us out, but it’s good. The fact that you never know exactly what you’re going to get, frightens us. Change, whether it’s good or bad, causes stress. The interesting thing, though, is that many of the change that happens also represent “good” things. In other words, even good change is stressful.

People will stick to behavioural patterns, because they are normally familiar with it and they feel safe. And by this, they’ll remain paralyzed by their fear. They feel stuck and the only movement they make is by going round and round in circles. Why is it then that as humans, whenever something happened in our personal world that is inconsistent with the way we feel the world should be, we encounter fear and/ or feel some level of stress…. Yet it’s only Change!

Change only requires an adjustment on your outlook. We have to be willing and ready to make the change and stay on this new path of change, despite misgivings.  To persevere until a point is reached whereby we would reflect and see the old path as just a distant memory.

Quotes on Change!

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude”

– May Angelou

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”

– Viktor E, Frankl

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride unless your back is bent"

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Any change, even a change for the better is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts”

– Arnold Bennett

Starting Out!!!

Finally, i've started with my studies. This is crazy stuff. I've finished school, way back in the nineteens...eish! To pick up the books is not a joke. All the academic theory, oohhhh i need to start reading much more. Thank God i love reading. 

Anyway, so i always wanted to blogg and so here i am. BTECH Public Relations 2013. Media Studies is quite interesting. All the social media apps, wow, did not know there were such a lot. I mean, i know the usual Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Linkedn, etc...so i got to learn about Tweetdeck & Hootsuite!

Pray for me people, Pray for me......and most of all, keep an eye out for my blogs!