The Power of Social Media
By Kimberly Johnson
I’m new to social media, but I learned a lot about the different platforms in professor Bufkin’s social media course in July.
Social media is a powerful tool. Social media can make or break a business, or make someone a celebrity overnight. I especially enjoyed the topics floating around social media during the 2012 presidential election. Oh, wow that was so much fun. People posted funny memes of each candidate which I believe helped determined the turnout of younger voters.
Politician and their use of social media seem to be the new thing.
According to the “political Twittersphere”
Barack Obama: 2.24 million followers – @barackobama
Bill Clinton: 1.3 million
Hillary Clinton: 910,042
Arnold Schwarzenegger: 1.22 million
Out of curiosity I visited George Bush’s twitter page and it’s private. And his tweets are private.
So, unfortunately I wasn’t able to see how many followers he has.
Oh well, let’s get focus on the impact social media has on businesses.
For right now Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are considered as the big three in social media.
And of course we all know these platforms play a major role in the business world.
In our social media course in July, professor Bufkin’s gave us an example of how businesses use various platforms to reach out to target market.
Professor Bufkin’s visited a Taco Cabana and realized too late her order was wrong.
Disgusted, she tweeted about the incident and a rep from the restaurant reached out to her. Now that’s cool and great customer service.
Not only was this a win for professor Bufkins, but Taco Cabana scored points as well. Bufkins has a lot of followers. And Friends and family are more likely to purchase an item based on the review of a close aqaintant. Had Taco Cabana NOT reached out after she tweeted about it I’m sure more tweets would have followed.
The representative used the opportunity to give great customer service and make the company look good as well.
Social media is on the rise. At first I thought it was all a fad, but I see it’s here to stay.
Most people use social media for personal use but business owners found a way to make it work for them.
I think that’s smart. After working with several nonprofit organizations I found most organizations are new to it and some feel it’s a hassle.
If used correctly the benefits outweighs the work. I’m a little old school so I prefer face-to-face communication, but I have to get with the way things are going now.
The transactions are faster, but you lose that personal touch.
Unfortunately for me this where thing are leaning towards. So, I have to get with it. =0)
Since I don’t use it much for personal reason I would like to learn how to apply the platforms for business purposes.
It’s best to conduct research and determine which works best for your organization.
My employer is currently promoting Twitter and Facebook to keep up with our target market and we’re looking to try more.
johnsoki99 