A hot debate is taking place about the utility of Social Network in increasing business prospects. While one school of thought is of the opinion that Social Network is solely intended for personal use. There are business houses that have penalized its employees for maintaining a Social network profile. On the other hand there is another school of thought who maintains that already, social network has become an integral part of business and commerce and it is impossible to reverse it now. It is of no use to discuss the effectiveness of social website strategies in business since it is already exerting a powerful effect. What is important is to distinguish between social website strategies and social media.
The external face of any commerce establishment is visible on the social media. Different activities like customer service, analysis of data and development of products are the core operations which take place in the realm of social business. The real of social business is more wide and encompassing. It does not restrict itself only to collection and analysis of data. There has been a revolution in the use of social media networks and today it has become a means to search for extra ordinary talent as well as a means to develop a customer centric and collaborative atmosphere.
Change is always accompanied with discussions and there are always two diagrammatically opposite viewpoints. When Computers were introduced for the first time in business, there were viewpoints, one in favor and one against it. When computers were launched, people were of the opinion that it could do anything at the press of a button and the human element will be squeezed out. However the human element remained and today it is much more respected as compared to the earlier times. In the same vein, pundits were of the opinion that social media networks will ring the death knell for conventional forms of advertising. However what has happened is that it has opened a new opening for advertising and has also not affected conventional advertising to a large extent. In fact social media has helped to focus advertising to a core group of prospects and has led to the plugging of wasteful expenditure characterized by advertising blitz which targeted both the prospects and the non prospects.
The 21st century has seen a sea change in how people get about doing their commercial activities. Social media sites play an important role and corporations must be very savvy and know how to do their social talk. The consumers who are connected to such sites have high expectations and business houses must provide answers to the questions they are seeking and listen to their voice.