2-part discussion Part 1)For this discussion, you will read from the Annual Editions: Maidment, F. (2013). Annual Editions: Management (17th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/ Dushkin.ISBN-10: 1121833810 or ISBN-13: 9781121833814 textbook article, ‘Social Technology: The Next Frontier,” and then answer the following questions:1. Why is social media becoming so important?2. What do you think will happen to organizations that do not use social media?3. Name a company that you think uses social media effectively. And, why? 4. Please make an initial post of a minimum of 200 words and your paper requires correct grammar and at least one citation in proper APA style. Part 2) Please respond to the two initial posts given with a minimum of 100 words each.1. Social Media is a very important part of marketing a business. There are several reasons for this: the ability to target ads based on data users provide through their social media counts, the immediacy of social media content, interaction directly with consumers. The biggest reason is the interaction consumers have with each other on social media. It has long been accepted that the best advertising is word of mouth. Social media is word of mouth advertising on a much larger scale. Consumers check-in on Facebook and other consumers comment, ask questions, and tell about their own experiences with a business. Social Media users can also interact with each other by commenting on content posted by the business itself.If a business chooses not to engage with consumers on social media, their competitors will take over the market. According to the assigned reading, “Ratings systems and online commentary about products, services and skills will form the basis of a company’s online reputation” (Klososky, 2015). Many consumers pick up their phones and ask for recommendations or read reviews when deciding which company to give their business to. If a company does not have a social media presence, they will not even be on these consumers’ radar. When considering the question about a company that uses social media well, I thought about which companies I had seen in my feed lately that caught my attention. I could not think of any from my feed, but I thought about Wendy’s on Twitter. Even though I don’t have Twitter, I have heard about their account. Wendy’s uses a combination of humor, pop culture references and typical advertising to get consumers exciting about spending their money at Wendy’s. It evens get people who do not even have Twitter excited about it. That is a great example of a company who knows how to use social media effectively. Klososky, S (2015). Social Technology: The Next Frontier. In F.H. Maidement (Ed.), Annual Editions: Management (pp.47-50): McGraw-Hill.(Sarah Daetz)2. When discussing the importance of social media in the article “Social Technology: The Next Frontier”, the author has a great opening quote saying, “The phenomenon of these abilities to connect seamlessly across the world is much more powerful than most people understand at the moment, and it will not be going away.” (Klososky, 2018) Social media’s rise to prevalence over the past decade or so is truly remarkable but not surprising at all. Prior to social media coming about, businesses would have to spend a significant amount of capital on advertising to gain interest from potential buyers. This large expenditure of money also put the little Ma and Pop type stores at a competitive disadvantage. Social media’s ability to level the playing field is of great importance for a lot of small and midsize businesses looking to get their name out there. This ability to market your brand name for free or at a fraction of the previous cost is key to building a purely competitive market with numerous sellers. And as Klososky stated, the trend will not stop any time soon, so there is room for exponential growth for businesses if they use social technology in a productive way.On the flip side of the enormous potential for growth via usage of social technology, there is also the great chasm of irrelevance that you could throw your company into if you choose to not use it. It has happened countless times to businesses who at first thought that social media was just a fad that would fade away after some time, only to watch as their customers slowly left them and their small businesses hemorrhaged money. These businesses were forced to either change or close up shop if they did not. Ignoring the numerous benefits that social technology has for your business is a fool’s errand for most companies today, because without the general public constantly seeing your brand along side your competitors, they will quickly forget about you as their interests turn elsewhere. Unfortunately, gone are the days where customers stuck to one establishment out of blind loyalty, as today’s consumer is constantly looking for the next new thing and/or the best way to save a buck. Klososky lists several basic tools in his article that can be used to represent your organization and get it’s name out there. The first one that he lists is the necessity of building a productive website for your customers to visit and gain information on the services/product that you provide. In today’s day and age, most consumers will not even darken the doors of a business that they haven’t heard of on social media or been able to look up on the web and learn about. Today’s consumer is an educated one (at times) thus making it a necessity for your company to be able to interface with them via some medium other than face-to-face. This works hand in hand with another tool he says should be used, that of mobile interfacing. Having a mobile application that customers can have readily available anytime they need to use whatever service you provide is a huge boon to your revenue stream. At the end of the day, the name of the game for most companies is to make money, and to make money you need customers to be aware of your existence. Social technologies provide the medium to make this happen, making them a necessity for any business to grow.Klososky, S. (2018). Social technology the next frontier. In F. H. Maidment (Ed.), Annual editions: Management (pp. 47-50). McGraw-Hill.(Sean Thumma)
