Social Media: Friend or Foe?

Social media has enabled companies in the world to be able to update information and their consumers with a few clicks on a computer or on a smartphone. In today's society, businesses are connected with their consumers, and even people outside their markets, in ways they were not connected to them just seven or eight years ago.

There are a lot of benefits to the emergence of social media and how it has impacted the marketing and public relations worlds; with the use of social media, it has become much easier for companies to make announcements, to interact and promote, and to do branding. When social media showed that it was here to stay and that it was worth utilizing, companies jumped on board real quick.

 It was not too long after that companies realized they could use social media to announce news for the company that would help with their marketing and public relations. How easy was it for companies to pull up their Facebook or Twitter, type up something like, "We're moving offices! Look for our new offices a few blocks down the street." or something like that. Now, of course they would take the time to stage more formal announcements but they could still use social media to announce the announcement.

A second reason social media can be a friend to companies is that it has made it much easier to connect with consumers and even easier to promote. Say a company has a contest they want their consumers to know about, they can promote the contest on their social media accounts. Better yet, with social media, companies can actually hold things like contests on social media, not just promote it. Companies have used the social media platform Instagram for contests that include consumers sending in pictures of that company's product in creative ways. Celebrities use social media to interact with their fans and thus actually promote themselves with some good PR.

So now that we have given a couple reasons why social media is a friend to companies, we must also look at the other side of the coin and realize that social media can also be a foe.

The first reason social media can be a foe is because everything you do on social media is seen by everyone, unless you have your profiles locked, but companies and celebs can't lock their public social media or they would not benefit from social media. Consequently, anything companies say on their social media is visible by all their followers and even people who do not follow them because users can find their posts just by searching for words used in their posts. Many companies have gotten in trouble for things they have posted on their social media accounts and the backlash that ensued.

A second reason social media can be a foe is because users of social media can be merciless. Should a company make a faux pas on social media, it can be a real bad time for the company in the following hours, days, weeks, or months. The power one holds when behind a keyboard & screen is amazing.

So while social media has become part of our world and it looks like it is here to stay, just remember that it can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you use it. Just be aware that it can be a tremendous friend or foe and to be aware of how you conduct yourself on social media.