What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Social Media In Smes

Ali Akbar Khan

H00202433

T2

Social Media and its Use in SMEs

Investigation

The development and advancements in technology has a major role in Social media. From computers to laptops to internet, everything is just a click away. Connecting with people has become much easier because of social media sites such as Facebook , Twitter , Linked-In. Blogs are a way of interacting with people through the use of Internet. The easiest way to attract people is through social media.

What is social media?

Social media is the exchange of information done online through social interactions which enables the people to share and express their opinions. According to Ted Leonsis, “Social media is where people can be entertained, can communicate and participate

All businesses had less than 50 staff members and 185(68%) of the businesses who used social media in their business. (Saunders et al., 2007), (Hakim, 2000)

There are some drawbacks and challenges faced by SMEs using social media marketing as well. These are in the form of rumours which spreads very fast on social media and can easily lead to negative publicity of brands and companies which makes people disapprove the product or service. A recent example of it could be the negative remarks and criticisms made by a user of Amul product through the medium of social media i.e. Facebook for providing bad quality of milk.

There’s a risk of violation of copyrights in social media as users may share materials on community sites such as Facebook, Youtube, Slideshare, etc.. (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).

It is important for the businesses to be honest with their customer and to show a true image of themselves through social media. As one mistake can make rumours and hate comments about the business. So its important to know how to use social media correctly as it can make a business successful or unsuccessful depending on how the businesses are using