The topic chosen for this dissertation was social networks and social media: their growth and impact on business. Social networks and other Web 2.0 tools have become very popular within the last decade. Popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc now have hundreds of millions of members. Although some organisations are still fearful of social networking sites and engaging in social media research has shown that consumers now expect organisations to be actively engaging in social media.
This dissertation aims to analyse the growth of social networks and social media and the impact this has had on business. It aims to determine what benefits and risks social networks and social media offer organisations and whether these risks are legitimate risks or simply due to a lack of knowledge about the topic. It also aims to evaluate and compare the three marketing methods available to organisations – traditional marketing, web advertising and social media – and determine whether social media will replace the other marketing methods or whether they should be used together.
The research completed for this dissertation was a combination of primary and secondary research. Secondary research consisted of research through journals, websites books etc. Primary research consisted of four interviews. The findings of both primary and secondary research were analysed and combined in order to determine the findings. The findings from the dissertation indicated that as consumers now expect organisations to be on these sites organisations need to embrace the open culture social media requires in order for it to be effective. It also indicated that social media is not there to replace the other marketing methods. Social media is simply part of a suite of tools available to organisations for marketing and communication.
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