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In many ways, social media is the defining characteristic of the information age. It has transformed the way people communicate, market their products and services, and it has brought a litany of issues into the public consciousness. On the other side of the coin, social media currently costs many business billions of dollars a year in lost productivity. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of social media, and how your business can put yourself in a net-positive position regarding the technology.

Benefits
The benefits of social media are numerous and far-reaching. The first we have to mention is that it is social, meaning that the people who would buy a company’s products or services are on there. So, no matter what kind of marketing and advertising a business has done up until the advent of social media, the platforms are an absolute game-changer for these companies. In fact, studies show that about half of all adults use more than one social media application. This provides businesses with the exposure they need to be successful.

Another benefit of social media is the information businesses and consumers get about the other. For instance, being able to understand what people like/dislike or products they will/won’t buy is extremely useful for any business. On the other hand, it helps individuals have direct access to the company on a platform of their choosing, which is a major benefit for them.

Additionally, social media is free to use for the most part, but there are options to target specific groups of people (people who would me most apt to have interest in your product/service). This give the business the exposure they want while providing the following benefits:

  • Knowledge about customers/prospects
  • Interaction with customers/prospects
  • Increased traffic to a company website or store
  • Increased sales leads (and therefore increased sales)
  • Promotion of a business’ authority
  • Promotion of a business’ willingness to help others
  • And many more

Detriments
Anything that comes with that much benefit has to have some drawbacks, right? One of social media’s drawbacks for businesses comes from the fact that every platform is constantly changing. Since your workers are the some of the people that utilize social media, you are going to be forced into making some difficult decisions about how to utilize these platforms effectively.

Another issue that many businesses run into is that social media investments are hard to quantify. Sure, you know how much money you spend in it, but getting an exact ROI figure is more difficult than with other forms of digital advertising. This is because social media, while having direct access to customers, can often take a bit of time to return any immediate sales; or, it can be impossible to know given that it only kind of facilitates a conversation between a company and the consumer, rather than a direct sales conversation. As a result, it can me more difficult to truly manage conversions that start on social media.

The worst effect that social media has on a business is far-and-away from employee use. Every business relies on consistent productivity. Social media often presents a roadblock to this as most people that work at a computer utilize at least one social media service and have a tendency to liberally access their social media in the workplace. The more time they are spending on social sites, the less time they are focusing on their work, which can have major negative effects on an organization’s ability to meet its demands.

Some businesses have gone so far as to create scheduled times for their staff’s social media use. Business owners have learned that social media is important to their employees, so providing a set time for them to get whatever they need to get done on social media can keep the organization as a whole productive. Anything they have to do to keep from spending thousands or even millions in missed productivity because of social media can really benefit the organization’s bottom line.

How to Manage Social Media Use
Since a lot of businesses today utilize social media for their own marketing purposes, the people that run these strategies need constant access. Beyond them, however, it is very much up to management to manage the amount of access employees have to social media.

One strategy that has become popular is a soft ban on social media. Outside of the people using it for the company’s benefit, all other employees have their social sites blocked on network attached devices. This allows the employee to use their own devices to access social media, but since it isn’t available on their work machines, they tend to spend less time perusing these sites.

Another, more stringent option is to completely outlaw social media use at work. While this strategy would have the desired effect of removing social media as a distraction, it could backfire on management. This is because many of today’s workers come to depend on their social media accounts to keep in touch with the people that mean the most to them. By removing this option, you may find that it causes some of your more technology-savvy employees to seek employment elsewhere. Since it costs thousands of dollars to onboard a new employee, any large-scale turnover in workforce could have disastrous effects on your business’ profitability.

Whatever your management team chooses to do, you will need the right software in place to properly manage your staff’s social media use. Monitoring software is key, while content filtering software can allow you to choose which employees have access to these social sites, and which ones don’t.

For more information about content filtering for your business, or if you have more questions about how to get the most out of your employees through the use of technology, call us today at Palindrome Consulting today at 305-944-7300.

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Elizabeth Mitrani
Elizabeth Mitrani
17:23 06 Aug 19
Palindrome Consulting was key in establishing my business and helps me keep it running. They are the consummate... professionals, incredibly knowledgeable and are always available to help. They have gone above and beyond to ensure that I was up and running quickly and that any issues that may arise on my end or dealt with immediately. I highly recommend Palindrome Consulting.read more
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Moshe Rubinstein
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They are there every step of the way. Responsive and timely. The full service mentality mixed with the problem solving... abilities, is what makes them an easy choice.read more
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Palindrome Consulting is customer centric. For Palindrome Data Safety is paramount; they keep their and our systems... updated with the newest technologies and are not shy at changing to better alternatives. Their platforms are always running and in the odd case there is an event, their technical team has an awesome response time.read more
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We have been using Palindrome since 2005. They make my company feel like we are #1 all the time. Expert staff are... always available to help all my users all around the country.read more
Martin Feldman
Martin Feldman
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As a partner in Fischer & Feldman, P.A. we have utilized Palindrome Consulting as our IT experts for many years. In... addition to keeping our server up and running, they are available to consult on the everchanging cloud and web landscape. We could not function as a successful law firm without their constant care, attention and almost IMMEDIATE RESPONSE TIME.read more
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Rebecca Fischer
16:39 26 Jun 19
Palindrome has been my IT company for more than 15 years. We have been through four server and computer replacements... over the years all of which went smoothly. As technology has changed Palindrome has kept us current in their recommendations and are extremely responsive when we run into a software or hardware problem. We have been through hurricanes with Palindrome and felt confident they would have us up and running as quickly as possible and despite the fact we are probably a smaller client, they have treated us as one of their most important clients. I highly recommend Palindrome and have complete confidence in their capabilities and service. They have even gone the extra mile when we wanted to donate our old computers to a children's special needs school and delivered the computers, set them up and provided service for the same. Ilan Sredni is the consummate professional and has surrounded himself with top professionals and skilled technicians.read more
Nelson T
Nelson T
20:32 25 Jun 19
Palindrome Consulting has proven itself time and time again to be the epitome of professionalism and technical... expertise. They take the time to listen to your needs and then apply their wealth of technical knowledge to create truly innovative and robust solutions. They truly deliver piece of mind.read more
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