Role of Social Media

Presentation to Executive Team

Kristy Andrews

Columbia Southern University

Dr. Rosa Osuoha

July 11, 2017

 SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media refers to communication platforms that

are use to share knowledge and information

Some types of the popular social medial platforms

that exist today include facebook , twitter, LinkedIn and

many more.

The use of social media has revolutionalized how

people communicate world wide

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media facilitates the exchange of ideas and thus

persons can gain more knowledge

Businesses are able to reach far more people through

social media as compared to traditional methods such as

newspaper advertisements

Social media enables businesses to receive feedback on

their products and how they can improve them.

 CRISIS MANAGEMENT
 Businesses can use social media to manage various crisis

 By use of a network such as twitter and promoting a hash

tag they are able to have their tweets received first by

people

 Moreover the platforms enables the business to know

what steps to take in the event of a crisis through

suggestions from the general public (Begum,2013)

 CHOOSING THE BEST SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM FOR
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
 Before choosing the appropriate platform to use the following factors have to

get considered:

1. The target audience- Depending on the level of the crisis it would be

effective to determine the number of people that need to receive information

about it.

2. The nature of crisis- if a crisis affects only shareholders in a company it

would be irrelevant to share all information with the general public

3. The cost and efficiency- depending on the urgency of the information that

needs to get communicated some social media platforms would get

preferred to others.
YOUTUBE IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
 Videos go along way to assure the consumers and the

shareholders of an organization facing various issues

 The videos work in following ways :

1. The public feels that the management is dealing with the

issues and by posting a videos it shows there concern

2. The videos provides firsthand information unlike using

media houses that can distort the information

TWITTER IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
 Twitter has the following advantages in crisis management ;

1. Immediate feedback from the relevant parties can get received

2. The message passed is precise and thus easy to understand

3. The response from the management gets top reach many

people and thus information gets transferred easily.

BLOGGING IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Blogs have the following effects on crisis management:

1.Information that was misrepresented gets corrected

2.Feedback on the crisis can get received trough the

company blog.

3.Through a blog the image of the crisis stricken company

gets mended (Schultz,2011).

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
 Broad target audience get reached at once

 Allows for a two way communication between the company

and the public (Hughes,2012)

 Keeps the general public informed and alerts them on new

developments

 Social media is relatively cheap as compared to other

methods of communication
DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT
The spread of false information makes the crisis seem more serious than

it is leading to panic among the public

People have varied opinions and the freedom expressed by people on

social media may lead to the tainting of a company image even one does

not simply like the organization

The platforms require constant monitoring which can lead to the loss of

many man-hours.

Failure in network systems can prove costly during a crisis.

 CONCLUSION
I believe that the firm should use social media in crisis

management as it is the emerging trend in business

However great caution should get taken before choosing

the mode to get used .

In addition all the employees should receive training on

social media so that in the event of a crisis the workload can

get shared among the staff

 REFERENCES
Begum, U. R. (2013). SOCIAL MEDIA AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT.International

Journal of Logistics & Supply Chain Management Perspectives,2(4), 585.

Schultz, F., Utz, S., & Göritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message?

Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs

and traditional media. Public relations review, 37(1), 20-27.

Hughes, A. L., & Palen, L. (2012). The evolving role of the public information

officer: An examination of social media in emergency

management. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency

Management, 9(1).