13.16 Requesting Your Firm Use Social Networking (LO 13-1 to L Your small but pr

Question

13.16 Requesting Your Firm Use Social Networking (LO 13-1 to L Your small but prestigious financial services firm has a web page that increasingly gets traffic and now you, the com- munications director, want to convince upper management to branch out to Facebook and Twitter pages. But several of the senior partners think that social networking sites are too trendy and informal and don't accurately reflect the firm's conservative culture. They would prefer that most com- munication with clients happens by phone, letter, or face to face, and though they are comfortable with e-mail, feel that it is best left for internal communication. You know that convincing the senior partners to adopt more modern strategies will be tough, but you also know the firm stands to lose its competitive edge in a rapidly changing world if they don't. As your instructor directs Identify the person or persons in the firm who might help you establish credibility on technical matters. What addi- tional resources might help you to establish a claim that social networking will help the firm? What information might you collect that can further bolster your claims? laking Nouns and Pronouns Agree onouns must agree with the nouns to which they refer in two ys: (1) person and (2) number-singular or plural.

Explanation / Answer

It is difficult to convince the management about the benefits of Social Media especially when they haven’t been personally using it. You will need a team of financial analyst, market research experts, digital marketers and some IT analysts to build a case of Social media credibility and necessity for the firm. You need to prove how the top line revenue of the firm can be increased keeping the cost lower.

Usually people try to imitate the behaviour of either close friends or close enemies. So apply this policy and do a thorough research on social media profile of the company’s clients and competitors. A general overview of their company profiles in Facebook and Twitter which will provide details on their no. of followers of the page and the no. of views on any of their daily activities on social media platform. This could give the management an idea about the reach of social media specially if they see their competitor Facebook or twitter profile getting millions of views and interacting with their clients on a daily basis, it will raise the bar for competition.

As an additional push if they see their clients being tech savvy on the social media platform, it will encourage them to explore one more outlet to interact better with their clients

Have your marketing analyst team analyse the effect of social media presence of competition on their revenue. Any special increase or decrease in their Profits can be highlighted during the time when they launched specific social media campaigns on their Facebook and Twitter profiles. If you are able to show an increase in the share price of your competitors during the time they launched their social media marketing campaigns, a direct positive result can be portrayed to the higher management of your own company.

Social media platforms are two-way communication with your clients where the customer issues can be resolved live and with no extra cost. Provide a comparison sheet on current cost encountered on customer service and call center and what cost can be expected if the customer service can be moved to digital means through social media platforms. Highlighting the cost saving on move towards social media can make it attractive for the higher management.

Direct and customized marketing and promotional campaigns can be targeted to multiple no. of clients through social media at the same time. A big save on the time and money with more effective result as promotions can reach a larger audience compared to only the ones who would visit company website. With your digital marketing and It team, you can display to the management how customized digital marketing can ensure the message reaches the intended audience with lesser marketing budget. Any information about the company can also directly be shared at Facebook and Twitter to reach clients directly rather than through unreliable news or media houses which in turn will build up customer trust and loyalty.

You can get direct unbiased feedback from the clients and with such personal interaction you can further improve the client relationship. Even new business ideas or product requirements can be discussed with the clients or through running contests. This will not only create good customer traction but also help build client engagement.

The key is to show the analytics proving the direct positive effect of social media on company business in every functional department. Once the senior partners are able to fathom that there is no loss to their financial and only added benefit, they will have more trust in social media.

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