Social Media as a Strategic Tool: Going Beyond the Obvious

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter demonstrates the strategic use of social media by firms interacting with stakeholders, not just customers. Corporations have seen how consumers can share their experiences with products and services. Smart companies find ways to leverage these conversations to engage current and potential customers and other stakeholders.

Design/methodological approach

Our approach is theoretical, based on an examination of how the communication channel of social media can be used as a strategic tool throughout the organization, going well beyond marketing.

Findings

This chapter looks at four advantages of social media. Social media provides a mechanism for firms to not just find customers, but also allow customers to find firms. Social media can engage customers, industry influencers, and thought pundits in cost-effective ways that benefit both the firm and stakeholders. The largest contribution of social media is the information from big data on customer needs and wants as well as on the processes underlying consumer decisions. The greatest opportunity lies in how a firm converts data into actionable intelligence in real time.

Practical applications

We discuss how the words, social and media, need to be de-coupled: The concept of social can be practically applied very effectively to areas of strategy and internal learning, and product development. Taking advantage of the opportunities presented by social media requires a social enterprise to be effective.

Originality

This chapter presents an original theoretical framework of social media that can be used by a company to examine the social aspects and implications of every element in the value chain.

Citation

Arora, P. and Predmore, C.E. (2013), "Social Media as a Strategic Tool: Going Beyond the Obvious", Social Media in Strategic Management (Advanced Series in Management, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 115-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1877-6361(2013)0000011010