Category: Digital communication

INTRODUCTION

The transmission, reception and processing of information with the the utilization of electronic circuits is electronic communication. Information is described as knowledge on intelligence which is communicated or received. It comprises three primary sections: a source, transmission medium and knowledge destination. Information is propagated through a communications system within the sort of symbols such as analog (proportional), such as the human voice, video picture information, or music, or digital(discrete), such as binary-coded number, numeric codes, graphic symbols, microprocessor op-codes, or database information. However, fairly often the source information is unsuitable for transmission in its original form and must be converted to a more suitable form prior to transmission. For instance, with digital communications system, analog information is converted to digital form before to transmission, and with analog communication systems, digital data are converted to analog signals before transmission.

Traditional communications system like analogue modulation techniques, amplitude modulation(AM), frequency modulation (FM) are take over with modern digital communication systems which offers more advantages over traditional analog systems: Ease of processing, simple multiplexing and noise immunity.

Digital communications, however it is a rather ambiguous term that could mean entirely various things to different people. Digital communications systems involve systems where relatively high- frequency analog carriers are modulated by relatively low frequency digital information signals and system involving the transmission of digital pulses.

TYPES OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

The term digital communications cover an outsized area of communications techniques, including digital transmission and digital radio. During a communications system, digital transmission is the transmittal of digital pulses between two or more points.. Digital radio is the transmittal of digitally modulated analog carriers between two or more points during a communications system. Digital transmission system require a physical facility between the transmitter and receiver, like a metallic wire pair, a coaxial cable, or an optical fibre cable. In digital radio systems, the transmission medium might be free space, Earth’s atmosphere or a physical facility like a metallic or optical fibre cable.

ADVANTAGES OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

• Ease with digital signals, as compared to analog signals
• Less distortion and interference as compared to analog.
• More reliable and cheaper. It more flexible.
• Digital techniques lend themselves naturally to signal processing functions that protect against interference and jamming.
• Communication is more computer to computer.

DIGITAL RADIO

The property that defines a digital radio system from a standard AM, FM or PM radio system is the nature of the modulating signal. Both digital and analog radio system use analog carriers. Moreover with analog modulation, the modulating signal is analog and it is digital in digital modulation, the source information could have been either analog or digital.

In the above block diagram, in the transmitter, the encoder convert the levels and then encodes or groups the incoming data into a blow that modulates the analog carrier. The modulated carrier is filtered, amplified and then carried through the transmission medium to the receiver. Within the receiver, the incoming signal is filtered, amplified and then applied to the demodulator circuit which again produces the original source information. Clock and carrier-recovery circuits remove carrier and clock timing information from the incoming modulated signal.

DIGITAL DATA WITH ANALOG SIGNALS

This method is implied to send computer information over various transmission channels that need analog signals,a fiber optic networks, computer modems, cellular phone networks, and systems in satellite. In each and every system, an electromagnetic carrier wave is used to transmit the information over large distances and connect digital information users at remote locations. The digital data is utilized to modulate the parameters of carrier wave. The essential process is named as “shift-keying” to differentiate if from the purely analog systems like AM and FM. In analog modulation, there are three parametrs of the carrier wave to change and therefore it has three types of shift keying:

• I. Frequency shift keying
• II. Phase shift keying
• III. Amplitude shift keying

FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING

Frequency shift keying (FSK) is another relatively simple, low-performance sort of digital modulation. FSK is a form of frequency modulation. The technology is used for communication systems like telemetry, weather balloon radiosondes, caller ID, garage door openers, and low frequency transmission in the VLF and ELF bands. The simplest FSK is Binary FSK. Binary FSK is a form of constant-amplitude angle modulation similar to conventional frequency modulation (FM) except that the modulating signal is a binary signal that varies between two discrete voltage levels rather than a continuously changing analog waveform.

FSK TRANSMITTER

FSK transmitter is extremely much liked to a conventional modulator and is very often a voltage-controlled oscillator. The carrier frequency is chosen such that it falls halfway between the mark and space frequencies. A logic 1 input shifts the VCO output to the mark frequency and a logic 0 input shifts the VCO output to the space frequency. Consequently, because the binary signal changes back forth between logic 1 and logic 0 conditions, the VCO output shifts or deviates back and forth between the mark and space frequencies. [image: ]

FSK MODULATOR

The FSK modulator has two oscillators which inclused a clock and binary sequence. The oscillator produces a high and low frequency signal and connected to a switch along which includes an internal clock. To avoid the discontinuities of the output waveform when message transmits, a clock is used in both of the oscillators in the interal part. The binary input sequence is applied on the transmitter to settle the frequences according to the input.

PHASE SHIFT KEYING

Phase shift keying is also a form of angle-modulated, constant-amplitude digital modulation. In PSK, the carrier signal varies with sine and cosine inputs at a specific time. It is commonly usable for wireless, LANs, bio-metric, contactless operations, RFID and Bluetooth communications. It is almost like conventional phase modulation except that with the PSK the input signal is a binary digital signal and a limited number of output phases are possible.

BINARY PHASE SHIFT KEYING

In binary phase shift keying, two outputs phases are feasible for a single carrier frequency. One phase of output represents a logic 1 and therefore the other represents logic 0. Consistently with the input digital state, the phase of the output carrier shifts between two angles are 180that is out of phase. Phase reversal keying and bi-phase modulation is almost similar to BPSK. It is a form suppressed-carrier, square-wave modulation of a non-stop wave (CW) signal.

BPSK TRANSMITTER

In a BPSK transmitter, the balanced modulator acts as a phase reversing switch. Relying on the logic condition of the digital input, the carrier in transferred to the output either in phase with the reference carrier oscillator. The balanced modulator has two types of inputs, a carrier in phase with the oscillator and the binary digital data. To operate the balanced modulator accurately, the voltage of digital input should be higher than the peak carrier voltage. This make sure that the digital input has control on the on/off state of diodes. If the binary input is login 1 , then diodes are forward biased while the other diodes are reverse biased and off. Consistent with the polarities, the carrier voltage is developed throughout transformer1 in phase with the carrier voltage across the second transformer.

BPSK MODULATOR

In the BPSK modulator,it has a balance modulator which has a carrier sine wave as input and binary sequence used as a second input. The modulation used a balance modulator which multiplies the two signals with each other. For a zero binary input, the phase will be zero degree and for high input, the phase will be 180 degree.

AMPLITUDE SHIFT KEYING

It is also a form of amplitude modulation. ASK represents digital information as variations in amplitude of the carrier wave. In an amplitude shift keying device, the binary input 1 is represented due to transmission of fixed amplitude carrier wave and fixed frequency for some time. If the signal value is 1, then carrier signal will make transmission other the signal value of 0 will be transmitted. When ASK modulated, the binary signal deliver a zero value for low input and high input for the carrier output.

ASK modulator

The ASK modulator block diagram features a service signal generator, the binary sequence which is furnished from the message signal and the band-limited filter. The generator sends a infinite high-frequency carrier. The binary sequences from the message signal converts the input to be excessive or either low. If its high, it closes the switch while allowing a carrier wave. If the input is low, the switch opens without any voltage. Therefore, the output could be low.

The filter shapes the pulse which relies upon the amplitude and phase applications of the band-limiting filter or pulse-shaping filter.

References

1. https://fas.org/man/dod-101/navy/docs/es310/DigiComs/digicoms.htm
2. https://uotechnology.edu.iq/dep-eee/lectures/4th/Electrical/Communication%20engineering%202/part1.pdf
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude-shift_keying
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-shift_keying

The accessibility and utilization of digital technologies has been remarkably upsurging in the recent years, be it in workplaces, educational sectors or even at home. Many businesses have executed the utilization of digital communication ranging from smart phones to I-cloud storage software in terms of improving their workforce as well as their company’s performance. There are salient characteristics of digital communication in workplace that works exceptionally in order to expand effective interaction, collaboration and to create innovative information networks within the organization (Colbert, Yee & George, 2016, p. 2).

According to the Deloitte (2014), the digital workplace framework consists of four major characteristics that allows an organization to understand their current workplace culture and help them strategizing ways to improve their performance. The first characteristic is mainly based on collaboration and connectedness that enables the exchange of information among the workforce. The main focus is to uplift the business communication inside and outside the organization. Second attribute of digital communication includes the integration of digital toolbox that aids the workforce to collaborate and remain connected within and outside the organization such as email, text messaging, Slack, social media platforms etc. While implementing digital communication at workplace, it is critical to formulate a governance guideline in order to avoid possible risks and empower amenability. Lastly, advanced digital workplace aims to simplify the tasks for their employees and tends to be more flexible than traditional workplace environment. Also, undoubtedly, social media and other interactive platforms have significantly allowed the workers to be more active, efficient and organized by enhancing the free flow of interchangeable information (Grissom, 2017).

We can come across several examples of utilization of digital communication in workplaces till date, among those, Blue Connections is one of the real-life examples. Blue connections is one of the Australia’s highly tech based IT companies who are currently operating their business based on extensive digital environment including variety of technologies such as Lenovo hardware, Microsoft 365 as well as Yoga 2-in-1 hinged device with a 4G card to keep their company fast running and productive all of the time (Blue Connections, 2017, p. 7).

In conclusion, by discussing all key characteristics it is quite understandable that digital communication has become a growing need for workplaces these days in terms of enabling operational effectiveness, expanding their market opportunities by enhancing efficiency and performance.

References

1. Blue connections (2017). 5 Key Characteristics of the Modern Workplace, 7. Retrieved from https://www.blueconnections.com.au/wp- content/uploads/2018/10/Blue_Connections_Lenovo_Modern_Workplace_Whitepape r.pdf
2. Colbert, A., Yee, N., & George, G. (2016). The digital workforce and the workplace of the
3. Future. Academy of Management Journal. 59 (3), 5. Retrieved from https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5042
4. Deliotte (2014). The Digital Workplace: Think, Share, Do Transform Your Employee Experience. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/be/Documents/technology/The_digit al_workplace_Deloitte.pdf
5. Grissom, B. (2017). Top 5 characteristics of the modern digital workplace. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/business-as-unusual/top-5-characteristics-of-the- modern-digital-workplace-4d7f6622ee65

“Job listings are increasingly available online and with almost every profession changing technology now require a fundamental level of digital literacy with Internet navigation, email access and social media participation.” Michael K. Powell. Businesspeople understand digital communication affects the presence of the general public through face-to-face interactions. The ability to use interpersonal communication skills to build relationships with managers and employers is affected by digital communication. The bond between employees and their managers is essential to ensure that a company satisfies its function and achieves its strategic objectives. In the meantime, the performance of digital communication is improving, growing connectivity and contributing to an ever-widening array of new communication tools. People are acquainted with digital communication, and the electronic communication between companies and consumers continues to follow the line that electronic communication between businesses followed in the 1990s. Digital communication propagates to enterprises, boost productivity and support companies to function in more productive and efficient ways. Policymakers would be wise to double their efforts to help companies take advantage of the advantages of digital communication. In this paper we researched financial benefits resulting from the digital communication, such as involvement in productive discussions, the transition of different kinds of information from one group to the next, misunderstandings and, finally, disputes between supervisors and staff.

The use of digital communications and computing terminals distributed to consumers and service providers requires realistic interaction and computer-based approaches for transactions, investments and borrowings. The costs and benefits that allow digital communication to be used at work were weighed by companies. Overall, today most companies use it to enhance their public image and reach their clients. It is still a very useful skill, and most companies understand that digital communication is the norm and an excellent way to speed up business processes, so younger generations can be adjusted to modern technologies.

From the above figure 1.1, we can acknowledge that utilization of email is highest among the other digital communication tools. Employees are committed to representing an organisation and sharing information with their employees and supervisors to achieve a common goal. The increase in contact channel choices has made workers aware of their impact on their working environment.

“SAP has adopted innovation for many years as a global company to accomplish work. This is an integral part of our working in time zones and geographies and allows us to run at a much faster clip than otherwise, we would.,” says McInnis-Day. ‘Digital communication enables companies to gain access to a global talent pool through their languages, timescales, ages, and boundaries,’ Wallace said. ‘Teams must communicate authentically as they personally would with the new photo and video sharing.’ Using the software tools internally developed such as Slack together with offering employee hardware solutions, helps the team to personalise the technical assets in ways that facilitate their own productivity. In contrast to that there is a common complaint with Slack is that businesses are analysing usage data and finding that some workers spend all their time talking and hard working. It can now be easier to be less intentional about when and how we are asking our colleagues with instant communication so accessible through these tools.

Furthermore, researchers concluded that younger generations are more successful than older generations in using technology but predicted that ultimately the technological differences between generations will be decreased with time and technology (Digital Natives, 2013). However, the average smartphone users check your phone every six minutes and a half, or up to 150 times a day according to the study conducted by Nokia (Spencer, 2019). this may cause problems with interpersonal communication in the workplace, and many mysterious causes, including regular digital communication, cannot be identified as one problem. Despite having lots of disadvantages of digital communication. It overweighs by their advantages. digital communication is a capability for building relationships and ties worldwide, and it is fun to do so. Digital helps us to speed up correspondence while being reliable and enjoyable with it.

CONCLUSION

There are no obstacles for relying on digital communication devices at work. Above all, all these platforms and tools keep people constantly tied to work. We all need to separate regularly, and this can be difficult to achieve without establishing specific boundaries. Leaders must use their equipment tools, elaborate implementation plans carefully, and take no technology as a cure. The way we connect – both personally and professionally – in our daily lives has changed and the way that our work is done has changed forever. There is no longer a space for online communication at work. leader can decide how you pick, incorporate and enforce the devices in your organization and work to develop a plan to reduce negative impacts by reviewing potential problems at work

REFERENCE

1. Cancialosi, C. (2019). Digital Communication in The Workplace Is No Longer Optional. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriscancialosi/2016/08/01/digital-communication-in-the-workplace-is-no-longer-optional/#76e10d7c46de [Accessed 29 Oct. 2019].
2. Colbert, A., Yee, N. and George, G. (2016). The Digital Workforce and the Workplace of the Future. Academy of Management Journal, 59(3), pp.731-739.
3. Digital natives. (2013, Aug 01). Middle East interiors. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1416427622?accountid=4216
4. Edward A. Lee, David G. Messerschmitt. (2019). Digital Communication. Kluwer Academic Publishers [online] Available at: https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GjTwCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR13&dq=digital+communication&ots=DJ5q8dCNUQ&sig=rlMf68z-n1YA6DQFhmEj7OPpDQc#v=onepage&q=digital%20communication&f=false [Accessed 26 Oct. 2019].
5. Kick, Amanda L, Contacos-Sawyer, Jonna; Thomas, Brennan. (2019). Log In – ProQuest Indiana Vol. 13, Iss. 2, (2015):214-222. [online] Available at: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1755486105?pq-origsite=gscholar [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].
6. Michael K. Powell Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved October 27, 2019, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/michael_k_powell_485452
7. Pilat, D. (2019). Digital economy: going for growth: Epitaphs galore have been written about the new economy, but information and communications technology is still in its youth. When used effectively by businesses, it has boosted productivity and growth. Policymakers should do more to encourage enterprises to seize the benefits. (Digital economy). [online] Go.galegroup.com. Available at: https://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA103565616&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00297054&p=AONE&sw=w [Accessed 28 Oct. 2019].
8. Spencer, b. (2019). Mobile users can’t leave their phone alone for six minutes and check it up to 150 times a day. [online] Mail Online. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2276752/Mobile-users-leave-phone-minutes-check-150-times-day.html [Accessed 27 Oct. 2019].

In Today’s contemporary era, digital communication has become vital need of organisations which allows a company to share the data swiftly through physical path or physical connection. The aim of this report is to write an argument based on evidence that why digital communication is valuable for every organisation.

Digital communication in a business relates with wellbeing personality and it is most favourable to be a master personality at job. there are six terms to have a unique look at workplace which are the capacity of digital conversation, expectation of constant connectivity, quality of messages, adaptation of new tools, technical issues and flexibility in communication (Okkonen et al.,2018).

Undoubtedly, digital communication is easy adaptable platform which has upsurge the standards of digitalization where anyone can share real time activities. According to Digital communication (2017) in medical line where ample of medical student utilized smartphones while working to check staff’s accessibility, patients reports, operational theatre’s notes, stocking.

Without any qualm, digital communication provides us numerous benefits such as flexibility, sharing data, backups, face call and interviews, applications and so on. There are some demerits of it like due to ample of applications companies get confused to chose reliable and effective application and orthodox generation gets in trouble to adapt advance tools and applications swiftly (Cancialosi,2016).

In accordance to Ventura (2016) digital communication build a firm relationship between organisation and staff members that is why it is paramount to imposing digital communication in a firm to share animations, graphics, data and recordings because some of the workers do not have enough time to look newsletter and emails.

Digital communication is also a part of scientific researchers, through its genius share lab experience, motivational stories and space research by using social applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or blogs says Kimberley,David & Jenny(2016). Moreover, there is an evidence in this report which confirmed that 88% scientist have Facebook account where 75% experts use Facebook to follow some specific pages those are interacted to scientific studies and researches.

To put it in nutshell, based on above finding and as per my perception, it is literally imperative to adapt digital communication in every organisation. It is not only allows a person to share data but also build strong relationship between agency and staff members. In addition, it is a flexible way to do online interviews, advertisements through social networking sites, build connection with international companies and do work effectively and efficiently in a workplace.

The usage of digital communication is growing rapidly. According to Peek, 2017 digital communication have positive benefits for business sectors. This situation help workers become more flexible and do their work from outside the office. However, there are some drawbacks of modern technology such as lack of face to face interaction. Lack of face to face interaction will cause people to become less emphatic, less connected, less creative and fulfilled (Turkle citied in Lamore, 2018). This essay will argue that could digital communication take the place of face to face communication in the business sector.

The technology transition is important for the global industry. Recently, technology became smarter than before. These developments have many benefit for employees, for example, virtual reality technology. According to Peek (2017), virtual reality will admit people to get the atmosphere busy office without leaving their house. As a consequence, virtual reality will help employees save more time. In addition, there is a possibility to make the workplace become more efficient such as using tools in an email application. For example, sending multiple emails will sabotage efficiencies and spend a lot of time. However, the “cc” function will be handled correctly and the result may be reached much faster than a face to face communication ( Leach cited in Johnson 2017).

According to Turkle ( citied in Lamore, 2018) argue that social media and technology should not replace the essential stuff in people lives such as real communication. This is because, in the face to face communication, people tend to completely aware and need to react to each other. Therefore, it can be difficult if the person not actually being there, because a lack of face to face interaction will hinder real communication. In addition, business and creative industry should improve their workplaces, by having a good connection with their colleagues. The relation between face to face communication and good team-woks is extremely important. To create interpersonal bonds, reading expression and body language only happens when they do face to face communication. As a result, encourages the face to face communication will affect their success as employees.

Digital communication probably will make the workplace become more sophisticated. However digital communication may not take the place of face to face communication. There is a big challenge for the company to adjust with online communication. This is because face to face communication is extremely important in this modern digital environment, especially for personal interaction and encourage creativity.

Today, we live in an era that is driven by digital technology. The explosion of social media over the past decade has reshaped our digital society. In my research to understand how and where these changes have occurred, I have accessed several journal articles to comprehend the nature of these changes. Originally, social media was devised and planned to facilitate deeper and colourful communication between individuals or groups. However, in today’s climate it has evolved to allow engagement on various different platforms, from business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C), consumer to consumer (C2C) and also the more recently acknowledged influencer to consumer activity via the blogosphere. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat have grown exponentially with Facebook as the major player with 2.4 billion users globally. These sites are utilised to broadcast information to the masses, through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content such as video etc. Marketers now have access to free communication platforms with their consumers, giving them the ability to engage and advertise globally cost free. This ability to share photos, opinions, events etc. in real time has transformed the way we live and the way we do business. Businesses who use social media as an integral part of their marketing strategy usually see measurable results. It is therefore critical to treat social media as a core element of marketing communications.

Organizations evolve in response to the socially networked marketplace (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019). In the earlier days of social marketing there was an impetus on businesses and retailers to obtain a presence on any social media platform they deemed relevant. Unfortunately, many of these platforms were left inactive, as it was more difficult to get a consumer’s attention with Twitter versus a newspaper advertisement. Ultimately social media accounts require active critical engagement, as by simply having an account is insufficient.

Social media is ubiquitous in virtually everyone’s lives and increasingly in companies. These companies need to become or remain innovative in increasingly complex environments, whilst developing new tools and approaches to connect with many aspects of this innovative ecosystem. In the process of achieving competitive advantage social media has and is being used by firms for marketing, engaging consumers in product development or service discussions. The increasing involvement of stakeholders in firm’s innovation process, alongside the relatively low cost, increasing speed and efficiency of ICT has encouraged firms to spend on social media tools. Since the financial crisis over 65% of firms have engaged in social media and showed significant growth versus their non engaged counter parts.

What are these critical influences?

Big Data

Social Media platforms generate powerful, rich media with unprecedented insights to drive faster commercial, innovative customer focused innovation. Its most critical asset is to drive the connection and relationship between clients and stakeholders. As most firms are still experiencing and breaking new ground on this, it is important to learn how to benefit from social medias potential for marketing and innovation purposes, (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019). Social media marketers can now efficiently use big data to assess future trends and buying patterns. Big data increases the probability regarding what consumers want, how they want it and when they want it. It also gives businesses ideas into how their products and services should be designed or delivered in the future.

With the emergence of big data, social media marketing has moved to a completely new level. It is estimated that by 2020 the accumulated volume of big data will reach 44 trillion gigabytes, (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019). With such a huge amount of data available the challenge for marketers is to attain relevant insights for creating social media marketing plans. Big data allows brands to engage with their customers in a more personalised way based on their likes and dislikes, in other words it enables Personalisation at scale, allowing brands to approach their consumers and tailor communications to assist retention and develop trust.

The use of big data makes it easier for brands in selectively placing adds that interest consumers and target those placements on user’s social media posts based on their online activity (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019). Personalised advertisements allow marketers strengthen their relationship with social media users and give them a much stronger opportunity of converting them into customers, after identifying their online patterns (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019). The use of big data has and will continue to be a major influence in social media activation. The ability to generate and leverage deep customer insights is a powerful tool for marketers to make engagement decisions on which social media platforms to target.

Consumer Engagement

Historically, firms had limited consumer data and poor access to the wider consumer marketplace. Social media platforms have provided firms with access to a vast volume of potential consumers. Ipsos MRBI, recently released their most up to date social media statistics for Ireland. The most dominant social media platform in the country is Facebook with 62% of the population having accounts and 65% of them using it daily. This is followed by Instagram with 41% and similarly 65% with daily usage, (Twomey, 2019). The trends in the last year seem to continue (as Facebook nears saturation) with Facebook as the most popular and most used social platform, whilst Instagram is the fastest growing and may potentially catch Facebook in the future.

The information available on social media platforms is extremely valuable as, for example Instagram have 1.8 million users with women being the majority at 57.3% and the largest user group are people aged 25-34 (Twomey, 2019). This depth of platform data allows firms identify where their core customer is most present and design programmes for consumer engagement, for example, Dove’s Real Beauty marketing campaign (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013). Creating engaging, informative video content relates people on a personal level, giving the business a human face. When producing content for an audience firms may have millions of followers, however, if they don’t connect with their audience, consumers won’t care about the brand and are effectively useless to them.

Consumers are people who would be happy to engage if they are offered rewards for actions i.e. bonus or loyalty plans, and this will assist them in developing a positive connection with a brand. Engagement with consumers can also occur on a regular basis with the delivery of fun activities or competitions. Businesses can show the people behind the brand i.e. meet our team, personalise their stories or use employees in advertising, as this humanises a brand in the eyes of a consumer. Customer queries and engagement can be effectively managed through the use of a live chat functions on a firm’s website. These functions can also be extended to all other social media accounts allowing customers receive immediate responses to their comments and perhaps assist with service queries also. Finally, customers are also more likely to engage where the content involves people just like them, rather than the brands message. Therefore, sharing consumer stories in the forms of reviews, testimonials, photos etc. can be considered a more trustworthy source of content and present an opportunity to convert other consumers to your brand.

Brand Management

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is. It is what consumers tell each other it is” (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013) Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit. The dynamic, organic real-time interaction facilitated by social media alters the landscape for brand management. Now, consumer generated brand stories need to be managed by firms and this phenomenon must be coordinated with the firm generated brand stories. Marketers should view social media as a double-edged sword. When used correctly it can provide priceless feedback as firms can scale and quickly reach their critical masses of consumers. However, misused and it’s a brand damaging nightmare fraught with zero return on investment activities (Oracles, 2018). For example, United Airlines customer Dave Carroll had his guitar destroyed by baggage handlers. He posted his story on social media and the tagline “United Breaks Guitars” went viral thus damaging United Airlines brand instantly (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013).

Consumers are now empowered to share their brand stories throughout social networks and have gained a much more important voice that firms can no longer ignore. Integration of consumer generated stories with a brands own messaging is a powerful tool to contribute to beneficial marketing communications. These consumer generated brand stories can appear in various formats through social media (i.e. forums, blogs, social networks, video, photo etc.). Previously, brands considered that their identity was understood in the same way by all members of the target audience. However, consumers hold many different views and there may be multiple brand stories, as different consumers make sense of the brands position in the world (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013). Consumers in particular are more empowered by social media as these platforms enable them to share their brand stories with their peers. Research has highlighted how persuasive consumer generated brand stories are on the basis of electronic word of mouth, these stories are often more influential than the firm created content. Social media plays such a critical role in a firm’s ability to manage brand health and reputation.

The most prominent current content creators of these stories are social media influencers. Influencers are social media users that have credibility and an audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and trustworthiness, they usually have attained a large audience or followers. These influencers have built their reputation based on their knowledge and expertise on a particular topic. They post regularly about their particular topic on their preferred social media platform. Brands recognise the importance of social media influencers as consumers admire them and value their opinions to guide them with their decision making. They can create trends and encourage their followers to buy the brands they promote. Social media influencers range from celebrity endorsers and industry experts to youtubers. Of all the influencers, bloggers and micro-influencers are considered to have the most active authentic relationship with their followers, many brands are recognising and encouraging this.

Engagement with Platforms

Brands will have a finite marketing budget and will ultimately look to optimise their marketing expenditure. To deliver the best social media optimisation (SMO) within your integrated marketing communications (IMC) it is critical to select the most relevant social media platforms. Facebook is the dominant social media player at present both in Ireland and globally, therefore, businesses would benefit from exposure and interaction through activity on the platform. Sharing content is at the heart of social media, some firms set up social profiles and remain inactive, this will lead to a lack of success in social marketing. It is essential to ensure you only share content that’s of value to your followers. A firm must give their presence on social media a purpose, this could be as simple as requesting followers to sign up for emails or provide their feedback on a product. Posting on a platform just “for the sake of it” is ineffective for a brand. Critically, you need to strategically post at the best times to give you the eyeballs of your followers. There is no point in making your posts when your target audience is asleep or inactive.

As socials media fosters communications and connects people and companies it is a prime platform to access knowledge, concepts, user insights and test product ideas. For example, Starbucks online platform “My Starbucks Idea” gives customers a space to give feedback on the business and offer ideas on product or service delivery (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019). Nokia used social media tools to engage in real time global co-creation for the WP7 mobile phone by tapping into the knowledge and feedings off its community of users (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2019).

The next steps

“Content is King” (Bill Gates, 1996) has become a mantra in the digital marketing arena. However, it is no longer enough to create fresh content articulating a brands message. Success in social media marketing requires a continuous engagement with your audience through many social platforms. Brands are continuously trying to drive non-paying consumers (social media users) toward income generating activity. To effectively reach audiences and consumers, marketers must be more intentional about the content they post, there must be a clear benefit that motivates them to follow, share and engage. For example, JetBlue Airways devised multiple Twitter accounts that guided passengers to different services i.e. reservations, complaints, customer services, promotional deals, @JetBlueCheeps offers last minute discounts and more than 400,000 followers have selected this Twitter handle.

The king of social media is content that both aligns with business objectives and provides value to customers and prospects. Firms must grow a sustainable audience through providing value, they must care about their audience and what they can give to them and not just the number of followers they have. Regardless of the volume of the audience a company holds their only focus should be providing that group of people something of value. Businesses need to be mindful of their endgame and be patient in achieving this through providing value. The difference between having a vast following versus smaller active and engaged audience is more beneficial to a brand, essentially the focus should not be on follower count but on follower engagement.

Conclusion

My analysis has shown social media to be a highly complex arena breaking new grounds and delivering unprecedented levels of information. Businesses need to recognise social media and truly consider its importance in todays marketplace. The articles collectively identify how businesses appear to be operating in a fledgling status, working to optimise digital marketing within their organisations. It is clear that while marketers are focused on obtaining mass followings across social media there is still cloud of uncertainty as to how best turn this following into consumer activity. The challenge for companies at senior board level is to learn of the value of social media in organisation settings and work to change effectively. Over the past decade there has been a value-chain shift where upon, obtaining more access to consumer segments is more relevant than being concerned at the entrant of a new competitor.

The challenges that face social media marketing now and in the future are and will be, 1. Rising costs 2. Getting noticed in overcrowded feeds, 3. Too many trends to keep up with 4. Limited trained staff and critical resources and 5. Efficient analytics and use of big data. The journal articles have provided an insight into a dynamic, ever-changing media environment which must be strongly considered and managed for the healthy future of virtually all businesses.

Modern communication has radically changed over the last 50 years, from sending each other letters, simple telephone calls or even meeting face to face and talking over a cup of coffee. As the human race grows we have learned to adapt and create new methods of communication.

One example of this is Facebook, created by Mark Zuckerberg. Founded in February 2004 by 19 year old Mark Zuckerberg while studying in Harvard University, the site started simply as “The Facebook” and it became an instant hit on Harvard campus with nearly a thousand visitors within the first 24 hours. This would not be the end of “The Facebook” however as the site continued to grow and evolve as a social networking site for colleges across the United States and eventually the entire planet.

Now, 6 years later, the site has become one of the biggest and most successful web sites in the world, garnering over 500 million users a month. Facebook today allows us to connect with friends and family at the click of a button, Not only can we connect with friends and family but the site allows us to upload pictures publically or privately, write life updates, share interests, or even just play video games such as FarmVille.

Unfortunately a controversy arose a week after Zuckerberg launched the site in 2004 where three other Harvard students accused him of stealing the idea of Facebook. As the site grew, these accusations eventually grew into a fully fledged lawsuit by the three Harvard seniors threatening Zuckerberg for theft and fraud of his idea of the site. This started a legal dispute which still continues to this day.

The main dispute around the creation of Facebook started when Zuckerberg agreed to help those three Harvard seniors, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and another student named Divya Narendra with an idea for a dating site for students exclusively enrolled in Harvard University. This website idea was named “The Harvard Connection” and was essentially Match.com for Harvard students. But instead of creating this site for them Zuckerberg stalled them while he created his own website which we know today as Facebook.

This dispute even created a film based upon the events of Facebooks creation and the controversy that followed. The film titled “The Social Network” was a critical success making 225 million euros in the box office and a subsequent rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and 95% on Metacritic. One of the many benefits that Facebook includes is efficient communication, we are now able to share our thoughts and ideas to people anywhere on the globe in an instant, It can help people who have difficulty having conversations with other people, like the socially awkward or people who suffer from anxiety.

There are many features on Facebook that can improve bonds and relationships between people through tagging and sharing and private messaging. Facebook also has great potential for maintaining long-distance relationships for people who may have moved away from home. Family members can get closer to their elderly relatives and it can possibly be a way to reduce loneliness in older people.

Although there are many major positives to social media, there is much potential for negative interactions to occur online. One of the most negative aspects to Facebook is its addicting nature. Many people were and are addicted to Facebook, using it for 3-5 hours a day. This is especially prevalent to teenagers who usually have plenty of free time during the school day or even the summer holidays. Negative behavior such as this needs to be supervised and controlled if social media websites like Facebook are going to be used by today’s youths.

This has major potential for negative effects on relationships in families and can possibly make people anti-social. Abuse and cyber bullying can also occur and can have devastating effects on younger people if it is not supervised and controlled. One such example of this was a young woman named Amanda Todd who committed suicide in 2012 because of the constant abuse she received in school and online. It is far easier to verbally abuse someone behind the safety of a phone or computer screen than it is to do it face-to-face. That is what makes cyber bullying so deadly because of its ease of access.

In Conclusion, I believe Facebook is here to stay and technology will only continue to grow and evolve as we enter the next decade. Everyone needs genuine friendships in the real world and websites like Facebook can help keep them safe and healthy but we need to remember that Facebook is not a replacement for friendships. We need to stay aware on how to use websites like Facebook in a healthy manner and keep its effect positive.