Social media is a mix of psychology, sociology and technology offering great opportunities
as well as challenges to businesses in today’s fast moving and competitive environment.
This report examines the rise of social media and its potential business impact while
exploring best practice in developing effective social media strategies. The review begins
with a consideration of what constitutes social media and social networking before going on
to consider the influences that motivate people to engage in social media. This research
includes an extensive literature review of both academic and practitioner sources in order to
identify best practice for developing effective social media strategies.
A comprehensive six-stage framework depicting how to plan, run and improve the use of
social media as part of the marketing strategy is included. This simple, but effective
framework covers most situations and can be deployed in most companies whether
operating in the business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) space.
For most companies, embarking on a social media strategy allows them to create a peoplecentred
environment using technology to accelerate real-time interactions, rather than hinder
them, within a collaborative technology architecture that mitigates the risks inherent with
social networking. To be successful, organisations need to understand the relationship
between business process, culture and technology in order to encourage collaboration and
drive improved performance and business success
