Answer to Question #231168 in Management for Tahir Moiz

Question

The use of social media has become a routine part of marketing for many companies.
Now, some companies are turning to social media as an environmental scanning tool.
Companies can use software tools and analytic techniques to learn about competitors,
suppliers, and customers from social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter.
It is important to use a strategic approach to the process to avoid becoming overwhelmed
and to have the flexibility to respond quickly to trends or other intelligence that is
revealed in the social media sites. Part 1: With so much information available through social media, how can businesses
focus their efforts to scan for relevant information?
Part 2: How can a business determine if information gathered from social media is
reliable?

Answer 1

Part 1:

Social media definitely provides a sea of opportunities for companies to explore information about their stakeholders in the business. But for extracting only the relevant information, businesses should use the paid form information available with research organizations, consultancy firms and government. These organisations offer certain levels of accountability in the data they have collected, making it useful and less time consuming for businesses. Further, a trend analysis about the current economic situation, availability of materials and demands and wants of customers can be extracted by engaging with social media influencers who have a dedicated online audience.

Part 2:

Information reliability is highly dependent upon the source and credibility from where the information is gathered. Usually, published sources like research data and research papers are reliable sources of information. Further, information collected from paid sources who are providing information to companies is quite reliable since they have a vested interest in providing quality information. Self-generated information about social media trends through observations and interviews can also count for reliability.