Harnessing the Power of Social Media: Navigating Business Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Era

Rinny Mirari Ermiyanti

Social media with a variety of platforms will be the backbone of advancing business in 2022. The Covid-19 pandemic that forces people to do business digitally and utilize social media has presented a variety to encourage revival and strengthen the business sector. In an article written by Lower, (2021) entitled Hootsuite Social Trends 2022 which was retrieved on July 8, 2023, the influence of social media utilization has shifted from mega-influencers to more tentative and smaller communities. Therefore, brand promotional content can more quickly connect with new audiences, gain their trust, and gain cultural capital. Thus, social media will be a bridge connecting the gap between business products and consumer experience. Hence social media has disrupted the marketing strategy we used before

Smart businesses can leverage social media to drive business success

Brands popularized through social media will take a new way of selling stories and conversations. The goal is to establish a dialogue between the company and consumers. So that the manager of the marketing field will use social media to attract interest more effectively across generations. Therefore, social media will adapt to be more friendly for managers from the baby boomers generation.

In the opinion of Smits, M., & Mogos, S. (2013), Social media can also provide a firmer identity to build public trust.  Social willingness will also be used as a means of market research and consumer needs rather than just being a means of promotion to adapt to changes from consumers.

The challenges the businesses will face

With the development of the digital era at this time, of course there will be many opportunities and business challenges that will be faced. The freer and faster information at this time is one of the contributing factors

Another business challenge in the digital era is that companies must be able to adjust to evolving technology. As a leader, you must willing to continue to learn and to keep up the technological developments so that it can bring your business forward from other businesses.

The next challenge in business is the increasing number of competitors. Advanced technology is certainly capable of integrating business channels so that there is no limit to time and space in doing so. Become a great opportunity for you to establish cooperation with various businesses around the world. But if the business is not accompanied by new creative ideas, then your business certainly cannot last long in the market. For this reason, always create something unique and never encountered before, in order to attract the attention of other consumers.

The businesses need 'keep up' in an environment that changes so rapidly in this era

What cannot be ignored is that the changes that occur are accelerating. People who live in the digital age certainly want something fast-paced and practical. The trick is to take advantage of technology in their business. If as a business person cannot match the speed of other digital businesses, then your business may lose to the competition. For example, high quality of human resources are needed. In addition, it is necessary to increase creativity and new ideas. The main thing is that you must be able to make it easier for consumers to find the products they want in your store, therefore you must also be good at choosing and selling products that are currently many for the community to need.

References:

Maggie, L. (2021). Social Media Trend 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://www.hootsuite.com/research/social-trends.

Smits, M., & Mogos, S. (2013). The impact of social media on business performance.  Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://www.academia.edu/6542321/THE_IMPACT_OF_SOCIAL_MEDIA_ON_BUSINESS_PERFORMANCE.