Topic 8B
New Media in
Business
Communications
Images are from Google
Key Sources / Readings
Online Reserve Item
Thill & Bovee (2015)
Chapter 7
Crafting Messages for
Electronic & Social Media
+
Online Reserve Item
Eunson (2012)
Chapter 21
Social Media
+
Chapter 2
Learning Objectives
After studying this material, you should be able to:
1. Define new media and/or social media
2. Outline the key differences between new media and
traditional media
3. Identify various roles that new media can play in a business
communication context
4. Be aware of techniques that can be employed to facilitate
the effective use of new media in a business context
5. Summarise the advantages and disadvantages of social
media
Defining New Media
Defining New Media
• aka Social Media and Web 2.0 Technologies
• Internet based technologies characterised by user generated
content and mobility of use / engagement
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Social Networking Sites
User Generated Content sites [UCGs]
Community Q&A Sites
Blogs
Microblogs
Newsfeeds: RSS Feeds / Media Curation Sites
Wikis
• 2003 / 2004 signals emergence of new media
Facebook Highlights 2012/13
Twitter Highlights 2012/13
LinkedIn Highlights 2012/13
YouTube Highlights 2012/13
Web 1.0 versus Web 2.0 technologies
• Web 1.0 technology unidirectional [static] – creation of content
by site authors for consumption by site viewers.
• Web 1.0 technology based around engagement at fixed site via
PC or Laptop - no mobility.
• Web 2.0 technologies facilitate user generated content
– Simplification of technologies, user friendly platforms
• Adobe Flash facilitating use of animation, interactivity and webbased audio and video streaming.
• Advent of Wi-Fi facilitating mobile use of Internet
– Smartphones / Tablets further facilitate mobility
Contrast between Old vs New media
Feature
Traditional [old] Media
New [Social] Media
Communication flow
One-way
Two way
Participant roles
Distinct producer / consumer
split in terms of content
generation
Audience both produce and consume
content
Intellectual property
High respect for copyright
Lower regard for copyright
Technical skills required
High
Low - medium
Set-up costs
High
Low
Broadcast speed
Slow
Fast
Permanency of artefacts
Permanent
Not necessarily permanent;
Other creators can change content
Editorial control of
content
Strong - centralised
Weak – decentralised
Integrity of information sometimes
questionable
Cost to access
Availability often
commercially oriented
Content often accessible for free
without commercial focus
Based on table 21.2 from Eunson (2012)
Creating Content for Social Media
7 TIPS at a general level
1. Remember that it’s a conversation, not a lecture or a sales pitch
2. Write informally but not carelessly
3. Create concise, specific and informative headlines
4. Get involved and stay involved
5. If you need to promote something, do so indirectly
6. Be transparent and honest
7. Think before you post!
source = buffallo.uwex.edu
Social Networking &
Community Participation Websites
Social Networking Sites
• Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn
playing an increasingly important role in business communication
• Heightened brand image
• Dissemination of information
• Engagement with customers
• Source of market intelligence
• Internal networks within firms
Using Social Networks
for Business Communication – Internally
• Integrating new employees
• Overcoming structural barriers in communication channels
• Fostering Collaboration
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Assembling teams
Accelerating the evolution of teams
Sharing and distributing information
Preparing for major meetings and events
• Fostering the growth of communities
• Easing the transition after reorganizations and mergers
Using Social Networks
for Business Communication – Externally
• Providing Customer Support
• Gathering market intelligence
– Understanding Target Markets
• Finding potential customers
• Recruiting new employees
• Finding business partners
• Sharing product information
– Brand Socialization
• Fostering brand communities
Strategies for Business Communication
on Social Networking Sites
1. Choose the best compositional mode for each message
➢ Consider purpose, platform and audience
2. Offer valuable content to members of your online communities
3. Join existing conversations in addition to starting your own
4. Anchor your online presence in a central hub
5. Facilitate community building
6. Restrict conventional promotional efforts
7. Maintain a consistent personality
8. Manage conversational threads
User Generated Content Sites [UGCs]
• Social media domains in which users rather than website owners
contribute most or all of the content
• YouTube = prominent domain in UGCs category
• YouTube utilised by businesses to post product demonstrations,
facility tours, extended TVCs, interviews, industry news clips,
training videos.
• Social engagement – vote for, comment on, share video content
• Creating compelling and useful content is key to success
• Keep videos short [3-5 minutes]
• Make materials easy to find, easy to consume, and easy to share
Community Q & A Sites
• Sites where visitors [customers / company representatives] answer
questions posted by other visitors [customers / potential customers]
about a product or service.
• Becoming important venues for customer support.
• Responding to questions on Q&A sites can be a great way to;
– build your personal brand
– demonstrate your company's commitment to customer service
– counter misinformation about the company and its products
Public Behaviour on New Media/Social Media
Good Behaviour
Conscious
Bad Behaviour
Tactless, disrespectful
Conscientious
Insensitive, using derogatory
language
Sensitive
Acting exclusive or elite
Inclusive, pluralistic
Racist slurs, fake news mongering
Aware; act for what is true,
right and good
Insulting, attacking, ethnocentrism,
trolling
Theories Explaining Behaviour on Social Media
Theory
Sociopsychological
tradition of
communication theory
Theory of Reasoned
Action (TRA)
Explanation
Communication is a process of expression,
interaction and influence (manipulation)
Theory of Planned
Behaviour (TPB)
Similar to TRA but adds a third element:
perceived behavioral control (Is it easy or
difficult to perform a behaviour?)
Explains how behaviour can change by
influencing a person’s intentions: personal
attitudinal judgments and social-normative
considerations (what one believes others
think they should do)
Theories Explaining Behaviour on Social Media
Theory
Framing Theory
Agenda Setting
Theory
Symbolic
interactionism
theory
Explanation
“Frames” are defined as the way in which we
interpret media presented to us, and that these
frames function to organize social meanings (and
actions).
Mass media organizations determine what the
general population consider newsworthy by
deciding how much attention a news story
receives (salience transfer)
Society comprises symbols that people use to
establish meaning, develop views about the
world, and communicate with one another. We
are thinking beings who act according to how we
interpret signs and situations.
Microblogs & Podcasts
Microblogging
• Microblogs are a variation on Blogs in which the character count
available is capped.
• Twitter highest profile platform
– Capped at 140 characters per ‘tweet’
• Microblog messages often involve short summaries or teasers
that provide links to more information.
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Providing company updates
Offering coupons and notices of special deals
Presenting short tips on product usage
Interacting with customers individually
Traits of good business microbloggers
• Communicate with personal style and an authentic voice
• Deliver new information quickly
• Discuss topics of peak interest to their audience
• Encourage their audience to join in the conversation
• Provide ‘teaser’ information that act as a hook to visit other
platforms [Facebook / blogs / website] for more information.
Source = Thill & Bovee, 2015
Twitter writing Tips
1. Omit needless words
2. Drop the use of punctuation marks
3. Be short, blunt, concise and straight to the point
4. Use well known abbreviations
▪ But avoid the use of obscure abbreviations
5. Lead with a verb
6. Restrict your message to a single tweet
Podcasting
• Podcasting is the process of recording audio or video files and
distributing them online.
• Spawned by advent of the i-pod and other MP3 players
– Originally designed as a platform for downloading music
• Now also used to playback audio files of;
– Talks, speeches,
– training seminars,
– educational lectures,
– share market advice,
– interviews recorded via traditional media
Business application of Podcasting
• Alternative to information dissemination based meetings
• Alternative to existing audio and video messages
• As a supplement to brochures facilitating product
demonstrations, visual tours.
• Presentation of short staff training packages
• Imbedded into or linked to blogs so as to facilitate followers
being able to view recordings from the blogger.
3 Step process for successful Podcasting
Planning
Writing
Editing
Planning – three key components, analysing the situation, gathering the
required information, and organising the material.
If planning to create a podcasting channel think through the range of
topics to be covered.
In organising the content for a podcast pay close attention to previews,
transitions and summaries or reviews
Writing – Podcasts need to be well structured with a clear beginning,
middle and end.
Key difference is recording of spoken words as opposed to presentation
of written materials
Always start by revising your script before you start recording
3 Step process for successful Podcasting
Planning
Writing
Editing
Editing – Always play the podcast back and review for parts where
mistakes made, or materials omitted.
Notable errors need to be edited out and replaced by re-recording
portion of presentation in which error[s] occurred.
Advantages & Disadvantages
of Social Media
32
Advantages of Social Media [broad context]
✓ Provides greater opportunity for individuals to express
themselves leading to a proliferation of points of view.
✓ It has made people more confident in their use of technology.
✓ Acted as a catalyst for people to make face to face social contact.
✓ It has facilitated communication that involves the sharing of
thoughts and feelings – reinforcing social bonds – creating a
mood of sociability.
✓ It has facilitated the bringing together of like-minded people
who share similar interests.
✓ It has helped to overcome the tyranny of distance.
✓ It has facilitated more open communication among peoples
living in authoritarian countries.
Based on Eunson (2012)
Social Media – positive quotes
• “Social media captures collective intelligence”.
• “Social media is accessible, easy to use and understand”.
• “There are low barriers to entry”.
• “Social media tools are both versatile and flexible”.
• “With social media, an individual can shift easily between the
role of audience and the role of author”.
• “With easy to use software, ordinary individuals can create their
own content and seamlessly share it with others”.
•
All quotes from Lincoln (2009) as cited in Eunson (2012, p.706)
Social Media – positive quotes
• “Dr. John Grohol, an US psychologist and expert in online
behaviour and internet addiction, said people share online for
hundreds of reasons, from wanting to keep in touch with
colleagues and friends to expanding their horizons in a hobby or
profession.
• If there’s a core reason, it is mainly to stay and feel connected
with one another. It is simply socialising on a vast, [previously]
unheard of scale, he says.
• This desire for recognition is easy to ridicule, but it is part of
human condition. It is nothing new.”
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Source = Martin (2009) as cited in Eunson (2012, p.706)
Disadvantages of Social Media [broad context]
• Security concerns with respect to hacking and phishing
• Disclosure of personal information & vulnerability to crime
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Skeletons in the social media closet
• Blurring of personal / professional lives [time] creating stress
• Creating recluses / ‘anti-social media’
• Leading to shorter attention spans and declining academic
performance
• Cyber bullying
• Information nirvana or information overload?
Dealing with Information Overload
• Understand what information you really need in order to excel in
your current projects and along your intended career path.
• Face the fact that you cannot possibly handle every update from
every potentially interesting and helpful source.
• Add new information sources slowly.
• Prune your sources vigorously and frequently
• It’s the quality of the information collected that counts not the
quantity of it.