The internet of business

I completely understand, now more than ever, what the internet of things means for small and big businesses across the globe. Media has emancipated beyond entertainment and edutainment. More and more business owners and entrepreneurs looking for lucrative deals and returns recognise the medium as a production tool to attract profit, return on investment, and for business expansion.

Social media has become a business trade for many companies in all various fields of profession. In fact, to not find a communication department, internally or outsourced, that primarily focuses on a business's social media initiatives, is rare next to none.

The internet of business on social media

Twitter

Although I have chosen Twitter to rally my points, this is not to exclude Facebook and other networks, of course each medium is beneficial, but with Twitter being live and immediate, it holds an advantage over most social media networks. Many companies are using it for various purposes, and below are the lists.

Twitter as a call centre

Eradicated, although not entirely, are the days when one would have to call (at their own expense) hotlines to query or to simply enquire about business service. Having to wait for close to an hour before being assisted only to be dismissed with modest politeness and jargon words you can't be too sure are even real. Many companies are taking to Twitter to create a client and business platform that serves as the very purpose of a call centre.

With the added pressure of it being on a public domain, the risk to be anything but efficient and resourceful cannot be afforded by a business. I use Twitter all the time for information on business service and general queries. Their turn around time to respond and address complains is impressive and notable.

Twitter for relationship maintenance

Brand loyalty has become a myth and whether this is because of the economic fluctuate and most of us unable to recall when last it was stable long enough for us to get comfortable, is the cause, I cannot say. However more and more consumers are alternating between brands, this is driven by price offering.

Competition has become stiff and finding innovative and creative ways to lead in the market is becoming challenged and hard. However, staying relevant and close to consumers is becoming more enabled. As is converting leads into sales. I guess for a consumer to follow your business account translates to them either having already subscribed to your service or having an interest in it.

Many companies keep a regular and consistent interaction with their clients whom I'll call followers for this purpose. The key has always been to make clients feel valued, and not necessarily as a collective but as an individual. Twitter seems to have made this possible once again. The smallest of actions such as a retweet, a brief dialogue or to make ones tweet a favourite can easily make a client feel considered and treasured for reasons beyond purchasing, and this strengthens the brand loyalty.

Twitter for CSI and campaigning

Traditional Corporate Social Investment initiatives and campaigning should not be neglected for modern ones. A synergy of both is required for maximum effectiveness. I express this because it seems like many corporations and businesses are exercising one over the other and this is a terrible judgement.

Twitter is a great medium to attract global awareness, evidently with the #bringbackourgirls campaign which attracted international attention and transitioned to a worldwide campaign. That's all fine and well, but to see to it that it does not end up only on the digital sphere; traditional actions must be incorporated.

This execution although not easy is not impossible. Social media can offer the convenience of spreading a message to the mass simultaneously while traditional practices are being executed, combined both practices offer the delight of conquering multiple objectives with a far greater reach.

To shortly summarise

The whole purpose of technology is for convenience. Think of a mall that brings different retail stores to one area making the consumer experience less travailing. Twitter and other social media networks serve the same purpose. It is a multi-tasking tool that achieves more than one goal which, if carried out strategically and smart, is fruitful for both ends of a business.

The conclusion

I have highlighted on the internet of things from a business perspective with the attention being on social media, Twitter as my primary example. As an overall point, the internet has enabled big and small corporations, entrepreneurs, small and big business to bring their service to a consumer.

A perfect and most relevant examples being online shopping. It has also bridged the international gap as far as communications goes, giving companies the leverage to expose their service beyond borders. The speed at which information is exchanged too, has become very rapid, this increasing the pace of production and business growth

Perhaps the question now is how can service providers bridge the discrepancy of data purchase, speed of browsing and internet service, to make the digital experience less of a hassle.