Social media is an interesting phenomenon, especially for businesses and customers, and the relationship between the two. Looked at one way, social media provides an opportunity for businesses, giving them a personalized platform from which to connect with their customers. By using social media as a way to advertise for your company, you can speak directly to the consumer in a place where they are comfortable. Social media allows businesses to connect with customers while shaping their perceptions of products and services. From another perspective, however, social media can be a risk. Instead of the power of advertising and marketing being in the hands of the business, it’s now shifted into the hands of the consumer. Consumers have all the power when it comes to what they want to see and how they respond to what they see. Because of the “social” aspect of social media, your company’s successes, failures, and mistakes are publicly displayed, discussed, and shared for the whole world to see. This is a definite risk for businesses that was never such an issue as it is today. As a boss or manager I strongly believe that social media is going to be very important to me. I want to be able to use social media to connect with customers all around the world, receive feedback as to how my employees are treating customers and to see the results of my products in the customer’s eyes.
Effective communication in an organization/business increases productivity, decreases employee turnover and improves office atmosphere. Whether a supervisor or regular employee at the organization, the better you communicate, as difficult as it might be at times, the better working relationships you'll have. Not everyone, however, comes from strong communication backgrounds, so it's important to bring new employees up to speed on important communication methods. Three of the most effective communication skills are listening, speaking and preparation. In a business, listening is undoubtedly the most important component of effective communication because listening goes much further than speaking and preparation. Listening extends far beyond hearing and understanding words. It involves offering positive body language to speakers so they know you are comprehending information and taking interest in what they are saying. These signals include making eye contact, nodding in understanding or agreement, standing or sitting in a welcoming and approachable way, and not interrupting. All of these elements fall into the listening category because they serve to ensure the speaker that you understand, care and are interested.
Next there is speaking and it’s important to remember that words are powerful and words can often be mixed up and taken the wrong way. That’s why it’s so important to allow others to speak first, gather every opinion in the room, think about what you hear, take notes and address the issues at hand as carefully as possible. Then at the end of the conversation or meeting if you have something to say or if you disagree with something or someone, it’s time to speak up. It’s impossible to know how a conversation is going to unfold but if you acknowledge others’ thoughts, go over all of the perceptions, your opinions and your conclusion then