I think for any company going social it can be a risky endeavor. It is one that can be challenging at first because there is a lot that must go into it. It also depends what the the company’s goal is for their social media platforms as well, are they trying to increase sales with their social media platforms or are they trying to better their relationships with their customers? There is also the question of what social media platforms the company wants to join, there are many; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and etc.
Once a company decides if they want to go social and what social platforms they want to join, it is then important to figure out what they want their activity to be like, and once they decide the amount of activity, it is important to stay consistent for the customers. The company will decide how often they want to post, what types of posts do they want to offer their customers, and ultimately the goal of each post.
Companies have some challenges and risks that they need to overcome once they have found themselves on social media platforms. Making sure that the company has enough people that can focus on the social media platforms. A challenge for a company is the amount of time it takes to manage the social media platforms, therefore making sure you are ready and prepared. Another challenge can be knowing when the best time is to post on Facebook or make a tweet, when are their customers on social media the most? This is important because you want to make sure you are reaching out to the customers at an appropriate time. Making sure you have a plan and goals is another challenge and/or risk, making sure posts and tweets are working toward the same goal. Having engagement from their customers is also another scary thing that companies fear, because it can be upsetting if your not getting a great following.
With all of that said, working in the retail industry, almost every retail company is on some form of social media platform. Each company has a different goal and idea for their social media, but all companies are running into the challenges and/or risks that I had discussed earlier. For the company that I work for, lululemon athletica, we have transformed and adjusted our social media platforms over the years. We have taken feedback from our customers and adjusted accordingly. We do use Facebook in order to increase sales, because we do not do any other type of advertising or marketing. All of our other social media platforms’ goals are to build a better relationship with our customers and to grab their interests.
Since our Facebook page is to increase sales, we have a company Facebook page and then each retail store has their own Facebook page as well. This allows for the company to send out a notification to their customers with new product that will be coming soon or new information regarding the company. The stores then have the ability to post what they have currently, trying to drive foot traffic.
There are definitely risks and challenges in going social, but there are a lot of rewards as well. As generations, we keep getting more and more attached to technology and the social media platforms, therefore it makes sense for businesses to be part of social media. This is a chance for businesses to communicate with their customers almost immediately, getting important information out on the web that directly get sent to their customers.
Victory Fitness 
Great post! I think its interesting that you mention the different uses for Social Media, I was just thinking the same. One platform must be used differently than another. And figuring out which one to use depends on your companies needs. Most businesses can you social media to take their brand to new heights.
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You make a great point on having the proper support and management in place when embracing social media for one’s business. If a business finds itself short staffed with a desire to integrate a social media strategy there are couple of things that a business can do. Take a look at investing in technologies such as Hootsuite which will cut down a tremendous amount of time for your social managing. Make sure to plan content ahead of time and use scheduling services for delivering steady streams of content across multiple social media channels vs wasting time trying to post content to each social channel manually. Finding the right tools to assist a small or limited social media team can make a huge difference in successful social media performance and management (Torr, 2011).
References
Torr, D. (2011, Nov 4). 7 Social Media challenges and business opportunities for social media managers. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-challenges-small-businesses-face/#Challenge 1
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