Two decades into the 21st-century and business communication has already seen a massive overall. When the internet was still gaining popularity in the first decade, businesses were still using telephones and fax machines for their communications with email rapidly replacing a few of those channels. However, in the second decade, a whole new business communication platform took over. The shot to fame was so sharp that today, telephones and fax machines exist as mere memories and come into application only when there is an emergency and emails are struggling to keep their place as the alternative is far more exciting.
It is no news that social media, originally designed to serve consumers, has ruled business communication. In fact, most brands have given up using customised business communication platforms and instead, are using this free technology in their offices and across to communicate. Just when it feels that social media has already reached its peak of popularity, the platforms grow further and it is only logical to conclude that social media will continue to dominate business communication for the coming decade as well.
How social media will hold on to its dominance?
The very first business communication lesson that you will learn in the top PGDM courses in Delhi B-schools is that enterprises are never faceless entities. As a manager, your involvement will be with the people of the organisation and the customers that the brand serves. Social media have been addressing the social needs of human beings for over a decade now and that is why nearly a quarter-billion people came online in 2017 alone. The number will rise drastically in 2020 as the internet receives more penetration and more people, both potential customers and enterprises, hop on to the social media train.
Plus, businesses around the world already know that engagement rises their productivity by almost 19% and detachment reduces it by 32%. Companies are realising that people are on the internet and social media can no longer be the responsibility of the marketing department alone. Intracompany interactions are happening over LinkedIn and Twitter. Intercompany business communication does happen over Facebook. And as for the customers, every social media platform out there is a potential advertisement board where one post can reach millions in a matter of minutes.
Understandably, these two trends are not going to see any deacceleration. Neither is the internet going away anywhere. People now take to social media to search for products online and employers look across multiple profiles to hire the right candidate. Even for B2B, social media stand as the ground where merger talks begin to happen or managers look into competitors and analyse prospects of expansion. Predictions show that social media is only going to multiply its current size into something more. And as it expands, it will spread its roots further in business communication as well.
Where do you come in?
Consider the following points:
- Businesses are communicating with their customers on a personal level over social media. Instead of posting about their discounts, they are showing off the new office pet or recent philanthropic initiative. And it is working.
- Employers judge your skills and EQ with the help of your social media posts. If you are not on social media, and that too responsibly, a good number of opportunities may already be passing you.
- Business leaders of all scale are on the same social media platforms that you are in as well. You do have to pass through the company gates or the secretary to get in touch. With the right words, you can get the right attention, and you can come home with a dream deal in hand.
In short, social media is going to become one of the main hubs of business communication and during your time in one of the top PGDM colleges in Delhi, you must pick up the required skills to interact effectively over the available platforms. All that you learn in the subject transforms to some extent when the space of communication gets limited to 280 characters. When everyone around the world can see what you are posting, business communication training becomes that much essential. If you are to take the advantages of social media, skill-building must start during your B-school.
The EMPI B-school, one of the top PGDM colleges in Delhi NCR, teaches its business communication module on such futuristic lines. EMPI respects the dominance that social media is showing in the business world and prepares its students to communicate effectively online. Business communication over social media is more than just about posting and tagging. As a manager, you need to understand the psychology at play, the obstacles that come and tune your words with appropriate filters. The how-s of these are what you need to learn.