Business Innovation through Social Media

The ultimate goal of any business is to make profits. However the highly competitive environment driven by ever changing technologies leaves most organisations struggling with effectiveness and efficiency. In order to compete in this fast paced environment, businesses have to innovate. Business innovation is defined as...."an organisation's process for introducing new ideas, workflows, methodologies or products." This might be time consuming and expensive exercise especially for small to medium enterprises. With connectivity and especially through Social Media, costs for innovation can be contained. The following methods can be co-opted into any Social Media strategy to facilitate an affordable business innovation.

Crowdsourcing

Image source:- iitaablogs

Premised on the idea of outsourcing, this concept allows for individual contributions from volunteers or part time workers and the total effort comes from an unidentified public. Since organisations engage with audiences through Social Media, they can solicit for contributions from the public on how to improve certain aspects of their businesses. When systems are improved with the assistance of potential customers, success is assured. Innovation remains key and to attract attention and run an appealing campaign, competitions can be co-opted into this strategy.

Crowdfunding

Image Source:- investirstartup.com

According to crowdsourcing.org, "Crowdfunding is an approach to raising capital for new projects and businesses by soliciting contributions from a large number of stakeholders...." There are a number of crowdfunding sites and www.crowdfunding.com lists the following as the top three, ranked according to traffic data. 

1. gofundme

2. kickstarter

3 Indiegogo

Billions of dollars have been raised through these websites. Social trust is cardinal for a successful online fund raising campaign. An active presence with healthy engagement in Social Media networks is all you need to establish social trust. Most common models of crowdfunding are 1) Donations/Philanthropy/Sponsorship 2) Lending 3) Investment in exchange of equity

Co-creation

Image Sources:- SalesCubes

In pursuit of innovative ways of product development, some organisations are inviting thier clients to participate in the design of products. Customers are requested for their input to create value reach experiences. These interactions would normally take place on the organisations' websites, but to reach a wider audience, you will need to make use of Social Media networks. This exercise is not only fun and rich in varying options, but can also be collaborated with product launch, brand awareness and new market explorations. Integrating these activities becomes a cost cutting measure

Big Data

Image Source:- Svetlana

Bernard Marr defines big data as, "....data being collected and our ability to make use of it." He asserts that as we conduct our normal activities, we leave traces of data which can be analysed. Analysis of this data informs behavior. Big data can be exploited for commercial opportunities. Performance improvement can also be identified and devised through data analysis. Connectivity through the internet and most importantly Social Media is a very rich mine field for all sorts of data. 

Internet of Things (IoT)

Imange Source:- Credencys

Another online phenomenon that can help innovate any business is the Internet of Things, which is defined by Webopedia thus, "The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the ever-growing network of physical objects that feature an IP address for internet connectivity, and the communication that occurs between these objects and other internet-enabled devices and systems. Internet enabled devices can be used to control and operate various processes and all that will be required is one to be connected to the internet. For an example; an office's telephone system can be controlled through the internet reducing the costs of telephone equipment and a telephone operator. Most home appliances, security systems and even wearable devices are now internet enabled. Social Media networks are in hot pursuit of developing systems that utilize the IoT phenomenon.

Besides seeking to increase sales, how else are you utilizing your business presence in Social Media? We would be happy to hear from you with a comment below. Should you need to know how you can harness these lucrative developments in your business strategy, do not hesitate to get in touch.