Significant Difference Blogs and Im Have Made on Business Communications

¶ … Blogs on Business Communications

Business communications is a field that has drawn the interest of theorists and practitioners interested in improving the results of communication within the business activity. Communications in business has significantly evolved and changed throughout the decades. Business communications is also influenced by technological advancements. The Internet has improved the way individuals communicate in their business or private lives.

Therefore, technology plays an important role in the development of business communications. This refers to the quality of communications, but also to its efficiency. The impact of successful communication can be mostly observed on the success of the company or organization in case. In order to be successful, companies must focus on improving their communication style (Nielsen, 2013). This means that they must invest in technology developments, but also in the know how required in order to efficiently use these technologies in their attempt to improve communication.

Blogs in Business Communications

Blogs have become one of the most popular ways individuals or companies communicate what is important for them to the public. There are numerous benefits blogs and instant messaging have provided to companies, and have made a significant difference in business communications. Some of these benefits are represented by speed, accessibility, and relational dynamics.

The competitive business environment determines companies to intensify their communication efforts. In other words, information must be communicated to the receiver fast, otherwise it will lose advantage. Companies must increase their speed at communicating the message that is intended to attract large number of customers, to draw the appreciation of the press, of the government, of the society, or to improve relationships with business partners. Therefore, speed is very important in business communications.

Blogs and instant messaging can help companies reach the speed required in order to successfully communicate their message. This allows them to communicate what promotional offers they intend to provide their customers. In addition to this, they can provide information on new products they develop, on the benefits their products provide, on the prices of their products, and others.

Blogs and instant messaging also provide the benefit of accessibility. The business environment requires that companies' messages reach large numbers of individuals. This increases the possibility of conversion of prospects into customers. This means they can increase the number of customers they address. The Internet allows companies to access the required number of individuals.

Blogs and instant messaging also influence relational dynamics. This refers to relationships between companies and their targeted audiences, and how these relationships develop. This type of communication allows companies to have a direct relationship with their audiences. This relationship is not influenced by third parties. This makes it easier for companies to communicate the message they want their customers to understand.

Blogs have other implications on higher level. They can be used in order to influence consumer behavior. In other words, they can be used in order to influence large masses of people. It seems that in order to attract large number of customers it is important that companies influence their behavior. This allows companies to control the demand for their products. In other words, they control how much products customers should purchase and how they should use them. In markets where certain companies do not control consumer behavior, customers can easily switch from brand to brand. But in the case of companies that can influence and educate their targeted audience, customers become loyal to these companies.

This significantly increases customer satisfaction and retention. In addition to this, it allows companies to induce certain behaviors to their customers that they find useful. These objecti8ves can be reached with the help of blogs. This is because blogs can be used in order to establish certain lifestyles that can determine customers to purchase certain products. Bloggers write articles on different issues of interest to these customers. People that read these articles, like them, and agree with them share them with their friends on social networks. Therefore, some of these articles become viral. This means that a large number of people see these articles. They are influenced by their friends that like these articles, and start liking them themselves. They start doing what the article says, and this is how trends are developed.

The fact that companies that have blogs post numerous articles on them that appeal to what customers want helps them improve their business communication and influence the purchasing behavior of customers. Some of articles are written based on hypnotic language that induces customers the need to purchase certain products, or to develop the activities required by the article. Therefore, blogs can be very powerful in determining customers' reaction to companies' strategies.

Another benefit provided by blogs to business communication is represented by the reduced censorship that is applied to online communication. The Internet is not as strictly regulated as other media. Therefore, companies prefer to communicate through blogs messages that they cannot communicate on TV, radio, or print.

However, this means that customers' possibility of choice is reduced in such cases. The power of influence of these companies through their blogs determines people that read their articles to easily convinced by them. This is an issue of ethics.

Blogs also allow the possibility to companies of receiving feedback from their customers. Before blogs were used in business communication, most of the feedback received by companies was represented by their sales, or by discussions on forums. In other words, if their sales increased, companies understood that people liked their products. In the case of feedback received through forums discussions, these are more difficult to monitor.

Blogs allow companies to set the trends that they find to be in accordance with their vision and mission. However, they must evaluate the importance of such a strategy on their activity. Educating consumer behavior takes time. It takes more time to develop or to change a trend than it is to focus on existing trends and using blogs in order to address them, and to connect the company with them.

Instant messaging is a communication tool that is mostly used for internal communication, while blogs are a tool that is mostly used in external communication. Instant messaging is used in facilitating communication between company members. This is a type of chat service where individuals can send and receive text messages in real time. Instant messaging can be performed online through different messenger programs developed by search engines and other websites. These types of messengers are used in cases where people need to communicate with members of their targeted audiences. Messenger programs can also be developed by companies to be used in their internal network. These messengers are used by members of the same company. They do not allow external communication.

Instant messaging provides several benefits in comparison with emailing, phone calls, and mobile texting. It is easier to send an instant message than it is to send an email. The receiver is alerted every time the other person has written something. Instant messaging is mostly used in informal communication (NFIB, 2013). It is also used in order to increase the speed of sending and receiving information. In addition to this, the receiver has the possibility of asking for other information in case the transmitted message was not understood.

Instant messages can be easier put on hold by the reader until he has the time to read them. Each person can respond to the message whenever they want. This increases the accessibility of communication.

Instant messaging improves relationships with business partners. This is because it helps improve communication. Many communication problems are determined by the fact that information is not received on time. Technological developments have made it possible to send and receive information in real time. Therefore, communication is significantly improved by tools like instant messengers that allow individuals to communicate faster.

However, instant messaging can provide certain disadvantages also. There are numerous situations where employees use instant messaging more for gossip, and not for work purposes. In addition to this, they get less used to talking on the phone, with talking to someone in person, which determines them to lose some of their communication skills. Therefore, when they need these skills in communicating with business partners, they might not be able to use them as they should.

Instant messaging communication allows companies to supervise the conversions of their employees. There are numerous software programs that allow them to be installed on employees' computers in order to be monitored. Companies encourage their employees to communicate through instant messengers in order to observe what information is transmitted by employees. Instant messages are also easy to be intercepted by other companies that can use that information in their benefit.

Companies have also found other objectives that can be reached though instant messaging. This type of communication is mostly used within companies, or with their business partners, but it seems they can also be used with their customers. Therefore, an increased number of customers receive instant messages that considered spam. Companies use these instant messages in order to attract customers, to inform them about their products, their prices, their promotions, and others.

However, this is not considered the most effective strategy that can be used in communicating with customers. This is because most of them feel irritated when they receive such messages. They feel that their private space has been invaded. This determines them to develop resistance towards companies that send such messages, and their products. Therefore, companies should use instant messaging in communicating with their employees and business partners.

Companies can use instant messaging in promoting themselves to their employees. This is because they must also attract and retain their employees, not just their customers. In many aspects, employees are like their customers. Therefore, employees should also be offered certain benefits in addition to regular ones. Companies can promote different internal competitions through their instant messaging. This can determine employees to increase their motivation, and job satisfaction. It is important that companies understand to use instant messaging, wisely, with moderation, and in situations that allow it. In other words, they must help their employees understand that instant messaging must be used in order to easier send and receive work information, and not for entertaining purposes. Instant message conversation can be recorded. This is an important advantage in comparison with telephone calls.

There are also other benefits associated with IM. Instant messaging is a useful tool in connecting employees that work on off site locations. This can be the case of numerous businesses. In addition to this, IM helps companies reduce their costs. This is because telephone calls are more expensive in comparison with instant messaging. IM do not require large amounts of space on servers in comparison with email.

Conclusions

Blogs and instant messaging have made significant differences on business communications. Most of these differences are positive, and they provide improved quality for companies that use them. In addition to this, it is important to understand the potential of development and growth that these communication tools have. These tools are developed based on technological advancements. These are new tools in the communication field, and their potential is important in accordance with what is needed from them.