Social Media and Social Media Management: A Complete Guide

What is Social Media and Social Media Management?

Until the advent of broadcasting, people communicated using entirely different means: books, meetings at coffee shops, and snail mail. Afterwards, radio waves enabled people to communicate much wider, simultaneously informing thousands of people. That was followed by terrestrial and satellite television.

All of these means of communication were fascinating once they were first launched. However, social media and online communication are superb because they are interactive. Both the sender and the receiver of the message can respond right away.

We explore the concept of social media management to understand how to best benefit from these websites.

Table of Contents

Social Media Management, What is Social Media Management

Social media is “forms of electronic communication (such as web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content such as videos.”

What Is It Used for?

Social media is used for personal, professional, and educational purposes. Most people create a social media presence to keep in contact with their friends and acquaintances. Companies use it to build brand awareness and stay in touch with their client bases. Teachers even use it creatively to engage and educate their students.

Updates about your life events, including marriage, children, and even what you had for lunch.
Sites like Blogger, Tumblr, and LiveJournal allow users to create an online journal that can be shared worldwide. Readers of these blogs often form a quasi-community by commenting frequently on the sites’ content. They interact with each other and the author in this manner.
Share videos that you created or that you found elsewhere on the Internet. You might find these videos engaging, entertaining, or informative. They may also have educational value.
Digital photographs of yourself, your family or your friends. You can also share pictures from friends or other sources on the Internet.
Links to sites or stories that you want others to see. As with news stories, you can express your opinion about the content to engage or influence others.
Your opinion on topics or other people’s posts to organise a movement, share information, or inform others.
Links to current events stories that interest you. You also can express your opinion about the story’s content or engage with others in your community.

A social media network is a website that allows users to interact with each other and with the community of users. A social media network usually requires users to log in and create user accounts and passwords to protect their online identities. Once a user has established an online presence on a social media site, they can connect to people they know from all around the globe. Some users choose to connect with only the people they know in real life, while others choose to allow other acquaintances on their social networks.

According to Shopify, the top social media sites are becoming more global in scope. The Asian markets, in particular, are ever expanding, as countries like China see economic value in allowing limited access to particular social media sites. Shopify ranked sites from around the world in terms of users. Some of these will be familiar as they have a worldwide reach. Some of the most popular in China make this list due to the sheer number of users, but they are not well-known outside that country.

As of 2024, the most popular social media platforms in terms of active monthly users are as follows:

Facebook (3.07 billion users).
YouTube (2.5 billion users).
WhatsApp and Instagram (both with 2 billion users each).
TikTok (1.6 billion users).
WeChat (1.36 billion users).
Facebook Messenger (977 million users).
Telegram (900 million users).
Snapchat (800 million users).
Douyin (755 million users), which is the Chinese version of TikTok.
Kuaishou (697 million users).

Additional widely used platforms with smaller global audiences include Weibo, QQ, Pinterest, and X (Twitter), each with several hundred million active users globally. Platforms like Tumblr, LINE, and Myspace no longer rank as high as in previous years due to the rise of more popular, newer platforms

Businesses have learnt that social media is an excellent way to advertise their business, services, and products for nearly free. For example, an automobile company can post a new picture of their latest model vehicle. People who have liked their page not only see it but also share it for even more people to see. All of that happens for the cost of simply taking a photograph and having someone manage the account.

It’s not just large automobile manufacturers who use social media. Almost any business or organisation can use the venue well to spread its message. Approximately 69% to 77% of small businesses use social platforms to engage with customers, whether for building relationships, providing customer service, or gathering feedback. Many small businesses find social media essential for maintaining customer connections and enhancing loyalty. Nearly all society’s institutions use these platforms for one purpose or another:

Primary and secondary schools use these platforms to announce events, send messages about emergency closings, and promote special events
Universities use it to draw attention to their institutions, rally support behind sports teams, and stay in touch with students.
Pro athletes, celebrities, politicians, and charities use social media to build their public brand and awareness of important causes.
Local businesses use various platforms to advertise specials and draw customers’ attention.
Large corporations craft creative advertisements that they hope will go viral on social media and build brand awareness.

Account management can become tricky. With so many social media accounts available, how does a business track them all? Who is in charge of them? These accounts are valuable assets to a company or organisation. Having the account hacked or mismanaged would harm the company’s image and brand.

Companies want to tightly control the management of their social media accounts and the messages posted to each of them. Businesses generally use a wide array of social media platforms. The top three are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, though more are using newer platforms such as Snapchat, Vine, and Instagram.

The benefits of social media to a company also include creating a dialogue with their customers rather than a monologue. In the United Kingdom, around 40% of people use social media to connect with large companies, reflecting a growing preference for digital customer service. Many consumers find social media channels more responsive and convenient than traditional call centres, as interactions can be quicker and often provide more immediate answers to customer queries.

Using social media, especially X (Twitter), to complain about a service grabs the attention of companies very quickly. Companies can reach out to the consumer in real time to solve the problem. If they don’t, they run the risk of other users sharing that negative post repeatedly.

Businesses want to maintain a positive image on social media, so they will work quickly to resolve issues that might negatively impact their business. These people used social media to resolve negative customer service experiences and problems with the company’s products or services:

Hertz Rental Car is now using X (Twitter) to resolve customer service complaints as part of its broader social media engagement efforts. Hertz actively communicates with users via the platform, directly responding to issues and complaints and encouraging customers to send private messages for specific support. This approach is part of their strategy to handle service requests and complaints more efficiently online, where customers can reach them easily for support or inquiries
GoDaddy’s response to the backlash over its 2015 Super Bowl ad showcased its use of social media as a responsive customer communication tool. After widespread criticism on X (Twitter), GoDaddy quickly pulled the ad and issued a public apology. This approach demonstrated GoDaddy’s commitment to addressing customer feedback and its broader plan to incorporate social media as a direct, agile channel for customer interaction and brand communication. The prompt action helped GoDaddy maintain its reputation while enhancing its engagement with followers.
In 2013, Keith Pape expressed frustration on X (Twitter) about being unable to fly standby on an earlier flight. American Airlines responded within six minutes, and after a brief exchange, they resolved the issue to his satisfaction, allowing him to catch an outbound flight. This quick, proactive approach reflects how American Airlines and other airlines increasingly used Twitter to address customer concerns in real-time, aiming to maintain a positive customer experience in situations that could otherwise spiral negatively.

The simple fact is that businesses must not only have a social media presence but also attend to and nurture it. They cannot ignore giants like Facebook and X. The truth is that their customers are on these sites, whether the company is or not, and you can bet the customers have something to say. A business should be in on that conversation rather than ignore it entirely.

Buyer Beware

The benefit of limiting your interaction with those people you know is that you limit the amount of information that you share with the world. When you open your social networks to a larger audience, you expose yourself to possible problems. Identity theft can happen if you overshare on public social networks. Keep some information private, such as your birthday, address, and other personal information. Some individuals have even used social media to try to cover their tracks in cases of having committed crimes against individuals or to learn when homeowners are on vacation and vulnerable to being robbed.

Overall, social media has many more benefits than drawbacks if you remain mindful of how your information can be used against you.