Organizational Uses

Have you ever wondered how and why some organizations use social media? For some companies without social media they might not be a company. Take Beachbody for example, here is a company that makes workout videos. They do not have gyms, stores, or ads in a newspaper. Almost all of their business now comes from social media sites. Beachbody invites people from around the world to become coaches in helping them spread their message of happiness through good health. These coaches are the ones hitting the social media sites and spreading their stories about how Beachbody has helped them become fit and for some turn their lives around. This past week I had the opportunity to interview one of these said Beachbody coaches. Growing up, this coach was surrounded with a family plagued by diabetes. At one point in his life when the thought everything was going really well he was told that he was in the realms of being pre-diabetic. His life got turned upside down, he even lost his life insurance policy due to the diagnosis. He decided to turn his life around and was able to do so using some of the Beachbody workouts. He is now spreading that message with everyone that will listen. His main source for sharing this information and helping people succeed... Facebook!

Social media has transformed the way everyone communicates. From marketing products to spreading breaking news social media has been a game changer, and most organizations are utilizing it. Lets take the Beachbody coach that I interviewed. Every day he posts three to four posts about something uplifting or about exercise, then one of him doing his daily exercise. He puts together challenge groups on Facebook for those interested or needing a support group to give their motivation a jump start. The use of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google , will contribute to the bottom line of most businesses that use them correctly and effectively. The challenge that these companies face are linking the business objectives, social media strategies, and the bottom line all into one package. They want to be able to grow, reach out to more people, and stay afloat all at the same time. For companies such as Beachbody there has to be purpose put together with tangible results. If Beachbody just sold home workouts just to make money, or sold them in a kiosk in a mall, they would not be where they are today. There is a purpose in what they do, they have a mission, a vision, and values that helps their results be driven with purpose. They want their customers to be healthy and happy, when their customers are healthy and happy their friends will want in on the action and Beachbody then gains more customers.

Beachbody also uses social media to their advantage in the way of reviews and ratings. If someone makes a post on a social media site that says how hard or easy a workout was, that is a rating to other viewers telling them how good or bad a workout really is; Its like a bunch of small infomercials floating around social media.  Companies like Beachbody love reviews and ratings because it lets them know more about the product(s) they are distributing. If someone gives it a bad rating because of the level of difficulty they now know that they need to create a more simple exercise program or make changes to the one they have out. Beachbody is only one small example of hundreds of thousands of companies that utilize social media sites every day to reach out the masses. Utilizing the many social media uses for an organization is key to success in almost every aspect. In this post I only hit upon a couple. What do you think are some other areas that social media helps organizations utilize social media? What are some other companies that you think of? I would love to read your comments!






http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/12/17/how-social-media-can-spur-organizational-transformation/#304ece411852

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/social-media/social-media-workplace-research-roundup