How the Digital Age Has Shaped Communication Management

The digital age is rapidly changing communications management in astronomical ways. Everything is digitized now. All businesses are online, and each of them uses social media for all kinds of communication. Come to think of it, the latest statistics show 87% increase in the use of social media platforms. It is believed that this number will increase in the next 5 years.

I was awed with another number. The huge figure representing that many adults went online. Furthermore, 52% of companies use social media to connect and communicate with customers. This only means one thing the way business communicates with the customer has changed forever. When a company needs to engage its market, it sends tweets, or creates eye catching statuses on face book. If it needs to expound on matters i.e. updates, important developments, or new product launches, and social media limits the execution, then they can blog about them on their sites.

How well are you keeping up with the changes in the digital communication landscape? It's one of the unique challenges presented to businesses today understanding and incorporating the various developments and changes in digital communication. Blogs, Social Media, and Micro Blogs it can be extremely overwhelming. According to the info graph below, 87% of businesses are using social media, but only 58% have adopted blogging, which suggests that many business owners still haven't come to grips with the nature of digital marketing today.

What's more telling is that only 58% of businesses are using social media to provide ways for customers to interact with a company. Yet a growing number of customers expect to be able to hop on a Face book Page or send a Tweet  and get an answer. Businesses who aren't paying attention to customers on social networks (social listening) are missing key conversations and opportunities.

Take a look at how the digital landscape is changing and being used, throughout the world, and think about how your own business fits in. Effective communication lies at the heart of a successful business. Without being able to communicate, a team will have more difficulty accomplishing goals and interacting with customers. For this and many other reasons, communication management is an important area of study and mastery.

The digital age has brought real-time, 24-hour communication between businesses, employees and customers to the forefront. What is the result of this digital shift? Maintaining positive relationships with both employees and customer’s means keeping up with an ever evolving digital world.

Each year, the world becomes increasingly digitized, and anyone in the business of communications which is to say, most everyone who touches social media must stay aware of the landscape.

By PROTAS LEVINA 

BAPRM 42657