Social Media in Businesses

By Devan Lau

Throughout the daily lives of people, they communicate and share their thoughts and ideas throughout the use of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, most businesses are using social media for its commercial purposes of communication. The Communication Arts department of St. Thomas Aquinas College held a panel discussion on “More Than Fun & Games: How Industry is Using Social Media” on March 20 at the Romano Student Center. It was hosted by Professor Elaine Winship with Dr. L. John Durney, the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs as the moderator.

The panelists were Mark Durney, Director of Social Media from Havas Worldwide Strat Farm; Michael Fasano, Co-founder and owner of www.golfcity.com; Ryan Finch, Content Marketing of Wild Frog Studio; Elizabeth Kaminski, Publicist Assistant at Wunderkind PR, and Sophia Salis, Employee Communications Manager at Orange and Rockland Utilities. Ryan, Elizabeth, and Sophia are graduates of St. Thomas Aquinas College. 

The panelists first discussed how the social media impacted aspects of their jobs. Michael, the co-founder of golfcity.com, explained that using social media is highly useful for him and is a convenient method of reaching out to golf vendors quick and easy. Mark explained that social media helped him to highlight the business units for his marketing strategies and make connections easily with the brand’s audiences. Sofia mentioned that using social media for Orange & Rockland Utilities helped being in touch with the company workers and to report to people during storm restorations. Ryan explained that social media provided deeper information about a client’s business and helped him to better understand the business and their audience. Elizabeth pointed out that social media helped her to focus the relationships of authors and book publishers on the public especially with bloggers, which are a big presence within social media.

The panelists were also asked how social media impacted the corporate world. Sofia responded that for the utility company it provided information in a quick and fast flow to customers. Mark stated that social media brings in the customer experience, provides content marketing, and displays what they conversing about for bringing more customers. Michael pointed out that social media is the best way to interact with the customers and clients for his website. Ryan stated that using social media is successful and super relevant when dealing with potential clients. Elizabeth pointed out that social media is a public forum for clients and provides what they requested for their clients.

Towards the end of the meeting, the panelists gave their individual advice to the students on using their social media especially when they enter the working world. Michael stated that students must be careful with the content they put on because they will be judged for their personality. Michael also encouraged creating a LinkedIn account to put up their resumes and this may lead to a potential career. Ryan advised students to clean up your Facebook account, which may be an asset for the company you might work for and to brand yourself when searching for a job. Mark stated that you must practice what you’ve preached, as people can detect potential lies, and to understand how the social media really works for businesses. Sofia recommended engaging with people and share interests, which social media is the most effective way in reaching out.

Lastly, Elizabeth encouraged students to blog more often and to create separate accounts for social media for work and personal use. People attending this meeting learned that social media is not only for reaching out to friends and family but to make connections with clients and to build up networking for occupational use.