Maturation of the Social Network Industry

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Abstract

Funder Mifflin Inc. is now in the process of implementing their diversification strategic plan to enter the social networking industry. In this paper I will be discussing how maturation effects the social networking industry. I will also be discussing some of the current companies that are already in the industry and how they are adjusting to maturation. I will be discussing some of the current trends in relation to strategic managment in the industry and also how the global strategy can help Funder Mifflin Inc. adjust to maturation. I will conclude with how the global strategy can help Funder Mifflin Inc gain a competitive advantage, differentiation advantage and finally a cost advantage.

Maturation of the Social Network Industry

If you thought the social networking industry wasn't constantly in a state of maturation you were wrong. The industry has become a major marketing tool for businesses to market themselves. The problem is that the social networking industry developed so quickly that it left a lot of people behind and they still don't know how to use it. Statistics show that that users are now spending up to five hours a day on a social networking site compared to the three hours a day a year ago. Social media networking traffic has increased world wide by 83% in the last year (Neilson, 2011). A lot of companies were fearful of entering into the social networking industry because all they really care about is their return on investments (ROI). What this means is they want to associate their social media programs to their actual real world performance metrics that they are already using (Solis, 2010). Last year companies still viewed entering into the social media market as an experimental program. So even though social media is currently transforming organizations worldwide companies still want to be able to apply performance indicators to it.

Websites & Companies

A good example of a company that has used the maturation of social media to their advantage would be Dell Outlet. They have tied their social media metrics to their revenue they made in 2010. They are using social media networks like Twitter to get their advertisements out for their product. Dell Outlet indicated that in June of 2010 they earned $3 million in revenue just from twitter alone. Their global reach that they have been able to create on Twitter has resulted in more than 6.5 million in revenues ...