One of the key areas that businesses can benefit from where there is a clear intersection is between cloud computing and social media. These are two of the most important innovations of recent years, of course; one could hardly point to a more popular social phenomenon which has emerged in the 21st century that that of social media.
The fact is that the computing and business landscape is changing rapidly in these early years of the new millennium. Outmoded ways of working and marketing are disappearing over the horizon, to be replaced with new approaches that make use of 21st century tools. In this regard, there is great reward potential for any business that is able to take advantage of the opportunities that cloud computing and social media offer in conjunction with one another.
Hundreds of millions of people, if not billions, connect via social media every day. The obvious sites that this takes place through are Twitter and Facebook, but the big boys have some competition nowadays as well. MySpace continues to be a significant player, while newer sites with a particular niche, such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Snapchat are also attracting users like flies to a jam pot. And there are thousands of examples where businesses have achieved milestones using these social networking tools.
So how does this related to the cloud? Well, there are several parallel benefits of social media and cloud computing which can be exploited by businesses of all sizes. The huge number of ways in which people are connecting online has sparked the interest of many cloud operators, offering them an opportunity to tap into them to make their cloud services more attractive to users. So here are some of the ways in which the cloud and social media are intersecting as these two growth facets of modern culture continue to grow.
Cost Effectiveness and Big Data
Cloud computing brings great value to small businesses, eliminating the need for expensive investment in hardware. It particularly delivers great opportunities with regard to start-up capital. By the same token, social media is proving to be a highly effective way for businesses to reach massive audiences with advertising, in locales that would otherwise never be open to them, and incur absolutely no expense into the bargain.
Where the two particularly intersect is with regard to Big Data. Social media enables huge amounts of data to be collected and analysed, and this can really give your business the edge over its competitors. The cloud is unquestionably the best way to deal with this information, so the two go hand-in-hand in this respect.
Saving Money on Setting Up
As mentioned previously, both social media and cloud computing offer small businesses in particular excellent opportunities with regard to start-up capital. Many small businesses fail to get off the ground due to the fact that the initial investments required are simply not possible for many people who otherwise have the vision, passion and skills to be successful.
It wouldn’t be accurate to state that social media and cloud computing eradicate these problem, but they can make a significant contribution to overcoming it. Small business are often not in a position to work with highly paid consultants to setup their IT infrastructure, and frequently cannot even have cost to retain them for management. Well, cloud computing does help significantly with this problem, by providing a platform with extremely low set-up and ongoing infrastructure costs. Additionally, cloud computing companies provide 24/7 customer support to handle any issues that you might encounter.
By the same token, social media provides small businesses with the opportunity to manage all aspects of marketing from one platform. The days of needing to hire numerous specialists to hire advertising, or incurring massive costs from advertising, are pretty much over. Creating a social media presence and tying all of your accounts together can help you achieve marketing success with minimal effort, expense and fuss.
Big Business Feature Sets at Small Business Prices
Cloud computing is already a massive deal for big corporations such as Google and Amazon, and with the likes to IBM moving into the cloud space, and many other companies looking to do so, there is no doubt that this will be a major technology in the coming years. The major players in the cloud computing market are now providing cloud computing and hosting services for other companies, and the quality of cloud services available at the affordable end of the market is absolutely top class.
This means that small businesses can actually purchase systems set-ups for their companies which would have been the preserve of only the biggest companies in the world until recently. Similarly, the demands of big business have ensured that social media’s feature set has developed very rapidly until social media sites have become highly valuable marketing tools. And now they have evolved, the infrastructure that has been built up is there for small businesses to work with for free.
Social Media and Cost Effective Engagement
Ultimately, social media offers a cost effective way for businesses to engage with their customers. Aside from advertising, social media is increasingly being used to address customer service issues directly and in real time, so the platform offers many opportunities in this regard. It goes hand-in-hand with the cloud in this respect, which is also saving small businesses money through hardware savings, so the two popular modern phenomena together make a powerful combination.
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