Best Practices in Web 2.0 Climate : Competitive Advantage Through Social Networking Tools

Abstract: The usage of social media such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook has expanded drastically. Today almost every organization has a Facebook page and a Twitter account that complements their webpage and their physical stores. However, why and how are they using these social medias?  This research focuses on why and how organizations are using Facebook and Twitter in their business strategy. More specifically, what methods and organizational strategies are used. The requirement for our research was that the organization had to had some success on these social medias but due to time and budget limitations, the research is restricted to three local organizations that have a national presence. Conducting primary data with three face-to-face semi-structured interviews and obtaining secondary data such as books, theses and academic journals we had the data to make an analysis about how Facebook and Twitter could make these three organizations gain competitive advantage.  By correctly utilizing the tools that social networking sites (SNS) provide; organizations can make way for a differentiation path that provides competitive advantage, build brand awareness, and provide statistical tools for evaluating customer behavior. One of the benefits of SNS is that they are virtually free to implement, both from a capital and human resource investment point of view. This research shows that organizations utilizing SNS in order to gain competitive advantage need to focus on creating a committed and engaged user base. By keeping in mind the drivers of differentiation: timing, location, linkages and scale, organizations transform their competitive advantage into a sustained competitive advantage.