Influence and impact of social networks on corporate reputation - Balestrieri Pierre

Influence and impact of social networks on corporate reputation
Research dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MSc in International Business Management (NTU),
Graduate Business School, Griffith College Dublin
Balestrieri Pierre
2013

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Candidate Declaration
Candidate Name: Pierre Balestrieri
I certify that the dissertation entitled: Influence and impact of social networks on
corporate reputation
submitted for the degree of: _____________________________
is the result of the my own work and that where reference is made to the work of
others, due acknowledgment is given.
Candidate signature: _____________________________
Date: _____________________________
Supervisor Name: _____________________________
Supervisor signature: _____________________________
Date: _____________________________

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Acknowledgment
During my research, I used the knowledge learn during all my study in Master Degrees, so
I would like to acknowledge all professors and lecturers from ESGC&F Aix en Provence
in the first time, when during one year and a half, I learned all aspect of marketing,
management, communication where I was in Master degrees specialized marketing
director.
Then, I would like acknowledge all the professors and lecturers from Griffith College
Dublin, who allowed me to do this dissertation with the knowledge that they gave me. In
particularly madam Aine McManus who lead me during all my semester in order to have a
good semester in Griffith College.
I would like also acknowledge my team in my work at IBM Company for having helped
me for my dissertation, in order to do the survey and have enough respondent.
And then I would like acknowledge all of my contacts for having helped me to respond to
my survey and to provide me theirs knowledge on social networks.

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Candidate Declaration 1
Acknowledgment 2
Table of Contents 3
Abstract 5
Chapter 1 Introduction 6
1.1 Research Background 6
1.2 Research Question 6
1.3 Structure of the study 6
Chapter 2 Literature Review 8
Introduction 8
2.1 The role of social networks 11
2.1.1 The emergence of electronic social networks 11
2.1.1.1 What is a social network? 11
2.1.1.2 Diversification of the open culture 13
2.1.1.3 The facility of information access 14
2.1.2 Different kinds of communication 16
2.1.2.1 Internal communication 16
2.1.2.2 External communication 17
2.2 Impact of social networks on business 19
2.2.1 A necessary adaptation 19
2.2.1.1 Staff training 19
2.2.1.2 Modification of the behaviour of firms 19
2.2.2 New opportunities 20
2.2.2.1 Influence on sales and advertising 20
2.2.2.2 A synergistic expansion 21
2.2.2.3 Modification of the management 23
2.2.3 However, potential risks 25
2.2.3.1 Risk of image degradation 25
2.2.3.2 Necessary regulation 26
Conclusion 27
Chapter 3 Methodology 28
3.1 Research Paradigm 28
3.2 Research Design 29
Chapter 4 Result 32

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Chapter 5 Discussion and recommendation 36
5.1 Influence of social networks on corporate image 36
5.1.1 Direct consequences 36
5.1.1.1 About the company itself 36
5.1.1.1.1 Turnover 36
5.1.1.1.2 New professions 37
5.1.1.1.3 Hiring, firing 39
5.1.1.2 On the consumers 41
5.1.1.2.1 Buying behaviour 41
5.1.1.2.2 Fidelity 42
5.1.2 Situation without social networks 44
Conclusion
References 49
Glossary 54
Appendices 56

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Abstract
The arrival of Internet, a virtual world and its technologies have completely changed our
way of life: People are more and more times behind a screen to looking for informations,
share hobbies, diffuse their creations and communicate with their family, friends, or
unknown persons in communities sharing the same interested center (games, sport, technic,
hobbies, study, profession…)
They do this through social media. These are all activities that incorporate digital
technology, social interaction and content creation.
The evolution of technology and the general decline in the cost of equipment allows them
to access these media everywhere through, for example, laptops with Wi-Fi or mobile
phones. Their behaviors have evolved to the point that they invite to their digital life at any
hour of the day and for some, even at night. And this phenomenon affects all age classes.
People’s relationship to their environment has changed dramatically: They communicate
with the entire planet, they share their ideas, creations, and comment on the products and /
or services that they use and play remotely by team. Companies are beginning to join the
internet and social media, but are often unprepared for this exercise. And, especially the
internet has switched the balance of power of the advertiser to the consumer with features
of broadcasting a message, video, pictures, articles…
This dissertation will attempt to answer the following question: "The impact of social
networks on businesses there an essential role in their image? “Propose solutions to them
to face the challenge of their digital future.

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Chapter 1 Introduction
This chapter will regards why the study is important and why the author chose this topics.
In this part, the author will introduces the research question and how it affected the study.
To finish, the authors will gives an outlines of the structure of the study and he will finish
by a conclusion.
1.1 Research Background
The interest which the author carry of this topic is the importance of the evolution about
the social network nowadays and in the near future. Moreover, wanting in future to create
a company, one of the questions that the author ask itself is to know if the social networks
is an asset for a company or not.
The fact of knowing that certain companies succeed in having such a fast growth reacting
the author on their system of management.
The main objective for him is whether social networks are real assets for a company, a
management perception, and communication (advertising, customer relationship). Whether
there is a real danger to use these marketing tools and what is their impacts on companies.
1.2 Research Question
The research will be drive by one main question which is: Do social networks have an
impact and an influence on the image of the company? This will help the author to narrow
his research focus and to find out literature on this subject.
1.3 Structure of the study
In the part, the author shows the outlines of the following part in this dissertation. The study
has been done through different important points such as, the literature review,
Methodology, Result, Discussion and Recommendation, and to finish by a conclusion.
The literature review is divided in two large parts with subparts, in order to separate the
different topics and issues of the literature. The first part gives the overall look at social
networks through the emergence of electronic social networks and different kinds of
communication. And the second part will deals on the impact of the social networks on
Businesses through a necessary adaptation, new opportunities and the potential risks.
In order to conclude this chapter, the author decided to finish by a conclusion in explaining
the main issues raised.
The following chapter will talk about the methodology used for this study. This dissertation
followed the positivism paradigm as the research methodology. In this part, the author will
explains how the research will be organised with for example the description of the method
to collect the data. A survey was used to carry out the primary data. Then the authors will

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explain how the primary data were collected and the way to collected them. The chapter
will be finish by a conclusion.
Result chapter will shows the data collected through the questionnaire of the survey, and
the author will explains the figures on this survey. The author wanted to interview the
respondent by confidentiality and he wanted than most of them were workers.
Then the Discuss and recommendation chapter, will globalizes the reviews of the study
and will answer to the main issues found in the previous chapter while doing
recommendations. To finish the chapter, the author will do a conclusion.
To the next chapter, the author will discuss on the literature review

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Literature Review
Introduction
The internet evolution allowed the creation of new communication and work tools for the
companies and for the particular person. This dissertation will focus on a specific category
of these tools: social networks. They must differentiate between non-virtual social
networks, which have existed for centuries (belonging to a political party, a sports club, a
fraternity, a religion, a bridge club, etc...) And online social networks, which are based
exclusively on the use of Internet.
Web 2.0 has led to the evolution of social networks. They are increasingly used by users
who surf the Internet, and they affect a very wide audience. Students and teenagers were
the first users of such sites, making them the forerunners of today's social networks. You
should also know that, currently, for many users, use these sites is considered a social
activity in itself. Today, there are 1
no less than 1.43 billion users of social networks in the
world in 2012 (19% more than in 2011), and is expected to grow up to 1.85 billion users
active at least once a month in 2014. This amplification makes social networks a leading
market, which cannot be ignored by companies.
The business world has quickly realized the benefits of using social networks for financial
purposes and promoting the management of their online reputation.2
Some companies have
decided to use for business purposes, to engage their employees and sometimes their clients
in the life of the company. Today, all businesses dealing with social networks, allowing
them to manage their image, to develop financially and enrich their experience in the web
market that offers all new opportunities previously unavailable. Creative employees give
heart to joy and it is observed that new businesses have emerged with the advent of web
1
According the eMarketer’s study in 2012
2
See glossary

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2.0 social media manager, community manager, social media manager application, web
content manager or search engine marketing specialist3
.
In addition to their role in computing, social networks have a sociological dimension.
Before the mode of social networks on Internet, the concept of network knew indeed social
science increasingly popular for several decades. In his book "The sociology of social
networks," Pierre Mercklé4
explains that "the pioneering work of Jacob Moreno, Stanley
Milgram, anthropologists of the Manchester School (John Barnes, Elizabeth Bott ...) or
sociologists Harvard group (Harrison White, Mark Granovetter ...) have brought about a
whole range of concepts, models and empirical research component of this "social network
analysis": it consists in taking as objects of study not own individual characteristics (age,
gender, occupation, etc..), but the relationship between individuals and the patterns they
present, to describe, to account for their formation, their transformations, and analyze their
effects on behavior. "
However this dissertation will not focus on the study of the sociology online of social
networks, but will focus exclusively on their practical uses and consequences of their use
in the context of Web 2.0
To do this, in the first part the author will explains the role of online social networks and
explains where they come from. In the second part the author will study the impact of social
networks on business, the requirement of a necessary adaptation which provides new
opportunities but also potential risks.
The aim of this dissertation is to identify both through secondary and primary data the
following:
• What are the major social networks used by companies?
• Is there a training adequate staff in each company on the use of ICT?
(Information and Communication Technology)
• What is the relationship with advertising?
• Can the companies control all the "buzz" computer?
3
These jobs are explained after in the third part
4
See references

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• Should the companies’ focus on social networks (external) or internal
corporate networks?
• What other real or virtual media companies to maintain its image?
• How companies use these networks to their own advantage?
• Where does freedom of expression and communication companies on
social networks?
• Companies can they grow so easily if social networks had never existed or
disappeared?

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2.1 The role of social networks
2.1.1 The emergence of electronic social networks
2.1.1.1 What is a social network?
The term social network was introduced for the first time in 1954 by John A. Barnes,
member of the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester, in an
article in Human Relations, an English monthly social science.
As explained Pierre Mercklé5
"The goal of Barnes is to report on the social organization of
a small community, through the analysis of all its members have relationships with each
other.” To do this, there are three social "fields": the first, on a territorial basis, including
the administrative units and voluntary associations, is the political organization and is
characterized by a hierarchy and high stability, the second corresponding to the industrial
system, mainly organized around fishing, and the third social field without well-defined
boundaries, means all the informal relationships between formally equal individuals,
acquaintances, friends, neighbors or relatives.
A definition more modern of a social network appeared in 2004 as "a set of relationships
between a set of actors".6
This set can be organized (in the case of a company) or not (as a network of friends) and
these relationships can be very diverse nature (power exchanges of gifts, tips, etc...), expert
or not, symmetric or not. It is an intangible element that defines the interaction between
elements or people who are part of the same group for their common, tangible or intangible.
According to Danah Boyd and Nicole Ellison, the social networking services can be
defined as web services that allow their users:
 To build a public profile within a delimited system
 Organize a user with whom they share different relationships list
5
See references
6
Forsé (2004)

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 To view and cross its lists of relationships but also those of other users who are in
the system.
To survive, a social network must generate interdependence among its members. They
need to share their experiences and get feedback from other members, i.e. their reactions.
These experiences can be in the form of information, articles, videos or images. This
distribution of information more or less personal is directly related to the growth of free
culture, the web 2.0 has soaring.
In practice, one typically distinguishes four main types of networks:
 Networks of old (pre Buddies)
 The search for a soul mate (Meetic, Match.com)
 The development of professional networks (LinkedIn, Viadeo, Plaxo, Xing ')
 Dedicated services to trade and socialization between people with common
affinities (Facebook, VKontakte, Myspace, Fourquare, and Flickr).

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2.1.1.2 Diversification of the open culture
Open culture can be defined7
as "the free distribution of knowledge and growth through
the development, modification or enhancement of existing works on the basis of sharing
and collaboration without these are constrained by the rules relating to the legal protection
of intellectual property ". It promotes equal access to information and knowledge and
predates the invention of the internet. Indeed, in 1911, Henry Ford began to overturn the
patent that George Selden de Rochester filed in 1895, which gave it exclusive for two-
stroke engines and braked the development of the automobile in the United States
Having been successful, Ford created what would become the Motor Vehicle
Manufacturers Association in which manufacturers used freely reciprocal patents. Thus,
each car’s company was free to develop its own technology and get the appropriate
certificates, they can be used by all companies in the group without having to pay duties.
This same idea of sharing based on the work of each other which is the basis of open culture
in the field of computing. The values it supports are: freedom, freedom of expression, user
control, privacy, sharing of knowledge and coopetition.8
The best example to illustrate this philosophy on Internet is undoubtedly the Wikipedia
website, universal electronic encyclopedia online from January 10th
in 2001. More than 16
million articles written in over 270 languages and attracting some 78 million visitors.
Today, it is no less than 300 million photos that are shared every day on social networks9
.
It's important to differentiate between open culture and open culture computer online. Open
culture computer is reported by "Open software", who advocate the free sharing of source
code (with certain restrictions under copyright), while the free online culture is their desire
to share photos or videos on the web, with a notion of gratuity. In fact, a lot of users
download movies, music, or pictures for free and share them without worrying about
copyright under which such elements. To counter this, several states, including France,
seeking to develop legislation to strengthen the market size of the Web. The best known to
7 According to the website ciac.ca (2010)
8 See glossary
9 According to a TNS Sofres study for the National Commission on Informatics and Liberties (2012)

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date in France is certainly Hadopi law, established in 2009, which aims to combat illegal
downloading practices.
2.1.1.3 The facility of information access
The advent and development of web 2.0 have significantly disrupted access to information
web users. Today, anyone can get the information they want in a few clicks thanks to 580
million websites10
whose web is made. In addition to increasing the number of daily
locations (identified in 60,000 new sites per day11
), The author observed an increase in the
number of Internet users. In France, the sites where users like best are browsing Facebook,
Leboncoin, Google, MSN, YouTube and eBay. French Internet users spend a monthly time
up to 5:26, 2:15 and 1:48 to go, respectively, for the first three sites12
. Their most popular
activities when navigating the sale and rental of real estate, cars and second hand goods.
The relevant websites have an average of 500,000 daily updated information.
In addition, it's made clear that the Web 2.0 and social networks are at the heart of a
revolution in teaching and learning. More than ever, students have access to collaborative
environments that promote the sharing and co-construction of knowledge (Elgg, Ning,
Wikis, etc.)... More flexible, technologies of Web 2.0 offer learners greater control and
promote the emergence of personal learning spaces. Sites like Wikipedia, Del.icio.us,
YouTube and iTunes U contain more content and approaches that enrich the learning
experience, while these sites were created at the base in a non-goal profit.
In the early 90s, it was easier to find information because it was listed in the kinds of
computer directories and it was enough to get the information where it was kept, as if it
was looking in a book stored in a good library shelving. Today, the mass of available sites
became excessive, and found that no one looking in computer directories (the little that
remains are no longer updated13
). This change in information storage has been imaged by
two videos of Michael Wesch, professor at the University of Kansas, created in 2007. The
first, " The Machine Is Us / ing Us"14
explained the ownership and linking of Web content
10 Wikipedia (January 2012)
11 Pindgom (2012)
12 French.people.com.cn (2012)
13 Like the guide of Yahoo! : fr.dir.yahoo.com
14 Still available on YouTube

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by users , while the second , "Information R / evolution ," said didactically small revolution
in the indexing of information between the "before" , where data is stored and classified as
a huge library with its tree- directories, and "now" , where information is " cloud " and
accessed much faster by a series of keywords, categories or " tags " and with more
relevance due to users becoming content creators and breeders (Wikipedia , blogs , forums
, ...) and without knowing who organize this classification15
.
It’s now extremely easy to access information on Internet, whether in the form of text,
photo, video, geographical location (thanks to the features of Google Maps, Google Earth,
or Mappy Flickr Maps yet). They just have to know where to look and be able to filter the
correct or erroneous information (also called "hoax"16
). Because if, today, user is able to
post information on the internet, it is not excluded that they are true every time. Another
example can be uses of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that allows any user to publish
information, which subjects the editors of the rules of Creative Commons license, which
allows them to "share, remix and to use this work for commercial purposes under the
conditions of allocation and sharing under the same conditions "17
.
15 According to the website StandarTux in 2010
16 See glossary
17 License Creative Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.fr
(2012)

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2.1.2 Different kinds of communication
2.1.2.1 Internal communication
Internal communication is communication inside the company. Without this, such
communication does not exist. This is the managerial direction of the company that assigns
a role and a budget. From a purely hierarchical view, internal communication is usually
attached to one of the following three entities:
• Management of human resources: the media is closest to the target
• Management of communication: in this case, internal communication is
attached to the external communication since the direction of
communication is closely linked with the management of the company
• General management: here, external communication is directly linked to
the business strategy.
Communication has been a significant rise for several decades. As explained above, users
want to “know” to others what they think, what they like sharing data on social networks.
The situation is very similar in the corporate world, where more and more means of
communication between employees exist, whether it is a corporate communications,
internal sources of information such as emails, bulletin boards, host booklets, the retro-
planning, etc. but also media from third parties such as associations, business partners,
unions or committees. This communication allows employees to know how to behave
within it and its partners to distinguish it from another company. “In other words, it controls
the life of the company to coordinate the relationship between the different layers of the
hierarchy.
This communication may be oral or written. Oral means match all voice media
implemented by management to inform staff of changes in the business to get feedback on
staff’s feedback or to learn the mindset of teams working on a project meetings, internal
events , seminars, individual or group interviews . Written support, in turn correspond to
all manuscripts or computer media which are readable by employees: newspaper business,
welcome booklet, press releases, posters, leaflets or brochures, documentation, intranet,
blog of company, newsletters, page on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Viadeo,

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LinkedIn, etc... Companies also increasingly using e-learning18
, a self-taught method
which reduces training costs. Note that written materials on the Internet are readable by
employees and customers or prospects, so they are straddling the internal and external
communication.
The author see more and more companies that use one or more social networks (CSR).
This is an internal social network to the company, just as a public social network, gathers
members of the company in various communities for business purposes and are bound by
application platforms (bringing together employees, customers of the company, its
shareholders, partners, etc...). This type of network can increase significantly the activity
of the company and helps to identify the knowledge of its staff.
2.1.2.2 External communication
External communication includes all communication activities of the company to external
audiences.19
It may approach customers, prospects or suppliers, who forge their opinion
and attitude towards the company. It consists of various activities such as lobbying, media
relations, events, sponsorship, patronage, business website, e-communications, sales
promotion, direct marketing and is directly connected advertising. Companies must control
this communication to confirm their image with third parties so that it is as positive as
possible. This paper also focus on the value of the product or service created by the
company in the eyes of consumers. It advocates often the quality and sustainability through
visuals: billboards, TV commercials, etc...
The advent of the Internet has significantly modernize the communication on computer
and electronic media. Now, all companies seek to extol the virtues of the goods and
services. They offer on their website, and the best they can maintain their relationships
with their customers on social networks. These are the new things essential to the company
if it wants to expand its target prospecting tools, mainly concerning today's Generation Y20
.
People has to realize that social networks are not sales sites such as eBay, Amazon, or
Leboncoin, Spartoo, but they serve businesses communicate more easily with users who
18 See glossary
19 According to the website definitions-marketing.com (2012)
20 See glossary

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"follow" and collect their impressions, also called “feedback ". The only problem of public
social networks for business is that the members of these networks must get the information
by themselves (e.g. Someone has to choose to follow the activities of Red Bull on
Facebook, Red Bull does not come to him ) . That is why it is sometimes difficult for young
companies and artists to become known on social networks, unless you "buzz”21
(include
the stunning success of the music "Gangnam Style" where the music video has been viewed
over 1.864 billion times on YouTube in few month. Thanks to this video Psy (the singer)
earned around 6 million euro).
Whatever their type of communication, companies can no longer do without this tool are
social networks to communicate with their customers because whatever their industry, their
customers will always seek to contact her by the Internet (purchase, geolocation,
information retrieval).
21 See glossary

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2.2 Impact of social networks on business
2.2.1 A necessary adaptation
2.2.1.1 Staff training
Against virtually indispensability to use powerful tool that represent social networks,
companies are obliged to have recourse to changes in their working methods, the main one
being to accustom members to the interests of networks and to train its staff in the
departments that will use them daily.
To do this, companies can use several methods:
 Use of external stakeholders who train staff in conferences or training. The staff
will be initiated in a very professional and complete manner but it represents a
significant investment for the company.
 Teaching e-learning: internal training to the company, slower than the previous
method but costs a lot less money to the company. This can be a group of employees
more "interested" than others who have done research on social networks
autodidact, who will teach their colleagues the finesse of this tool. E-learning is a
method of internal communication is done through regular meetings, for example
on a weekly basis. Companies with many employees in several cities or countries
may use this method via videoconferencing.
The target audience includes generally executives, HR managers, directors Sales &
Marketing, responsible for the customer service and members of the internal
communication22
.
2.2.1.2 Modification of the behavior of firms
The advent of social media has created new activities and enriched in other companies.
These networks are the most exploited in the marketing departments of companies, which
22 According to APFormation (2012)

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has an impact on changing the mindset of marketing decision makers. A study23
shows that
nearly 70% of them focus more on social media for their external communications, they
believe that marketing activities on social media represent a quarter of marketing budgets
in 2013.
There is also a change in the lives of employees: recent report24
48% go on social networks
at least once a day from home (41%) or at work (14%). 87% of them say they attend these
networks for personal reasons and 0.4% for business purposes, while 42% of executives
say the attend for personal use and 12% for business purposes.
Regarding the recruitment, it is now very common for HRD (or other managers) to consult
the information about a job applicant on social networks, whether made by the candidate
in question or by any other person. A study by CareerBuilder website in Germany in 2009
showed that 45% of employers look for the Facebook profile of their future employees.
Sometimes employers find defamatory posted by employees after employment who
question the image of the company or directly attack a superior or colleague, and lead to a
sanction employee in question.
Faced with these risks breaking the confidentiality and security of their data, companies
incorporate specific legal provisions in their charters regulating the use of IT tools, even if
they cannot prevent, frame finely use in "charters use of social media" ad hoc25
. These
remind employees of their obligation of loyalty inherent in contract work (which must be
respected under penalty, as should the confidentiality clauses signed by external providers).
2.2.2 New opportunities
2.2.2.1 Influence on sales and advertising
In general, it can be said that social networks, which are directly related to marketing and
communication, have an influence on absolutely all types of business sales. These networks
are a true virtual showcase for goods and services. Who are often also present in the current
23 Pitney Bowes Software (2012)
24 Survey from Cegos’s observatory (2012)
25 Caprioli-avocats.com (2010)

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advertising, including online advertising. Facebook ranks first corporate solicitations for
advertising.
This craze for companies advertising on social networks is that it is easier to target the
audience there. Indeed, when an individual falls and interact on a social network, all
information requested are generated or collected by the network can know his desires,
passions and even more personal data up to sexual orientation; Age, gender, habits,
interests... All these factors enable companies to reach out directly to customers or
prospects who might be more interested than others.
On the other hand, although advertising is attractive social networks on paper, it is not so
in reality. Too little location, a disregard for the users these targeted advertising, increasing
weakness of CTR, conversion rate ridiculous ... so many negative statistical arguments that
do not favor the major social networks, which rely on advertising to generate revenue.
Social networks allow to play a role in the increase in online shopping behaviors and
physical store. A study26
showed a phenomenon of amplification of Facebook social
network by examining the case of Starbucks. Thus, by observing four weeks exposing fans
and friends to a campaign on Facebook, the impact on sales was gradually to reach 38% at
the end of the period. Julien Aubier, Associate Director at Azerty Communication states27
that "Facebook can be effective, but only if coupled with a complementary device
community management, and communication strategy upstream marketing channel."
Therefore companies use social networks, but we note that they also need the strengths of
companies to survive.
2.2.2.2 A synergistic expansion
This synergy between networks and businesses allowed to modify their best to refine
marketing campaigns and revolutionized their operation. Today, more and more
26 comScore (2010)
27 According to atelier.net (2010)

22
advertising and advertisers not only use Facebook as the site for publication, but make it a
tool for integrating social interaction in their communication strategy. In summary, if a
company sets up quickly on social networks, quickly win notoriety and increase sales.
According to a study by ComScore in 2011, following a simple Facebook wall used to:
• Compare the popularity of his company on Facebook compared to a competitor
• Determine if the company has succeeded in achieving its target consumers
• Improve its marketing campaigns by knowing the interests of Internet users who
follow company news
• Make the benchmark extremely easily by simply visiting the Facebook page of
competitors
The Facebook page of companies is sometimes viewed more than their own website. For
example, in 2011, the Burberry Facebook page (which has seen a 29% increase in visits
between 2010 and 2011, nearly 900,000 visitors in 2011) was 10 times that accessed the
site.28
This audience growth also checks for both business and the self-interest of social networks:
Between 2007 and 2012, the Internet has grown by 88% worldwide audience, while social
networks show an explosion of + 174%29
. This represents a number of users 1.3 billion
worldwide (active at least once a month), comprising not less than 84% of the global
Internet population and 89% of French Internet users.
Without businesses, social networks would not be what they are today because they could
not broadcast advertisements and thus generate income as easily, and vice versa, without
social networks, companies would be unable to record growth of turnover currently
observed. However, although networks are a medium increasingly used, users prefer to be
"commercial" brands contact by e -mail rather than on social networks30
. Indeed, e-mailing
is still the shade to social media because it is a more powerful and effective tool to address
the market. According to Frédéric Pichard, president and founder of Zebaz, "the email
message to a specific target, designed from refined segmentation criteria should be a great
28 comScore Social Essentials, U.K. (Septembre 2011)
29 comScore MMX (March 2007 – October 2011)
30 Omnicom Media Group (2011)

23
way to recruit new followers on social media to be truly representative of target market.”
According to him, e-mailing is even more important as networks, as much as it brings
together users on these networks and advertising investments are more important (54M €
in 201231
).
2.2.2.3 Modification of the management
The diffusion of social networks has been a managerial impact on several business areas,
such as:
• Career and professional development: The "new" careers involve more
intercompany horizontal mobility and less upward mobility intra-company32
. The
employee is responsible for his career and plays an increasingly active in its
progression. Autonomy change its relationship with the environment, that is to say,
the acquisition of resources it needs to do its job, spends more on its own initiative
and therefore has an impact on their personal development.
• The management of innovation: the implementation of management techniques
designed to create the most favorable to the development of innovations conditions.
Networks were often thought of as the ideal vehicle information and knowledge.
The social networking approach supports a very specific design innovation, seen as
the result of a unique combination of various ideas and knowledge.
• Governance: it corresponds to the "system formed by all processes, regulations,
laws and institutions designed to fit the way the company is directed, administered
and controlled".33
Decisions taken are then reflected in the capacity of individuals,
their level of information and personal strategies. Well established in the field
approach is to analyze the connections between leaders, through their co-belonging
to boards. This analysis leads to the entrenchment (the level of remuneration of an
officer shall be reduced to the structure of the network in which it is located) and
31 Syndicate of Internet government
32 See glossary
33 Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim

24
modification of decision making (their network is a source access to external
information and innovative ideas, but also a source of conflict of interest).
• Entrepreneurship: The field of entrepreneurship has integrated relational
environment of the entrepreneur as an important variable. The role of social
networks helps to identify new variables that complement the explanatory models
of entrepreneurial success. But the contribution is also a more descriptive level,
through better understanding of the major stages of the entrepreneurial process.
• Organizational change: Establish data on interpersonal relationships in the
organization and informal relationships allows them to understand the exchanges
that are difficult to take into account when decisions change. This allows to measure
and analyze the consequences of change, beyond a feeling said and traditional
variables. For example, one study observed that the dismissal, by removing from
play some individuals, destabilizes networks of those who remain in the
organization, impacting both their satisfaction but also their place on networks.
Thus, social networks can be a useful "marker" of the consequences of change.

25
2.2.3 However, potential risks
2.2.3.1 Risk of image degradation
Although the decision to publish videos, images, thoughts, experiences and observations
about websites or personal social networks, this act can generate in terms of ethical
consequences for employees as well as for groups that employ. The rapid rise of social
networks blurs the boundary between work and private life and can lead to a degradation
of the image of the company.
According to a press release34
"Nearly seven on ten consumers are willing to blacklist35
a
brand or product marketing via social media annoys." The boycott of a brand or product
by a customer is a disaster for businesses because it may go eat or buy in direct competitors
of the undertaking in question. According to a study conducted in autumn 2012:
• Only 26% of consumers use social media to follow and interact with companies
• The recommendation by a friend has a generally positive impact while sending
unsolicited marketing messages is considered by consumers to be the worst
possible experience on social media
• 65% of respondents would no longer use a company if it’s behavior on social media
irritated or annoyed.
The essential question safety arises about the risks of information leakage because the
security of personal information is very unstable on social networks. According to the
company Clearswif36
"42% of employees aged between 18 and 29 deal with topics related
to their work on social networks or blogs." In addition, it appears that the risk of data
leakage is more important than the e-mails since anyone can access social networks, where
data confidentiality is difficult to implement.
34 Pitney Bowes Software (2012)
35 See glossary
36 Company specialized in the data security

26
An utilization poorly managed of social networks would have an unprecedented negative
impact on the image of the company. If consumers are not satisfied with the marketing
actions taken on these networks (offers too unattractive, poor maintenance of the page of
the company, etc...) That plays strongly against the reputation of the company as it is the
reviews that shape the corporate image. If consumers are disappointed, the image is
significantly degraded.
2.2.3.2 Necessary regulation
To avoid abusive or poorly managed use of social networks by employees who are more
or less free to publish personal content, management companies is seen increasingly
obliged to regulate the use of these networks. According to a study37
, 69% of companies
regulate the use of social networks. Today, 35.8% of companies say they control (blocking
access restrictions, etc.). Using social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) by their
employees, against 27.4 % in 201138
. Less than one in five has implemented monitoring
the behavior of their employees through social networks and how they communicate, share
ideas and disseminate information to their own tool. According to Deloitte, 58% of
executives agree that there is a reputational risk associated with social networks, but 15%
of them just seem to want to take action.
The companies have different regulations such as works use policies, guides to good
practice of social networks or the partial or total ban on the use of social networks for non-
professional in the business. However, a survey conducted by Cegos Observatory in 2011
indicated that their workplace, employees using their Facebook accounts (61%), Viadeo
(9%) and LinkedIn (6%) in a professional capacity. Their purpose is primarily to maintain
and expand their network (59%) and to exercise professional survey (44%).
37 Cécile Bolesse (2012)
38 Proskauser – survey leaded in 19 countries through 120 companies (2011)

27
Conclusion:
Social networks brought an alteration in the lifestyles, an opening through the world,
information access, more choices in products, and a new way to looking for a job, etc…
The literature has shown different point of view of social networks, in particularly some
weaknesses that companies has to improve, such as: the management of social network
related to human resource, the social network related to image brand, social network related
to different kind of communication.
In the next chapters, the author will reply to these weaknesses, in order to improve the
management of companies across these new tools.

28
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Research Paradigm
The research will be executed based on the positivist aspect. The author believe that the
reality is the objective and the research must be executed in an unbiased view in order to
obtain the desired response without the Investigator. Hence, he will maintains an
independent position in the search. A deductive approach will be the same used in this
study in order to know the relationship between the social networks and businesses. This
approach is appropriate to determine the reasons for motivation to use its tools. Thereafter
several hypotheses have been developed to obtain a better understanding of the relationship
between social networks and businesses.
Based on the model that was chosen, the research methodology chosen will be the
quantitative method to obtain data to measure the hypotheses using the large sample size
to ensure data reliability. A highly structured methodology will be used to replicate the
results of previous studies. Above all, this approach would lead to the generalization of
results.
In order to realize this document, the methodology used is based on the following:
- A literature search (newspapers, articles, videos, books, blogs, studies ...); In order
to do a depth research on the Impact of the social networks
- An online survey, in order to understand how people think that social networks will
evolve to businesses, and to know if there is a future for these marketing tools and
how to manage them.
- Personal use as many social sites and web tools recognized for their actual impact
(Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, LinkedIn, Viadeo ...).
- The knowledge that the author acquired during my studies and during my
internships and works, will help me to understand better some technical point and
it will help him to have a global view on the social networks.
From these elements, the author will try to define social networks and establish a historical
of their creation and a state of the current situation.

29
Then, the author will try in this study to explain the change did by social networks and the
future trends in this field. Then he considers the challenges for companies
to participate in the digital world, and he finally suggests ways to follow in order to cope
with this change and take up this new challenge.
Targets involved in this research will be all persons who use social networks in relation
with companies. His choice to do this research in order to see all different thinking through
worldwide. Because, there are not the same work, culture and style of management in
companies and therefore allow him to have a broader look and greater reflection.
3.2 Research Design
This research is a descriptive research to identify links between social networks and
businesses to find out how companies use these tools and how they have adopted. The
author will also adopt an approach to the design of survey research for my research strategy
can collect relevant data. The survey method was chosen so that it allows me to get large
amount of data from a large population in a relatively cost effective manner. In addition, it
will also be chosen because of the constraints under which he would not be able to return
to France to conduct further interviews and thus make quality.
In addition, the responses generated from the survey will be standardized and improved the
possibility of comparison and can be easily understood. A method of analytical and
quantitative survey were chosen as responses gather and can easily be used to show the
differences in the world and see how this advanced technology evolves.
As said before, the survey‘s method that the author chose to do his research strategy will
take place as follows. The primary method of collecting quantitative data will only be
through an online questionnaire such as “Google docs”.
In addition, using his contacts in France via Facebook and Ireland thanks to his work in
IBM Company. It will help him to expand his target to propagate questionnaires and having
different answers and include different sectors. As only a technic unique data collection is
the questionnaire will be used, eventually resulting analytical procedures appropriate. The
results will then be analysed using of the statistical methods.

30
This research will be mainly a cross-sectional study where the impact of social networks
on business will be studied. Moreover, with the sampling methods that has been chosen,
the author has to ensure that the results of the questionnaire is valid and reliable through a
well-chosen sample that would best meet the selection criteria. Thanks to his choice of the
method of data collection, the problem of having access to the source participant should
not be huge because all questionnaires will be conducted online problem. However, there
is always the possibility that the authors will not be able to generate enough responses to
make his fairly reliable conclusions to make a generalization. Therefore, a substantial and
sufficient time should be allocated to ensure that the respondents are able to complete the
questionnaire in order to ensure the validity and reliability of results.
The ethical aspect of the consideration to be at the forefront of the research process. All
survey respondents have the right to remain anonymous and the results generated must also
be confidential. The results of these findings should not cause disruption and concern for
respondents in all possible ways. A purposive sampling method will be used to gather data
to represent the entire target. The criteria for the selection of respondents with a sampling
method would generally be as such:
a- All employees using social network as work tools
b- All employees working in company using social network in private way
c- Entrepreneurs
d- Persons working in communication and marketing
Pre-structured approach will be adopted in drafting the questionnaire with closed questions
to help quantify and measure the results and make comparisons. Among the closed
questions, there will be the same open-ended questions to get a better understanding of
their views.
As the questions in the questionnaire will be structured at the design stage of the research,
each question will be coded to allow quick and easy analysis. Once all the questionnaires
received, coded responses are then transcribed into computer format using Microsoft Excel.
Thereafter the results will be compiled and presented in graphical form in order to perform
the data analysis.

31
In a second time, the author would use data already created by reading literature and other
research on the subject in order to make the comparison with the data collected and the
data already provided. This will in a second in an analysis of several years.

32
Chapter 4 Result
For the survey, the author asked 55 persons from the worldwide, most of them are working
for IBM Company because he is working there and he had some helps from them to do his
dissertation and his survey.
This survey provides information essential in order to know the current and the future state
of social network. The target chosen is all persons using social networks who can to be part
or not of a company, although there are more questions turned to workers.
The respondents are 65% male and 35% female, with an age group between 18 years old
and 44 years old. Most of them are workers with 69% of respondents, followed by 22% of
students and 9% of retired. They come from around the world.
This survey will show 3 important points:
In the first time, the utilisation of social networks professional for a successful search job,
in order to show which kind of social networks are used and for what;
In the second time, it’s about the future of professional social network in order to know if
this kind of tools of recruitment has a good image and if there will evolve in the future.
And the third part is about the future if the social networks for companies in order to know
if companies have a real interest to stay on the social networks in the future with the
benefits and the drawbacks to create a social network’s page in order to communication
and creating free advertisement.
The survey is showing that there are 37% of the respondent use Facebook for a professional
social networks, 26% for LinkedIn and 12% for Viadeo who are social networks
specialized for professional. Moreover 15% use Twitter and 10% use other social networks
such as Vimeo, Xing, Google+, Instagram, Wizbee…
This shows that most of them use general social network in the professional way.
It is explained thanks to these results that there are around 10% of the population who has
an employment, they were recruited thanks to a professional social networks but the
majority of the people interrogated think they allow to keep contact with theirs friends or
colleague (35%) and check the job opportunities (24%). Moreover 24 % have been

33
recruited by a recruitment firm, who currently are using professional social network in
order to find peoples for working, and 22% after a response to an advertisement.
The future of professional social network
Most of the respondents think the professional social network has an impact on the
recruitment of young graduates with 35% of yes’ answers and 54% of probably yes’ answer
that represent 89% of the persons interrogated. But less think that professional social
networks allows to the recruiters and candidates to have a “win-win” relationship with 70%
(22% of yes and 48% of probably yes). That means, professional social networks have a
good image for the recruitment but less thing that they don’t allow to create an equal parity
between recruiters and candidates.
The future of the social networks for companies
Thanks to this part, we can see that the pages of companies on social network stay
mitigated, because 56% of the respondents are fans of companies.
Although 44% of respondents are not fan of companies, it can be seen in the seventh
question that 62% of the respondents are following companies that shows that you don’t
need to be fan of one company for follow this one. Moreover, the result shows that is more
men with 68% of them who are following company and 75% of them are with an
employment. In the result to this question it can be seen that 26% are following between 1
and 4 companies, 28% are following between 5 to 19 companies, 8% from 20 to 49
companies and 2% more than 50 companies. That represent a big advantages for
companies, because almost of the population are following companies on social network,
and hence allow them to communicate easier.
Even if 62% of the population are following a company, it’s showing in the eighth question
than they don’t necessary taking part of the company social life, only 20% of them have
already post a video, picture, comment on the company wall/page.

34
In the ninth question, the result shows that almost of the respondent think social networks
is a good marketing tool for companies with 97% of the respondents (56% yes and 41%
probably yes)
In the following question, the result stay mitigated with 45% of them think social networks
are dangerous for a company. They think that it can be dangerous if the companies don’t
manage their posts and that may show a bad image of the company. Moreover, if they don’t
manage their post, a competitor or a customer can post negative comments, and ruin the
image of the company.
Although some people are not following a company on the social networks, most of them
think that they know more companies thanks to the social networks with 65% (22% yes
and 43% probably yes), that means it’s important for a company to be there because even
if peoples are not following one company, they can be aware about the existence of this
one and it’s a good advertisement.
In point of view human resources, thanks to the thirteenth question, there are more
respondents who think that companies don’t user social network in order to monitor their
employees with 48% of them (28% No, 28% probably not), 41% of them think companies
are monitoring their employees with social networks and 11% have no idea.
In point of view sales and communication, the fourteenth question shows that even if you
are fan of a company or you follow this one, almost of respondents didn’t already buy a
product because they see theirs friends or colleagues with this product in one social
network with 74% of respondents.
About social network in their workplace, the majority of respondents use social network in
their workplace with 73%. The most used is Facebook with 48% of them and followed of
LinkedIn with 34% of them, then Viadeo, Twitter, Pinterest, Xing with 18% gathered. The
average time to use social network per day is 1h 03min that is relatively enough in order to
see one or more companies on social network par day.
Most of the respondent have their colleagues on social network with 91% and 83% are
careful about that they post on their social network.

35
Thanks to this survey, social network can be consider as a tools for manage a company,
with this different aspects to use it.
In this part, it was showing the result of the survey, the next chapter will explain thank to
this survey and other analysis, some recommendation for companies.

36
Chapter 5 Discussion and recommendation
Thanks to the data gathered during all researches allowed the author to find out the
influence of social networks on corporate image with some recommendation to companies
in order to improve the use of social networks. This chapter will be organize in two different
ways, the first part will be the discussion of findings with which the author will reply to
the two first parts of the literature review thanks to surveys and researches. And the second
part, the author will give recommendation to improve the impact of social networks for a
company.
5.1 Influence of social networks on corporate image
5.1.1 Direct consequences
5.1.1.1 About the company itself
5.1.1.1.1 Turnover
Discussion of findings
Without social networks, companies could not exploit their advantages in terms of income,
they can allow to generate and thus increase their sales. Indeed, these networks allow
companies to have a better management of their image, to be able to target customers or
prospects better, to offer their best deals possible, to extend their influence to users, to
provide a better information to people who "follow" them, on these networks to recruit
employees that meet their selection criteria, etc...
So, it can be said that social networks have a positive impact in terms of impact on their
sales. However the figures contradict this somewhat efficiency financially. Christophe
Claudel, President and Co-Founder of ITELIOS, states that "the direct impact of social
media on sales therefore develops more slowly than expected." Indeed, he said that direct
sales generated by the e-commerce and mobile applications generate revenue and play an
important role in the overall purchasing process (research, product information, pricing,
availability, customer reviews, etc.). But the real leverages of digital commerce are
respectively the SEM (Search Engine Marketing - 37% of sales) and emailing (17% of

37
turnover). The direct part from generation turnover of social media rest very low, in the
order of 3% over 2011, of which 1% over the period of Christmas and New Year. Social
networks thus have a fairly minimal impact on the turnover of companies.
This impact is also minimal as it was unexpected because users thought that the diversity
offered these networks would be very effective in terms of financial development
companies. Instead, rather it can be seen an explosion of sales networks themselves led by
Facebook ($ 1.06 billion in 2012 an increase of 45% compared to 2011), followed by
Twitter (260 million dollars in 2012), LinkedIn (228 million dollars) ... YouTube,
meanwhile, recorded a turnover of 1.07 billion in 2012 and is considered the third most
visited site according to Alexa research company.
Recommendation
Business intelligence: It’s difficult to improve the turnover of the company only thanks to
social networks. Social networks will allow to analyze the market, in order to know your
target. Companies can use some tool such as Google Analytics in order to do a
benchmarking, to know exactly which product interest the target, etc…
Moreover, companies have to convert their prospects in customers. A tactic consist to use
an ambassador, they are you fans and are persons who can speak best of the company.
Hence, their demonstration in positive feelings of the brand, word of mouth,
recommendations, social networks are a way to focus on existing customers but not only.
5.1.1.1.2 New professions
The creation of social networks has led to the creation of new line positions and helped
change the responsibilities of officials from various departments (most of the time it is the
marketing department). Here is a list of professions that have emerged in view of the
explosion of social networks.

38
• The Social Media Manager: It is responsible for the construction and optimizing
social media strategies for the daily management of all social media platforms,
surveillance and monitoring of the effectiveness of them.
• The Digital Communications Coordinator: it is responsible for maintaining the
website regularly for the company and is responsible for communication on social
networks.
• The Social Media Application Developer: It is responsible to manage all aspects of
the development of social applications across business communities. It is him who
will have the most affinity with social platforms such as Facebook.
• The Search Engine Marketing Specialist: It makes SEO campaigns and actions on
social networks
• The Web Content Manager: It is responsible for producing regular content for the
brand to maintain the relationship with the users.
Recommendation
As previously explained, these new jobs require changes in the direction of various
departments of the company, usually the responsibilities of marketing managers, sales
managers or HR managers.

39
5.1.1.1.3 Hiring, firing
Social networks have significantly changed the method of recruitment of some companies.
Many of them offer candidates to post their applications directly on their website because
it allows the candidate to save time and better manage business applications it receives
storing them in appropriate databases. These networks are also well used by companies to
find employees or trainees by Internet users to find jobs.
HR managers have increasingly tended to verify the information contained on the pages of
social networks of their future employees. This allows them to obtain benefits information
on these people and to do the "sort" (e.g. if a person sets out on his Facebook page about
degrading or racist towards another person or community, or this person only post
compromising photos of her and other people at parties, which proves his lack of
seriousness). A study by the blog Blueboat concerning the classification Top Career
Websites Potentialpark 2012 (based on a ranking of the number of recruitments made by
French companies on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) shows that companies are often
partitioned to Facebook and time to time, because the three rankings Twitter is completely
different companies.
Moreover, when they are present on several networks, they don’t necessarily define
"editorial line" specific to each of these networks. So we find the same information
everywhere, so that each network has its own value and a particular operating system. It is
therefore noted that even if they are at the heart of the news and they are becoming more
important in the communication process of a business, social networks are still too poorly
used.
The author can affirm that internal and external social networks allow to human resources
to manage better the recruitment, the collaboration, the communication, the integration,
trainings and the evaluation of the employees.
As explained previously, entrepreneurs can set up charters regulating the use of social
networks by employees because they are free to publish whatever they want on these sites.
It happens that some employees voluntarily or indirectly, publish or find themselves
complicit in publications having a negative impact on the image of the company. So they

40
may be assigned sanctions, up to and including dismissal for serious misconduct. Indeed,
a shocking publication or wrong about a company can create a negative buzz, leading to
unfair media reactions, the company would be hard to rectify.
Recommendation
The use of social network in workplace: Most of employees use social networks in
workplace, by referral to the survey 73%. Companies has to establish some rules, charters,
in order to preserve each part. A charter of rights and duties of employees and the company
has to be available for all in order that community online will be adapted at good exchanges
in representing company’s value. Employees have to be aware that they are responsible of
their diffusions on the social platform of the company.
The charters can allow:
• Management to understand what can be done at the brand presence on social media
• Employees to know and deepen tools and platforms, but also the limits of
intervention.
If the need for a charter to support is evident, employees may see an addition to the rules,
waiting to see just transformed into supplementary agreement (or paragraph) the contract
of employment. Thus, several reasons can push entrepreneurs to adopt rules on the use of
social networks to recruit, to control the image of the company, to establish their brand, to
establish a link with the public, increase the target company, etc...
A use policy has to be share in specifying the consequences if the rules are not followed,
with a personal point of view (warning, punishment…) and legal. Moreover they have to
integrate the fact they are also responsible of that they diffuse on social medias non
corporate.
Social networks can reveal an interesting tool for Human resources.
For professional social networks, companies and recruitment firm have to be more vigilant.
There will have a growing up of people who are apply on social networks. They should
describing more specifically the job in order to not have a lot of applicant but only a depth

41
research. It will allow to have a better relationship. Social Medias such as LinkedIn, Video,
and Xing offer some advantages in the daily management of staff, such as:
• The establishing of recruitment, in integrating news recruits and training by the
social game, for example Heineken “The Candidate”, where they are simulate a fire
evacuation. That allows to do a “buzz”, therefor communicate and to find a new
employee.
• Participate in the project of integration of collaborative work (create instructions)
• Work with the executive management on the changing of the way of working, for
example in order to help senior manager to take part of a project community and
valorise ideas coming from the bottom of the hierarchy.
5.1.1.2 On the consumers
5.1.1.2.1 Buying behavior
Consumers are the main target of the company on social networks. These sites will enable
the target to more easily trigger the purchase of the Internet consumer. The IBM / Ipsos
Mori “Smarter Commerce " study reveals that more than half of Internet users in Europe
consult social networks before deciding whether to buy a property online or in physical
stores. The study was conducted among 4,000 people aged 16-64 years living in France,
Britain, Germany and Italy. Another study conducted by Kantar Media Compete firm in
the United States with 2,600 users reveals “a correlation between the exposure of a
consumer to trade publications and purchasing behavior on the Internet." For nearly two
months, the Institute has observed the behavior of 2,600 participants exposed to more than
700 commercial tweet and the behavior of online users are not exposed to these commercial
tweets. The results of the study show that:
• Internet users exposed to commercial tweets are slightly more likely (95%) to visit
the websites of brands making the promotion that users unexposed (90%).

42
• Overall, Twitter users buy more online than users who do not use the microblogging
platform39
(respectively 33% and 27%).
• The percentage of Twitter users who were exposed to commercial tweets buy more
than users of the platform unexposed: 39%.
It also appears that the applications on smartphones would influence the purchasing
behavior of consumers in stores. This is what emerges from a study40
conducted by Deloitte
in December 2012, which shows that the conversion rate of a mobile user to individual
customer in physical stores is 21%, mainly because consumers use their smartphone as an
information carrier (location of stores, price comparison, product information, etc...). The
study also shows that social media are part of the purchase process because mobile users
are practicing research discounts and gift ideas.
Recommendation
The buying behavior for the social networks could be a real advantage for companies, it
will be relate on the influence of the satisfaction of the follower. More the company will
have a good customer’s satisfaction more the buying behavior will be high. The author
advice to companies to maintain a good relationship with their customers in order to not
have negative feedback. Moreover, companies can publish (for example a promotion) on
their page and obliged the user to follow the page in order to see the contained. If the user
accept to follow the page, even if it is not a potential buyer, he will receive information of
the company in the future.
5.1.1.2.2 Fidelity
Social networks allow to increase the loyalty around a brand by creating activities, buzz,
news, etc... Fred Cavazza says41
for dealing with loyalty, we must deal with satisfaction.
Indeed, the public nature of social media gives a lot of importance to the dissatisfaction,
but also expressions of satisfaction. This approach enables companies to ensure that
39 See glossary
40 See reference
41 Conference of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry – video Dailymotion in reference

43
customers are satisfied, they will be loyal and recommend the brand to their families and
to have a positive impact on the prospects. He also explained that when companies
communicate directly (public way) on social networks, "testimony of attention", which can
be in the form of service, has a very strong impact on the rate of customer retention but
also on the prospects.
In today's time, run loyalty programs is extremely simple thanks to social networks, but
requires a good control of the customer relationship.
As is explained previously, the satisfaction client on social network is one of the most
important thing for businesses. Whether for professional social networks or not.
Recommendation
Companies have to keep the loyalty of their clients but also reach new targets. For this there
are several ways to initialize the client loyalty and acquired new targets.
Publish articles daily: By posting articles on the everyday business and sharing the passion
of its employees, the customer will feel closer to the mark because it will discover the
human side of the business and thus s' appropriate similarities with it. Fred Cavazza says
in his video that "we cannot forgive a brand, but we can forgive a human being." It is
therefore important to highlight this relational side with the staff if the company is to
successfully retain users. That allows to companies to have a living page on social network,
and improve the communication of them. Companies don't need to share only information
of them on social network but also share information of the future markets, future products,
etc... That will allow to captivate the customer and at least a new follower and it could be
a future client.
As shown the survey it is important to follow the customers on social network.
Working conversations: find out what the customer likes and dislikes in a brand offers
products or services it offers. This feedback is vital to understand customer expectations.
Companies have to know what the customers need, many companies uses social networks
for being like the others but the most important and to know your target and your

44
customers. Hence, if companies don’t know about the waiting of the customers, they will
lost in communication and it may have a negative impact on the image of the company. It
should be important to create a customer service on social network for example a client
need to know something who is related to one product, the company should be able to
answer directly to this customer and it will improve the satisfaction of the customer. In
order to minimize the negative comments, in the first part is due to a non-respond of the
brand, companies can use some software to know when someone is talking about the
company (Google alert, radian6). Moreover, customers can send a negative comment
because they think that they are not listened. Companies has to know about their client,
they have to do empathy and answer instantly.
Publish testimonies: an employee may for example explain why he uses such a product
within its business. These testimonies on common passions (employees / customers) put
directly on stage products or services, thereby creating subtle connections with consumers
and prospects.
5.1.2 Situation without social networks
The author will explain in this part, if social networks had never existed, how companies
will manage their businesses.
Such a situation would be difficult to imagine the circumstances today. Indeed, companies
have adapted their management techniques and sales depending on opportunities offered
by social networks, and they could not do without. These networks have become the
spearhead of some companies. In addition to using these networks as an advertising
showcase, brands have the opportunity to interact easily with users through information,
images or videos, which allows a retention efficiency that had never been faster. Networks
also allow them to increase the views on traditional media by clients such as advertising
posters, TV spots, leaflets or marketing actions street.
It therefore appears that the corporate image is closely linked with the use of social
networks by enterprises. Without these networks, some companies could never be known

45
as quickly thanks to their interactivity on Facebook or Twitter, and the increase in financial
revenues earned by businesses through social networks are not negligible. However, it
appears that these networks are not as promising as expected, but in the long term will have
an unprecedented impact on corporate image. Indeed , businesses also rely heavily on their
other carriers maintain their image as explained in the previous section, but it is only a
matter of time before they become completely dependent on social networks because they
are constantly innovated and increasingly turned to the business interest ( advertising
media, simple and interactive interfaces, etc. . ) . In a consumer society where e-commerce
is present in more than half of the purchases , social networks and new technologies such
as smartphones guide and push consumers to buy in physical stores . Results that would
have cost businesses a lot more time and money if they wanted to achieve without the help
of social networks, which are now enshrined in the habits of consumers.
Social networks are not the only tools for managing the corporate image. The author find
that these materials existed long before almost mandatory use of social networks by
enterprises and include all the tools to be in contact with customers and prospects. Here are
the main ones:
• Create a strong brand: Company should establish a referent in the place of
commitment. This is to create a strong and readily identifiable brand by customers.
This is the very definition of brand image.42
• SEO: This technique is highlighting the company’s website on the search engines
(the three main ones are Google, Yahoo and Bing). More a company becomes
known, more it is easy to found it on Internet, and so does about her.
• Advertising: Applies to all actions highlighted goods and services that the company
wishes to sell and techniques to influence a consumer to adopt a desired behavior.
"Every year, the global budget spent on advertising amounted to $500 billion”.43
In
42See glossary
43Citation at the end of the movie “99 Francs” from Jean Kouen (2007)

46
2012, 36 brands44
have spent more than a billion dollars in advertising which the
first three are Procter and Gamble (4.90 billion), General Motors (3.10 billion) and
Verizon (2.52 billion). The only French company in the ranking is L’Oreal in 9th
place with $2.12 billion, 30 % of expenditure on advertising magazine.
• E-mailing: very effective in disseminating professional message to a large number
of tool for acquiring new customers and maintaining relationships with existing
customers. The e-mailing allows mass mailing, targeted and quick and you know
the statistics of campaigns and the benefits to the company immediately and easily.
It allows to explore and retain customers, disseminate newsletters, launch
marketing campaigns and to improve and personalize the dialogue with customers.
• The phoning: Even if users are generally less receptive to campaigns as those
phoning the e -mailing, this tool is the foundation of direct marketing. Its objectives
are to carry out an operation of prospecting, presenting a commercial offering and
expand its customer portfolio.
• Word of mouth: Action that enables customers to transform their status close to that
of prospect client company without these have been affected directly by the
company.
• Staff attitude: “Concerns behavioural elements that are either staff or supervisors
or the attitude of the corporation that is now in its environment"45
. Customers will
be satisfied or not with the attitude of staff in physical stores on her outfit , the
quality, the welcome customers but also for the attitude of employees between
them, the relationship with suppliers, social responsibility of business, etc.
44According to llllitl.fr (2012)
45According Valerie Tiacoh – MINDEE’s Director (2012)

47
Conclusion
Thanks to this study, it can be seen that social networks have become increasingly popular
in recent years, thanks to the explosion of web 2.0. We have seen a boom in their number
but also their type. Now, each user can find a social network that corresponds to it, whether
in general or professional theme. The development of this phenomenon has led companies
to consider whether they should participate and how to do it. The apparent result is that
today, all companies are looking to get out through social networks.
Web 2.0 has led to the creation of new virtual platforms that users began to manipulate
groping. They have created communities (e.g. blogs) and have places to share knowledge,
experiences and exchange views. Social networks were born of this principle: share virtual
elements (photos, videos) to a community more or less restricted around the internet. When
companies have sought to establish themselves, these networks have begun to exploit the
financial aspect of such a merger to the point that now neither could survive without the
other. Companies exploit these new tools for marketing purposes, in order to talk about
them, to be in constant contact with customers and prospects and generate income.
Even if public social networks are now known to all, many do not know how to use. Thus,
companies who venture into the field of these networks have interest in being extremely
vigilant, because even if it brings undeniable benefits, these tools from internet still pose
security problems that have to force yourself to solve quickly. Companies must be sure that
they are the ones who run profiles that are exposed on their behalf. Indeed it is difficult to
control the negative buzz that can have dramatic impacts on the image of the company.
Social networks also seem a good way to communicate in a crisis or to prevent negative
rumors since, today these networks time are still neutral and fun tools and the speed of
propagation of information on these networks can achieve breath-taking speeds. They
arouse less suspicion among consumers as more traditional channels.
Companies are also faced with a necessary staff training for the mastery of the use of these
networks in a professional capacity. Anyone can go on social networks and personal post
about, but use these networks for professional purposes demand mostly internal or external
training. Use social networks therefore requires a valuable management time and money,
as companies spend more in their online campaigns, whether for advertising, training, etc..

48
Regarding the sale itself products on social networks, which is a major goal of almost every
business, it appears difficult for the moment. The revenue generated by these networks are
fairly minimal and are far from what was expected , but the author thinks this business will
become more profitable as it undoubtedly brings e-commerce : social media can advise and
encouraging consumers to buy, compare their opinions on a product or service, ask for help
in case of dissatisfaction ... This communication is an element that e-commerce does not
have , and trade him itself is hardly able to provide : for example , sales in stores are often
product specialists , whereas on social networks, communication is so ubiquitous that it
allows all users to share and obtain technical information on a product or service in real
time.
The author shown consequences of social networks through companies in the second
chapter of the dissertation, and he developed these issues in order to see how it can be
solved with the help of the third and the fourth chapters of the dissertation. With the fifth
chapter, the author has explained which influence have social network and gave some
recommendation in order to decrease the negative effect of them through companies. Being
considerate as a science, social networks are evolving over and over. So manager and
customers has to adapt them with this technology all the time.
The question could now be asked is: Social networks do they have a future in the
management of the customer relationship or are they doomed to remain neutral simple tools
and lucid communication?

49
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54
Glossary
Blacklist: Add a name or address to a blacklist, that is to say, a list of malicious
Buzz: The buzz or buzzing or designated technical communication is to speak of a
website or a product before its launch in maintaining a mouth orchestrated and targeted
actions with opinion leaders.
E-learning: E-learning or online training is a training technique based on the provision
of educational content via electronic media: DVD, Internet, intranet or extranet.
E-reputation: The e-reputation can be defined as conveyed and / or suffered by a
company or brand on the Internet and other digital media file. The e-reputation can also
be applied to a product or service.
Coopetition: The coopetition is opportunistic collaboration between different
economic actors who are otherwise competitors. Coopetition is a mixture of two words
cooperation and competition (competition).
Generation Y: Generation Y includes those born roughly between 1982 and 2002, but
the individual and gender through the years. These people grew up in a world where
the personal computer, video games and the Internet have become increasingly
important and accessible.
Hoax: A hoax is a false, outdated or unverifiable spread spontaneously by users.
Image brand: The image of a product, a brand or a company is how it is perceived by
consumers.
Microblogging: Derivate of the blog, the microblogging allows to publish a short
article, shorter than in conventional blogs, articles can be a text short, but may also
contain a picture or even a video embedded. The currently best known microblogging
platform is Twitter.
Horizontal mobility: Changing profession that does not change the status in the
hierarchy.

55
Vertical mobility: It’s a changing of the profession which modifies the status in the
hierarchy. An upward vertical mobility can be distinguished (to move up in the
hierarchy), the vertical downward mobility (decline in the hierarchy).

56
Appendices
The survey:
Utilization of social networks professional for a successful search job
1) Do you have an account
LinkedIn 31 26%
Viadeo 15 12%
Facebook 45 37%
Twitter 18 15%
Other 12 10%
2) Do they allow to:

57
Being recruited in your current job 12 9%
To get an interview 18 13%
To obtain information about your
recruiter
23 17%
Check the job opportunities 32 24%
To keep contact with your friends or
colleagues
47 35%
Nothing 3 2%
3) How have you been recruited
Response to an advertisement 12 22%
After an internship 10 18%
Employment Center 3 5%
Recruitment firm 13 24%
Temporary employment agency 8 15%
At a Salon, recruitment forum 1 2%
Other 8 15%

58
The future of professional social network
4) Do you think the use of professional social network has an impact on the recruitment
of young graduates?
Yes 19 35%
Probably Yes 29 54%
Probably Not 1 2%
No 2 4%
No idea 3 6%
5) Do you think professional social networks allows recruiters and candidates to be called
a "win - win" relationship?
Yes 12 22%
Probably Yes 26 48%
Probably Not 7 13%
No 4 7%
No idea 5 9%

59
The future of the social networks for companies
6) Are you fan of companies on your social networks
Yes 30 56%
No 24 44%
7) How many companies are you following?
50 + 1 2%
20 – 49 4 8%
5-19 14 28%
1 – 4 13 26%
I don't follow companies 14 28%
I don't remember how many companies i am
following
0 0%
I don't mind 4 8%

60
8) Did you already post a video, picture, comment on the company wall / page
Yes 11 20%
No 43 80%
9) Do you think social network is a good marketing tools for company?
Yes 30 56%
Probably Yes 22 41%
Probably Not 1 2%
No 1 2%
No Idea 0 0%

61
10) Do you think social networks are dangerous for companies?
Yes 24 45%
No 29 55%
11) Why ?
It could be dangerous if not use in the right way
I would say both
Yes/No Positive: more people know about the company regarding any news - better PR
Negative: higher risk for image damage of a company
Because it's a popular form of communication and with the correct kind of advertisement
will keep people informed on events etc within the company.
Maintenant, la plupart des entreprises sont présentes sur les réseaux sociaux et du coup
ils ont plus de visibilité envers leurs cibles, ce qui en découle une création d'emploi
(community manager) mais je pense que cette visibilté peut être néfaste en fonction des
"post" sur leur pages.
It could make a wrong judgment of what there really are ! That's not dangerous, it's just
essential today.
We have just to be carefull about informations that we post :)
Certaines entreprises exposent certaines choses et certaines opinions qui peuvent ne pas
être au goût de tout le monde. En gros, si une entreprise est présenté sur les réseaux
sociaux, elle doit bien gérer ces post.
Because social networks can show a bad image of the company if misused.

62
No Disatisfied customers It's an interesting way to follow the reactions it's open
environment, people can go to your company's social network page to post negative
comment relating to whatever they are dis-satisfactory, and if the company does not have
appropriate engaging strategy on social network, they might get problem one day :)
You have to be really careful on a social network. Post the good things to generate clics
and views Social networks are usefull for the companies promotion exploite personal
life of individual information insecurity
fake profil tres réactif
Someone else can use their name for other benefits
Social network is an useful tool for both, companies and job seeker by the way it could
manipulate public opinion based on events and spread information very quickly which
can impact market and reputation.
It has security policy for data privacy and tools even if it can be also source for data
information which companies can take advantages or pay consequence of the data traffic.
It all depends on their own scope
I would say. Because
L influence des followers communication
It's impredectible Anybody may post anything
Yes and No... it can be a good way to both get customers if ut is seen positively but can
affect the company image if the company does something wrong or that affects public
sensitivity as the social network increase the exposure of the company
Hacker attacks
The information can't always be controled
Your followers can be from rivals company, so they can write negative comments and
attract many new customer.

63
12) Do you think you know more companies thanks to the social networks?
Yes 12 22%
Probably Yes 23 43%
Probably Not 6 11%
No 8 15%
No Idea 5 9%
13) Do you think your company use a social network in order to monitor the employees?
Yes 6 11%
Probably yes 16 30%
Probably Not 11 20%
No 15 28%
No Idea 6 11%

64
14) Did you already buy a product because you see your friends with this product in one
social network?
Yes 14 26%
No 40 74%
15) Do you use social network at your workplace?
Yes 40 73%
No 15 27%

65
a) If Yes: Which social network do you use the most often:
Facebook 27
Xing 2
linkedin 17
Viadeo 5
Pinterest 2
Twitter 3
b) How long time?
00:__:__ 00:25:00 00:10:00 00:45:00 00:30:00 (4)
01:__:__ 01:44:57 01:00:00 (11)
02:__:__ 02:07:05 02:00:00 (5)
03:__:__ 03:00:00 (3)
04:__:__ 04:30:00 04:00:00
05:__:__ 05:00:00
06:__:__ 06:00:00
07:__:__ 07:00:00
08:__:__ 08:00:00
16) Do you have your colleagues on your social network?
Yes 49 91%
No 5 9%

66
17) Are you careful about that you post on your social network?
Yes 45 83%
No 5 9%
I don’t mind 4 7%
Profile
Sex
Male 35 65%
Female 19 35%
Your age
Jun 1970 24
Aug 1974 29
Jul 1975 1
Apr 1982 17

67
Jun 1982 25
Nov 1982 7
Apr 1984 29
Oct 1984 23
Jan 1985 1
May 1985 24
May 1986 17 22
Dec 1986 5
Jan 1987 1 9 20 28
May 1987 10
Jul 1987 18
Dec 1987 2
Feb 1988 16
Mar 1988 13
Apr 1988 8 30
May 1988 6
Jun 1988 24
Dec 1988 3
Apr 1989 10 15 24 30
Jul 1989 26
Nov 1989 12
Jan 1990 4 14 24
Feb 1990 21
Mar 1990 1 22
Apr 1990 20 22 27
May 1990 10
Jul 1990 7 25
Aug 1990 13
Nov 1990 22
70-Jul 1991 2 (2)

68
Nov 1991 30
Feb 1992 21
Jul 1993 7
Jun 1994 10
Apr 1995 20
Professional Situation
Worker 37 69%
Unemployed 5 9%
Student 12 22%
Retired 0 0%

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