Twitter can be managed by creating a social media calendar strategy. This will automatically release posts on a certain date as they are saved for when they are ready to be released. This ensures that there are regular posts and interactions with followers because if the account looks inactive then this will not attract users and potential customers or employees.

Another way to manage the Twitter accounts is by analyzing previous posts or ‘tweets’ in order to compare which work better with the viewers. The amount or shares, likes and comments will determine which types of interactivity are more popular with users.

Sprout Social helps to manage in the two ways previously discussed. It shows what content is working for what users, and measures how the account is growing with the amount of followers and likes it is gaining. It also allows you to draft, schedule and queue posts in order to post it on specific dates. This platform would work well to manage the Twitter account, as this one platform incorporates both ways discussed to manage it.

Another way that it can be managed, is by having more than one internal CDK employee working on and managing the Twitter account. It may be difficult and overwhelming to keep up with posts and messages within the account for one person. This can be overcome by either, having multiple internal CDK employees working on the Twitter account, or by purchasing web hosting with social integration. Hosting can be purchased as a monthly subscription and it means that the account can be managed externally.

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The problem with not keeping the account up to date due to not enough staff, or time spent on it could be prevented or limited by extra experienced staff being employed prior to the account being made to deal with the extra work load. This would also help with the knowledge and skills, because if they are experience then they can maintain the account professionally, as well as train original workers to the same standard.

A way that you could overcome the social media guidelines barrier, is by providing all employees with access to the Twitter social media guidelines. This could be done by either providing a PDF document, which can be easily accessed through their CDK careers area, or by providing workshops for the guidelines as a training course. If they have access and knowledge of the guidelines and follow them, then there should not be a problem with breaches of the guidelines.

If the IT, marketing and support teams were to collaborate in order to keep the Twitter account updated and maintained, then this could cause a barrier. First of all, if there is a lack of regular communication, then the different teams would be building the social media sight around different designs and ideas. As well as this, certain teams may not finish their jobs as quickly, and the account could fall behind with updates due to certain milestones not being reached.

Data protection and security can cause a large barrier for social media. The Twitter account will need to be managed so that the settings are secure, and it is extremely difficult to take customers, employees, or potential customers and employees’ personal data. If this data is reached then it could be used against their rights. It is CDK’s initiative to protect personal information held about their company, customers and employees. There are also standards and social media guidelines within Twitter that will need to be complied with such as copyright, as this will not only effect the Twitter account, but it could affect the company legally if they are not abided by.

If CDK uses internal staff, then barriers to this approach may be the amount of knowledge or skills already in the house, and the level of staffing. If there is little staff to keep the Twitter account up to date and maintained, then customers may not be responded to efficiently. The account may also not post for a long period of time, making it look inactive. This could cause a dis-interest in the accounts Twitter social media page or company. The original IT, marketing and support teams within CDK already have a lot of day to day jobs to complete, so they would not be completely focused on the Twitter account, pages or private messages. If there is not the right skills, time or knowledge already in the house, then the account may look unprofessional and it might not serve its purpose. This could mean that extra investment may need to be placed into hosting the Twitter account.

CDK Global uses quite a few social media platforms and they all give updates about the company, show achievements and provide information or job roles for potential customers and employees. However, one thing CDK Global does not focus primarily on and could improve on, would be using tools to gather customer feedback and comments. It is very important for businesses to put the customers first and their feedback and comments would allow businesses to improve their customer service, or use it as a promotion to show things that they do well for potential customers.

Twitter would be a good social media platform to use and implement for customer feedback and comments. It is an American social media platform which has around 330 million monthly active users and allows users to post and interact with messages. It allows users to post, like and ‘retweet’ tweets and it also allows users without an account to read tweets. Not only does it allow users to communicate publicly, it allows accounts to be messaged directly. If CDK implement this social media platform it would mean make them more recognisable and reachable due to the amount of users and ease of communication. When posting a tweet, or commenting, it is possible to tag accounts in them so that they are notified immediately. This will provide a quick and easy way for customers writing reviews, providing feedback or searching for support as their messages and posts will be quick to view and hopefully quick to respond to.

CDK Global currently uses a range of different social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The accounts on different platforms have different uses, for example Snapchat and Instagram are mainly used internally to advertise and recognise achievements accomplished by colleagues. The accounts and pages on these versions of social media are called ‘Life at CDK’, and also show what working at CDK is like day to day, whilst providing updates about the company. Updates can be anything from new policies, to general information.

The Facebook and YouTube accounts are used in the same way by recognising colleagues for achievements, but at the same time they promote it so that it attracts people to the business because it shows what CDK can do for people. These accounts are also used to promote new roles and advertise to potential customers or employees.

LinkedIn is also used widely within CDK Global. It is mainly used to advertise new roles within CDK and provide updates for colleagues that are already part of the business. It also allows colleagues to connect with each other easily and quickly.

One other social media platform that is used is Jabber. Jabber is an internal application which allows colleagues to connect with each other fast and easy. It works with instant messaging in real-time and also audio and video chatting.

Easier and faster communication – It is now a lot easier to communicate with businesses for queries or complaints and general support, because of social networking. Before, customers would have to usually wait lengthy periods of time for a response from a customer service associate.

SEO Value – Social media popularity, such as shares, likes and favourites may affect how a business’s website is ranked on google because search engines like to make popular content readily available.

Improve Website Traffic – Links to a business’s website within social media that becomes popular and shared between lots of users may improve the website traffic as it may increase the amount that the website is visited.

Direct Interaction with Customers – Social media has allowed business’s to connect with customers in real-time and provide direct feedback which gives them a good reputation as possible customers see that the business put the customers first and deal with queries, complaints and supports as quickly as possible.

Improve Brand Awareness – Social media allows businesses to promote their brand and use designs, advertisements and information which is unique and stands out from other brands. This helps them attract new customers, new employees and makes the brand easy to remember compared to others.

Lead Ads – An example of a strong Lead Ad, is Facebook Lead Ads which allow users to only need to use a few clicks or taps in order to connect with your business without leaving Facebook. You can select how much information is taken from the lead, so that not too much or too less is taken. They work by the user giving information for something such as a coupon (digital), or a test drive.

Influencers – Influencers are users of social media who have thousands of followers and people interested in their pages and posts. A benefit of using social media for businesses, is that people can be hired to ‘try out products’ or promote them to their social media pages. This helps because it means businesses get shared about and seen by a lot of different users due to the high amount of followers and likes or shares that the influencer receives.

Time – A lot of time is needed in order to keep the social media accounts updated with relevant information and updates, if the page is not full with enough content, then customers will not find it interesting. Time is also needed so that customers are answered within a short amount of time as otherwise it can cause bad reputation.

Investment – It is not easy to create a social media profile without it looking basic or not professional, which means that you may need a qualified person to create and maintain it. This means companies may need to invest in someone to do this for them.

Bad reputation – When using social media, businesses should ensure that they give the best service because if customers are not dealt with well then bad things may be spread about the company.

Privacy and security – Personal information about customers or private information about a company may be easy to access or expose. This could be damaging for a business.