Madness in the Method

It is very important in business that individuals have lucrative methods of communication in order to convey important messages, and use these methods in order to interact with other businesses and the public. Methods of communication can also be commonly used to advertise and market, for example via the use of social networks which advertise to a wide range of individual, to through written posters which can be placed up in shop advertisements and on notice boards alike.

Electronic Methods of communication

Electronic methods of communication refer to more modern communication, which can be performed through a variety of more modern devices, such as Computers (and laptops), Telephone/mobile phones, Faxing machines etc. Electronic communication has only widely been available since the 20th centaury.

Email

Electronic mail (or e-mail or email) is an Internet service that allows those people who have an e-mail address to send and receive electronic letters. Those are much like postal letters, except that they are delivered much faster than regular mail, when sending over long distances, and email is usually free. Email is appropriate for use by anyone in a working or business environment. It enables the sender to transmit lengthy information to others for free, in a much quicker time that it would to manually mail someone.

Types of web based email companies include MSN/Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL, which all allow people to sign up for free, and receive a free email address.

Email might be used within companies, to send notifications, or perhaps by ‘attaching’ word documents to other members of staff. Emails can also be used by businesses by way of marketing; e.g. businesses take customers email addresses in surveys, and then use the address they have given in order to send them information regarding the release of new products.

Telephone/Mobile

The telephone is a relatively modern form of communicating with individuals. A telephone is an electric communications tool. Using a telephone, two people who are in completely different places can convey messages, and have conversations with one another. Early telephones needed to be connected with wires, however because of the technology we have developed, telephone calls can be sent via radio waves. This is also referred to as wireless communication.

The telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. Since then, the telephone has been developed to the extent that individuals can now walk around with ‘mobile’ phones, which enable them to be contacted at any minute, anywhere in the world. Modern computers nowadays also sometimes have software called ‘modems’, which enable them to talk to other computers via a telephone line.

A business might use a telephone in order to get in touch with colleagues if there are critical problems, e.g. if they are late, or for example if they are not needed for work on that particular day. Businesses might also use telephones as marketing tools, to phone existing customers, instead of emailing them. This is because phones are more accessible, and to the point. They are common, for example in the modern world it is unusual for anyone not to be in possession of a mobile phone, and furthermore they are international as most people in the modern world are in possession of a mobile telephone.

Web

Web communication simply means to be able to communicate with another person, or in a businesses case; communicate with a customer. That which we use to create an engaged community of users I term social media. Blogs, wikis, social networks, e-vites are all web based methods of communication used by professionals in the business environment. [pic] [pic] [pic]

More than a quarter of all teenagers aged 13 to 19 (26%) reported using s [pic]ocial network sites such as Facebook or Twitter to socialize or communicate with their friends daily, instead of texting or talking face to face. Social network sites are used for interpersonal interaction, but also to organize larger events for example organising parties or meetings, while the mobile phone is more convenient for more personal interaction or smaller events. People in businesses might also use this method by means of communication with a large group of colleagues, e.g. they could arrange an event via Facebook or Twitter, which is much quicker than merely putting a poster up on a notice board at work to advertise the event.

Digital Publication

Digital publication is defined as any method of publication, which is not web based. This is essentially electronic publication that can be used to convey information to people. Examples of digital publication includes PowerPoint’s (which can be easily set up on a word document such as Microsoft PowerPoint, and are accessible to everyone) SMS or Text Messages, Photo and Video Sharing.

PowerPoint’s are widely used at Schools and Businesses during lectures in order to teach other people. The interactive method of teaching engages people, as it makes the speech accompanied with the PowerPoint more motivating. SMS Text messages in a business environment are quick and easy to use, and allow colleagues to talk to each other in a more informal way. Photo and video sharing is a very beneficial method of communicating messages. Photos and videos can be used to accompany presentations, or can be used in order to illustrate messages on behalf of a company, etc.

Fax

In simple terms ‘faxing’ is the process by which a document is sent to another fax machine (anywhere in the world), and is received by that other fax machine in a number of minutes. A fax machine may be a slightly more outdated method of communication, however most companies do have access to/still use a fax machine. Faxing is mainly used for legal practices, for example is a business went to court about something they possibly could not use email as a proof document, instead a fax might be better off as it is a more reliable piece of information. Unlike with email and mobile text messaging, with faxes the receiving fax machine must acknowledge that the document was received successfully; that the call wasn’t interrupted half way through and the device didn’t run out of paper, toner, or ink. Your ‘notification’ is proof that your document has been successfully delivered to the recipient.

Employees of all ages know about fax technology and have sent or received a fax as part of their normal business duties. Traditional fax machine design is straightforward and intuitive; feed the pages that you want to send into the machine, enter a fax number just as you would on a standard desk phone or mobile, and sit back and wait for the confirmation.

Tele-conferences

A teleconference is a meeting or conference held via a telephone or network connection between participants in remote cities and in certain businesses. Many types of teleconferences exist, with the simplest form involving the use of a speaker phone at each location to conduct an audio conference. More sophisticated teleconference meetings, such as business teleconferencing involves the trade of audio, video, and information. Examples of communication methods used at Teleconferences include Phones, Emails, and Text Messages, etc.

The many different advantages of teleconferencing in school and business settings include the savings in travel time, and costs to get all participants to one location. In the event of an urgent matter, holding a teleconference can be much faster than arranging a meeting. Another advantage is that, due to ease of access, a teleconference allows much large groups of applicants to feel included in meetings and in decision making processes.

VoIP

Voice over IP is the same as Voice over Internet Protocol, and is better known as VoIP. It is an internet based technology that lets you use the Internet to make and receive telephone calls. Examples of VoIP include MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Skype, all of which are available as free downloads.

Voice over Internet Protocol can be a very successful method of communication within a business. VoIP and unified communications enable you to reduce travel and training costs, thanks to web and video conferencing, which makes it much easier to communicate with people on a wider magnitude. It also enables you to have one phone number ring simultaneously on multiple devices, helping employees stay connected to each other and to customers, therefore effectively making you’re employees work more efficiently. A great benefit for a business is that it allows them to reduce their phone bills; VoIP is generally free as stated above.

VoIP is available anywhere. Access your phone system’s features at home or at client offices, in airports and hotels or even in some fast food restaurants. It can be anywhere a broadband connection is available.

Social Network

A social network site is defined as a web-based service that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a enclosed system, communicate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and explore their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and classification of these connections may vary from site to site, e.g. the information available on Twitter, is different to any information that might have been recorded on Facebook. Other examples of social networking sites (although not as widely used as facebook and twitter), include MySpace, BEBO, Flickr, Tumblr and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn, although is not one of the most popular websites, is a great website which can be used to communicate with individuals in a more businesslike format (a social network for professionals), about different business activities. It is much more formal that the conventional websites such as Facebook, however Facebook in some ways might be better than business based websites such as LinkedIn, as there are more people on Facebook therefore there is a wider range of people to talk to. Using LinkedIn businesses could advertise for professionals for free, if ever they need to hire for a certain role within the business.

The main reason why a business should use twitter is that they will be able to connect with your customers because they themselves are using twitter. Twitter has become a daily routine where people log onto it every single day, some log onto twitter the first thing they wake up even before brushing their teeth. If the business has an unsatisfied customer they will hear them on twitter. This will help your company to help them, and maintain their trust. Another reason is that businesses should be convinced into using social networking sites is that One of the reasons to use facebook and twitter is because they get to market your product or services to more people, and the best point about that is its completely free. You don’t have to pay to advertise you’re business on twitter or facebook.

Non-electronic methods of communication

The two methods of non electronic communication include written communication (e.g. communication via a written letter) and face to face communication, otherwise known as verbal communication.

Verbal Communication

A business may choose to communicate with a variety of different audiences through verbal communication. They will usually communicate verbally through means of meetings, conversationally or in a larger lecture type of communicational set up, or through much larger scale meetings, i.e. congress. One method of verbal communication includes word of mouth, which usually are used in a less formal way in order to communicate novelty information around the office or social area.

A meeting is usually conducted with staff members, if they are in order to discuss business practices, e.g. how well the business is being conducted; how they could maximise profit; how they could meet business objectives and aims more efficiently. A typical meeting usually contains around 20 people or less, many more than this and it considered a congress.

Written Communication

Written Communication is one of the oldest methods of formal communicating over a longer distance. Currently most people choose new quicker methods of communicating e.g. Email, which is a much quicker and economic way to communicate long distance, therefore written communication is becoming increasingly outdated. Types of frequently used written communication includes; written documents, reports e.g. a school might report a child’s academic progress, or reports on certain members of staff in business environments and how well they are doing within the company, posters/advertisements around offices etc.

Letters/Memos are also frequent methods of written communication. Methods of communication can include the smallest notification on a Post it note; attached to a document in order to remind the recipient of something. Letters can also be used as a more formal way of communicating from business to businesses. Letters are considered a more polite way of messaging people. Furthermore businesses, when receiving letters, tend to prefer it as it supports the idea of respect, and is considered more courteous as the opposing business has taken the time to write a letter by hand.

Posters are finally a very successful method, used by businesses in order to advertise and display promotions regarding their business. Posters are good, as they can be printed off and manually placed in different locations which are busy and generate many customers, thus will advertise to a large group of people.