Social Media as a Catalyst for Business Transformation: Strategic Models, Digital Capabilities, and Governance Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59890/mjst.v3i7.277Keywords:
Social Media; Business Transformation; Digital Marketing; Social Commerce; Customer Engagement; Brand Awareness; E-WOM; Influencer Marketing; Data Analytics; Digital GovernanceAbstract
This article looks at the role of social media in business transformation by viewing it as a strategic infrastructure, not just a promotional channel. Using a qualitative literature review method, the article synthesizes reputable journal literature since 2020 on social media marketing, social commerce, customer engagement, influencer marketing, data analytics, dynamic capabilities, and digital governance. The review shows that social media contributes to business transformation through five main mechanisms: expanding market reach, shifting communication from one-way to dialogical, strengthening brand awareness and brand equity, personalizing consumer experiences, and supporting data-driven decision-making. However, the effectiveness of this transformation depends on the organization's ability to manage content, communities, data, influencer collaboration, sales channel integration, and responses to platform algorithm changes. This article also finds that social media opportunities always come with strategic risks, especially information overload, negative reputation, platform dependency, privacy issues, algorithmic bias, and transparency demands. Therefore, social media needs to be understood as a business ecosystem that requires integration between marketing creativity, analytics, ethics, and organizational governance. This article concludes that social media-based business transformation will create sustainable value if companies can build adaptive digital capabilities, maintain consumer trust, and design strategies that align with long-term business goals
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