10/27/2008
Making a Case for Social Media in Your Business Part 1 of 2 on Social Media
Earlier this year Businessweek made a good case on How “ Social Media will Change Your Business “. The article may have originated in 2005 but the editors of Businessweek decided to update it for 2008. Although focused mostly on Blogging – the article gives a good grasp on how big businesses are incorporating social media into their communication efforts. Another aspect of social media is also how businesses are adjusting to other people blogging about their business – topics that were once highly classified may not be anymore. Just ask Boeing. In “ Blogger Gets off Ground with 787″ Blogger Jon Ostrower goes from simply following the launch of Boeing’s new 787 to actually breaking a story based on insider tips and research.
It is a constant balancing act for companies that engage in social media – on one side is the need for “privacy” and on the other is the customer’s need for translucency. eMarketer’s post on “ Getting Clever About Social Media “talks about this symbiosis as well as the growing social media spending within companies.
At just over $1.4 billion, social network ad spending still represents a small percentage of total online ad spending, which eMarketer estimates will reach $24.9 billion in 2008. But marketers do not have to wait for social networks to perfect their business models before using the medium. Ms. Dyson said that marketers should also relax about the possibility of their brands appearing adjacent to consumer-created content. If they get trashed in blogs and Websites, they should listen to any criticism and respond.
U. of Massachusetts Dartmouth released research on ” Social Media in the Inc. 500 ” and compares corporations that have adopted social media between 2007 and 2008. According to the findings:
This research proves conclusively that social media has penetrated parts of the business world at a tremendous speed. It also indicates that corporate familiarity with and usage of social media within the Inc. 500 has nearly doubled in the past 12 months.
The social media that continues to be the most familiar to the Inc. 500 is social networking with 57% of respondents in 2008 claiming to be “very familiar with it” (compared to 42% in 2007). Familiarity is related to usage. It is interesting to note, however, that even those forms of social media less familiar to the participants are still used by at least 20% of them. Just over one quarter of the Inc. 500 reported social media was very important to their business/marketing strategy in 2007. That number has
increased to 44% just one year later.
Social Media is here to stay, regardless of what “form” it takes or how its used, one thing is certain – as people get more and more comfortable using social media tools in their day to day lives they will also expect the companies they do business with to do the same.
Up Next: Part 2 on Social Media — The What’s and the How’s
