Smallbusiness.co.uk recently reported new research, which
claims that small businesses should increase their use of
internet blogs in order to communicate with their
customers. The study, conducted by WebTrends, shows that
only five per cent of companies see the blog as a valuable
tool and more than three-quarters have never used the
medium.
It seems that companies still prefer more traditional means
of internet marketing such as direct email, used by 46 per
cent of respondents and web analytics favoured by 37 per
cent. Commenting on the figures, Nick Sharp at WebTrends
says: "Corporate blogs can be very effective communication
tools within or on behalf of a corporate community."
In a survey conducted by email research specialists,
emedia, using its RapidResearch service, it was found that
only 8% of online networkers use social sites to contact
clients or potential clients. However, the survey also
indicates that 87% of all respondents think that social
networking sites can be used for business purposes,
including networking (65%), exchanging ideas (58%), getting
advice (44%), recruitment (43%), research (35%) and selling
(31%).
Users of social networking sites visit these sites on a
regular basis and almost half of them (48%) admit using
these websites at work. Nearly one in four (24%) users log
in every day with half of them logging in several times a
day. Up to 45% of users log in at least once a week.
In an article by Claire West, these statistics are said to
show that almost two thirds (62%) of users say they are
worried about the safety of their personal data held on
these sites. The concern is so high that nearly one third
of users (31%) have already entered false information about
themselves to protect their identity.
The latest social media site to appear is Facebook - the
site that, according to Freshbusinessthinking.com, could
well be described as
Friends-Reunited-meets-MySpace-meets-Google. But from a
business perspective, the article suggests that social
networking sometimes seems more like a solution in search
of a problem.
LinkedIn.com, for instance, could eventually be a
subscription service allowing users to input and manage
their contacts and to search for connections - but it is
already feeling the heat from Facebook. Will Facebook (and
other forms of social media) become appropriate use for
enterprise and business?
The Daily Telegraph recently reported that "More than two
thirds of employers are banning or restricting the use of
Facebook and similar sites over fears that staff are
wasting time on them when they should be working".
In an article by Mark Ellis in the same web magazine, he
tells us that Facebook has more than 5 million users in the
UK alone. "Myspace", which is another "social networking"
website, boasts 10 million UK users. Add in to the mix good
old fashioned email and things like MSN messaging and you
have to wonder if the good people that work for you have
much time left to do any real work? Employers are right to
be concerned about loss of productivity! It's a serious
issue. According to some estimates addicts of Facebook,
Myspace and Bebo (that's another social networking site)
are costing UK employers more than £100 million a day
in lost productivity. Defending the right of employees to
surf the TUC has urged employers not to over react by
banning access to such sites but to put in place policies
to cover the general use of social networking sites.
However you are perfectly within your rights to put such
sites off limits altogether and you might well decide to do
so, continues Ellis. The TUC suggests a more pragmatic
approach which would allow staff access during breaks
within mutually agreed parameters. Ellis suggests a clear
Internet and Email policy for all staff.
So with the fear of misuse of information and negative
views from clients being publicly aired online, why is it
that businesses are still seeing social networking as a
viable use of their time?
Access to information is key to advancing in the workplace,
and having direct access to that information creates great
opportunities ' in particular for women - in large
corporations, especially if they are working part time,
from home or are on maternity leave. Tom Crawford, head of
employer brand and diversity at professional services firm
Deloitte, encourages the use of Facebook whilst providing
advice and guidelines on its use, rather than just banning
it from the workplace like many other employers.
If you're worried about compromising information that may
already be online, Garlik.com offers a service called Data
Patrol which scours the internet and then offers you
advice, depending on the information that it manages to
unearth.
But how can social networking work best for small
businesses, who want to increase their ways of keeping in
contact with new and existing clients?
In the Dow Jones White Paper "Tracking the Influence of
Conversations: A Roundtable Discussion on Social Media
Metrics and Measurement", Jeremiah Owyang and Matt Toll
tell us that "The advent of social media ' blogs in
particular ' (bring) with it at least the potential for
removing the barrier between a seller and buyers who are
remote ' geographically, economically, culturally or
otherwise." They go onto say that "Those questioning social
media's impact on corporate marketing strategy today may
well work for the same corporations that questioned whether
creating a corporate Web site in the mid- and late-1990s,
or allowing employees (gasp!) to access the Internet at
work, was a wise move."
Aleks Krotoski, conducting research at the University of
Surrey into the psychology of online social networks,
believes that social software encourages collaboration. It
is the social in the software which will bring communities
together, building upon the success of its technological
predecessors and enhancing, rather than replacing, human
interaction.
One online directory of professional service providers has
launched a social network online for the exclusive benefit
of their service providers. Whether it is to share
newsletter links with each other, hobbies, or favourite
charities, they hope it will become a place where their
professionals UK-wide will be able to get to know each
other better, or just pop on occasionally to see what
others are up to.
What's SNO?
One Social Network Optimiser, writing for O'ReillyGMT about
how social network optimisation can become part of a
marketing strategy for businesses, believes that companies
can no longer deliver a one-way web, 'interact with the
consumer or fade away' is the message which every business
needs to hear. Search Engine Optimisers have generated
large amounts of value in focusing search engine results
towards their client's one web site. Now a new breed of
"Optimiser" can take the message of the client to the many
eyes and in turn create new "conversations" and "awareness"
about their client and their business. This social network
optimiser believes that SNO Agencies will be another facet
of existing disciplines in Public Relations and Marketing
Agencies. They will use their own network of Friends and
Contacts on-line formed through social networks with which
to build new links and ideas between their clients and
their audience. SNO Agencies will work with existing Public
Relation and Marketing Agencies utilising current
conversations and ideas to help promote and direct
awareness of the product without directly advertising or
"spamming" those communities.
----------------------------------------------------
To learn more about how you can use SNO to benefit your
business, contact: Nik Butler
(http://www.certainshops.com/service-provider.php?sp=115 )
at http://www.certainshops.com .
For a humorous guide to social networking, visit
http://bloggingforblondes.com
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