1. Social media: business benefits beyond the fluff

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Ignore at your peril? Or all fluff and little substance? Social media and their importance attract divergent views and lead to much confusion about their relevance to businesses.

At one extreme, stand the social media “anoraks” who insist that companies that don’t tweet, blog or connect on social networks are dinosaurs. At the other are those who dismiss it all as a fad; as a result, they may miss business opportunities and sometimes are unaware that their corporate or personal reputations are taking a pounding online.

In between, there are a growing number who realise the power of social media but often need to be convinced of the business value. The reality is that there can be considerable, tangible benefits, once there is a strategy in place focused on business imperatives, the channels to use and how to manage them.

Let’s start with some facts. First Facebook and its use in Ireland. Since January 2009, the number of Irish active users has quadrupled to 1.6 million. Almost a third access Facebook on their mobile phones. 55% of Irish users are female and there is rapid growth in adoption levels among the over-35s, who now account for 30% of users.

Source: Facebook and LinkedIn data, May 2010

Next LinkedIn. Irish stats are hard to come by – recent research from 02 found that 18% of Irish business owners or directors have LinkedIn profiles. A succession of international studies point to its value for business. It rates highest of all social media sites among US sales professionals for generating leads and for building awareness.

What about Twitter? Again there are no Irish stats but growing evidence of its worth as a news channel. Remember Dan Boyle and the Willie O’Dea saga? Or how Twitter relayed the national

shock about the sudden death of RTÉ’s Gerry Ryan? Within hours it was the hottest story among Twitter’s 105 million world-wide users.

And then there’s YouTube. It’s just celebrated its fifth birthday and the statistics are breathtaking. For instance, the volume of video uploaded every week is the equivalent of 130,000 full-length Hollywood movie releases.

Source: Google 2010

The reach of social media sites makes them difficult to ignore. But what about the relevance? Here’s a brief overview. Facebook is best used in a B2C context but works better for some brands than others as a marketing and communications channel. Managed well, LinkedIn can be valuable for B2B relationship building, lead generation and recruitment (although that can have its downsides as well as an upside). Twitter offers value for customer service, special offers and crisis communications.

All three, and the multiplicity of other social media platforms, present opportunities as well as challenges. Having a social media strategy grounded in the overall business strategy is a starting point. Ignore what the anoraks say – a business does not have to be active across every platform. Instead, you need to select the best channels which deliver on a business goal. Investment will be needed, primarily in time.

Anticipate challenges. There will be more channels to manage and they’re 24/7 media, There will be more online conversations about your brand or your people. Often they will be different kinds of conversations and your business may not be in control. That said, the business benefits of social media outweigh the risks.

Aileen O’Toole is currently leading a number of social media strategy projects for AMAS clients.

Back to contents of State of the Net issue 17