Thursday, March 29, 2012

Slow to Accept Social Media in the Business World

It is no lie that many corporations and companies that have decided to use social media to target their audience, get their name out there, or even promote their products but there companies that are saying no way to social media. These corporations have come out straight with it says that social media gives way to "reputational risks" and "requires too much time and energy" to maintain a less but serious account.

The Industry That Will Not Give In


I find this no surprise that only 19% of this industry has started the use of YouTube and blogs. Banking has always been on of the most conservative industry in business. In a recent New York Times article called "Banks Slow to Embrace Social Media", speaks to a Ms.Lloyd of Standard Chartered Private Bank, which uses all forms of social media to connect and communicate with its customers. Ms. Lloyd stated,
"“One thing that has become clear since we began to use social media: Customers now take it for granted that they can communicate with their bank through social channels. This is how it should be and we will continue to speak to customers through the channels that they are active on.”
 The article as well states that the banking industry may have started the move to social media as 42 of 50 banks surveyed have Twitter accounts, but only 26 of those banks had recently posted updates to these accounts. This problem of getting banks with the times goes beyond social media as many of them still using basic Web site formats and giving little tools to its customers.
smedio.com

The Top Dogs' Refusal 


Socialmediatoday.com
Social media has presented its self to society so quickly that it became like a viral YouTube video, it was everywhere overnight. The banking industry has resisted its infectious nature but so has one other big business player, the Fortune 500 top companies. These companies do have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and YouTube channels but they have maintained one condition through the whole process. Social media will not be their focus, and they will continue to maintain the original trustworthy classical norm. These top companies like Wal-mart and Frannie Mac have social media but have less than a 1,000 followers to support them. This discovery have found in the a recent study done by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth's Center for Marketing Research, the study served up a very true look at the lack of social media in F500 companies.

"There is also evidence of change in the adoption of these tools by industry and a clear sign from some companies that these are not part of their communications strategy."
Even with all the benefits to social media, these large corporations have opted out of these communication strategies to stick to the once again just like the banking industry, original standard format.

International Trend


Digital Workplace Blog
It is not hard to argue with the fact that most of the world's largest corporations come from within the United States but a recent Canadian study shows that even outside of the large corporations that social media is not catching as it was first thought. The Canadian research study states that corporations do have the accounts but are rarely posting content, engaging their customers or listeners, and do not know how to act through these new communication tools. Social media has revolutionized how we communicate among our friends and family, we took steps to integrate it into the workplace with good amounts of success. But it still seems that we are going to continue struggle till we fully recognize the power of social media at the large corporation level and among the most conservative industries.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Small Business Find Strength in Social Media


Running A Small Business Inc.
My last post spoke of the not so nice side of social media for business, but it was bought to my attention in The Entrepreneur's Daily Dose article that social media is live and well with little downsides in the realm of small businesses. The article notes that some of America's fastest growing companies (small businesses) host twice as many blogs, and 71 percent use Facebook as well as 59 percent use their Twitter on a regular basis. Social media has made its presence known but it is no longer just for the big guns, now the little guys want in on the action too.




Making It Easy
  1.  IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE: As small businesses, there target audience is a small group based on their product, location, and demographics there advertising through social media should be the same. Social media is helpful in the sense that it helps to target the correct audience but still allows audiences outside of your typical customer to view your company possibly causing increase in word of mouth or sharing. 
  2. PICK THE SOCIAL MEDIA RIGHT FOR YOUR COMPANY: Today, there are tons of social media websites with all different emphasis or focuses. The small business should assess where they are going to find there target audience, the format of the website, and how they will use this tool for their benefit.
Social Media Examiner
3. MANAGE IT: Once the page, website, and blog is created the small company needs to remember to keep it up to date with new information and posts about business or new products. By keeping it updated it will generate interest and keep your viewers wanting more. 

4. WORK YOUR AUDIENCE: Through posting and updates you will discover your correct audience, and keep their audience. Or even get them to spread word to their friends. The more interested you can keep your audience, the more message will spread. Engage them with discussion, feedback, suggestions, or even criticism. Anything will help them feel involved in the process and apart of the company. Making your audience feel cared about will help to create their feeling of having a stake in the company. 
Risks of Not Getting InvolvedWriter for Forbes Magazine, Kym McNicholas warns small businesses they do not take advantage of social media  that they will lose their customers.
 "If you don’t engage in the conversation, you risk losing your customers."
Social media has become a inter-graded part of business and advertising if companies opt out of being apart of this new culture, they are taking huge risks as this becoming one of the main ways of communication, connection to customers and stakeholders.

The New "K" Word
Klout.com
Along with new words like tweet, tumble, and pinterest comes klout. Klout is a free measurement of influence. Hessie Jones of the Vancouver Sun defines the word as
"Klout has a pretty sophisticated algorithm to define an individual social media influence score."
This service helps small business to see the true impacts of their social media ventures and its effects on both their customers and stakeholders. The whole point of social media is to create interest, or an impact by monitoring these companies have the chance of bettering their services and products, as well as being more effective and efficient helping to save money.