Most technology companies are still confused by Social Business

Posted by John Moore on August 10, 2010

2 comments | 1632 reads

Wildfire PR recently released the results of research they performed with the top 50 companies in the 2009 Deloitte Fast Tech; a list of the fastest growing technology companies in the UK. The research, focused on the use of social media by these companies, highlight the fact that most companies are leveraging social media for one-way, push-style, communications.

While I would urge you to read the report yourself, time permitting, here are some of the highlights, or lowlights, of the report:

74% of the companies were on Twitter.
72% of the companies were on LinkedIn.
48% of the companies have a corporate blog.
Only 20% of the companies have a Facebook page.

The report notes that most communications, as I have already noted, are just for one way push. Comments are mostly left unanswered. Most of the value of being on social channels is lost. If you are purely using social networks and social communities because you feel you have to, and have no desire or time to engage, you are wasting your time and money. Worse, you are wasting the time of your customers, losing valuable social currency.

Are you just pushing out information and not listening, not replying? What is holding you back?

John

John Moore

Founder and CEO of The Lab. An open government strategist, consultant, and analyst. Part writer, speaker, and educator. Other interests? Mobile and CRM.

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Bob Thompson

August 10, 2010

business value of engaging on social media

John, thanks for sharing highlights from the study. Not at all surprising since it takes time to learn how to use new tools effectively.

First phase is always using new tool on old strategy.

Then as maturity grows, strategies may change and companies will engage more frequently and not just push messages.

But I suspect even if this study were done 2 years from now, it will still be rare to have companies engaging on social media. Because that requires a change in culture, practices and investment in new skills. Not just adopting a new tool..

I do wonder abut your point that "most of the value of being on social channels is lost." So long as marketing is viewed as "telling" instead of a conversation, I suspect marketing/PR professionals will say that social media is plenty valuable. It's a free channel to get the message out.

That said, have you seen any studies that support the notion that engagement (which takes additional effort and real resources, after all) adds real business value? In other words, brands are made stronger, customers buy more, etc. -- to justify the work involved in having better conversations via social media?

John Moore

August 10, 2010

Countless examples

I suspect you are right Bob. I also agree that social organizations are not going to be created overnight and two years from now, while the numbers should show more engagement, we will not be at a true turning point (in my opinion).

Now, I have seen countless examples where building engagement, both from inside (social media) and outside sources (think support communities) have resulted in cost savings and/or additional sales. These channels were built up by brands that engaged, people joined in part because of this. A few examples would include:

- A short post from me regarding work at LabVIEW (cost savings): http://thejohnfmoore.com/2010/04/22/10-140000-50-ssc-success/
- Dell outlet makes 3 million from Twitter: http://thejohnfmoore.com/2009/11/24/how-dell-outlet-combines-social-crm-...

Take a look at the long list of interviews and case studies on my blog as they point towards cost savings in nearly every story, additional sales in others.

Note also that there havebeen several studies that point to the fact that your Facebook fans buy more than non-fans, and so on across other types of communities as well. I can dig these up if you don't recall the studies I mean.

Thanks, great questions, great commens.

John F Moore
Founder and CEO
The Social Ecosystem Lab, aka "The Lab"

My Blog: http://thejohnfmoore.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JohnFMoore
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfmoore
Skype: cto.john.moore

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