30 November 2009
Communicators remain unclear on business case for social media
Despite much extensive research on social media and its influence on business, many communicators fail to understand the point.
In a recent poll by Melcrum, almost 50 percent of communication professionals said they were unclear (38%), or very unclear (11%) about the business case for using social media inside organizations. A quarter of respondents said the business case was clear, and 13% said there’s visible return on investment and that the business case was “very clear”.
The use of social media within organizations has grown far more than anyone could have predicted and will continue to spread.
Out of 159 respondents, just under 49% hadn’t yet built a business case, however for those who had, the most popular basis for doing so was innovation and ideas exchange (31%). Knowledge management and collaboration was chosen by 24%, employee engagement and improving feedback were the third most popular angles for a social media business case.
James Bennett, Managing Online Editor at Melcrum, says, “The business case to implement social media tools and techniques within an organization’s internal communication strategy is still unclear for the majority of communicators, however it’s very encouraging to see so many using social media to get great results.”
Big improvements on internal comms
When respondents were asked, “which one area of the organization has social media improved the most?”, internal and external communication came out on top. This was perhaps expected, given that the audience consisted largely of internal and corporate communicators, however other areas which had experienced a positive impact included marketing and advertising, recruitment and customer services.
Bennett says, “Those results are prevalent when it comes to employees collaborating more with each other, sharing knowledge and bringing new and improved ideas to the table that can benefit their businesses. Also when social media improves profits or employee productivity or getting senior leaders involved in blogging, tweeting or recording short videos that enable them to get closer to their employees.
“The use of social media within organizations has grown far more than anyone could have predicted and will continue to spread. Whether we like it or not employees are communicating using these tools and talking about company matters both inside and outside of work, so why not harness that enthusiasm as an internal communicator? I think these results show that our members are doing just that.”
The poll was a preview of a forthcoming social media survey by Melcrum, results of which will be shared at the Social Media Conference in London, in February 2010.
Have your say
Have you built the case for social media yet? Why, in your opinion have many communicators not yet thought about social media? And what advice would you give to those who are still usure about its benefits?
Recommended resources:
Guardian News and Media: Moving onwards and upwards
How to engage employees during extreme uncertainty
TOP TIPS: Preparing managers to communicate bad news
How FedEx delivers on employee feedback
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