How Businesses are Using Social Media – 2010 Survey & Infographic

These days it can seem like everyone is talking about social media…you can even go to the cinema and see a movie about the creation of Facebook, the World’s largest social network (The Social Network).

So if your business isn’t using social media to promote it’s offerings are you behind the curve? Apparently not…in fact you are just one of many businesses who haven’t yet embraced digital media.

The Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 from Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia was released last month and revealed that “some 40% of companies say they have “experimented with social media but have not done much”, while just over a third say they have done an “average amount”.

Here’s a handy infographic which summarises the key findings and reveals how businesses are using social media (or not, as the case may be!).

It claims to be “the most comprehensive study of its kind around the strategies, tactics and websites companies are using to harness social media for marketing, sales, customer service and other business objectives” and is based on a survey of more than 800 companies and agencies carried out in August and September 2010.

It would want to be comprehensive since it costs €250 to download! If you’ve got the cash to spend you can get the full Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 here.

(h/t to Krishna De who has more detail on the report)

The Adventure Continues for GE

General Electric (GE) is ranked as the World’s second largest company by Forbes and has recently being pushing the boundaries in order to make themselves a more ‘open’ organisation.

A year and a half ago they launched GE Adventure in partnership with the Barbarian Group, an American digital marketing agency. The blog aims to give an insight into the workings and ethos of the multinational organisation from the point of view of the Barbarian Group and inspire a love for science and technology. Now the agency has gone a step further, launching the GE Show – a series of video ‘episodes’ tacking key issues and helping consumers to ‘understand the technologies that are changing our lives’.

Noah Brier of the Barbarian Group said the idea was “to launch a “show’ for GE that explained the big problems they were out there tackling.”

The episodes are broken down into bitesize segments and they aim to combined entertainment with education and consumer interaction. For example, the viewer in encouraged to ‘add to the story’ by participating in an accompanying online poll. News, additional info and even online games are integrated to add to the user experience. Continue reading »

B2B Online Networking Brings in New Business

‘Social networking…that’s just for the likes of Coca Cola and Nike isn’t it? We’re mainly focused on B2B communications so it doesn’t really apply to us.’

If you’ve heard that before then read on.

“A Global Survey of Business Social Networking“, commissioned by Regus has revealed that 40% of companies globally have successfully used social networks to find new customers, dispelling the ideas promoted by social media critics that such online channels fail to generate leads or new business.

As a result of the success of online strategies, 27% of businesses worldwide actively devote marketing budget to social media activity in order to reach and retain customers according to the report.

Apparently size does matter when it comes to leveraging the power of social media to benefit your business…but only slightly. Smaller companies (44%) seem to have more success in acquiring new customers through online networks, as compared to medium companies (36%) and large firms (28%). This is probably due to the fact that smaller companies are more focused on retaining existing business, spending more time maintaining their network of contacts online. The fact that, for a small firm with limited budget, networking online costs nothing but time probably also plays a role in their increased success as smaller firms turn to the web to cost-effectively supplement their traditional marketing strategies.

So how are firms using these online networks?

• To stay in touch with business contacts(58%)
• Getting together with special interest groups (54%)
• Finding out useful business information (54%)
• Organising/connecting/managing customer groups (51%)
• To find a new job (22%)

Who are using business social networks most?

Perhaps unsurprisingly the ICT, Retail, Media & Marketing and Consultancy sectors were above average in their use of business social networks. Those communications-savvy businesses realise that they can’t afford not to have as strong a network online as they do offline.

Who are lagging behind?

Those businesses who are traditionally focussed on B2B communications and are heavily regulated – Manufacturing, Financial Services and Healthcare – were below average in the use of business social networks.

All that said, social media sceptics still exist. Of the 15,000 respondents across 75 countries, 34% did not believe social networks will ever be a significant method of reaching customers and prospects. However this report clearly shows that a growing number of companies are using the internet to source information, foster relationships with current customers and most importantly to generate new business. As word of successful social media strategies spreads to the sceptics its unlikely they’ll be able to keep their mouse at arms length for long…nothing changes minds like money!

Full report here.