CSUK TV - Brought to You By SDI

Businesses fail to fully understand social media

Posted 15-12-2011 in Blog

The potential for social media to improve the quality of customer communication has been ignored by the majority of organisations, with research from EML Wildfire finding 96 per cent of B2B (Business to Business) companies using online communities to simply push marketing messages without interacting with readers.

The number of B2B companies using social media has increased dramatically, growing from 40 to 70 per cent in the last year, but while retailers have largely embraced the concept of two-way communication, the business world has been slower to react.

“Without the right strategy in place and the skills required to execute, brands could actually risk damaging their online reputation rather than harnessing the positive commercial impact that social media should and can deliver,” says EML Wildfire director Debby Penton.

It seems obvious to say 'if you're going to do something, do it right', but many businesses are still not fully grasping that getting social media right isn't just about using it to get their marketing right. In this case 'doing it right' means also embracing the open, two-way nature of the medium, and ultimately taking the opportunities that brings to get the service right too.

If customers are trying to engage with you via social media it's either because you already got the marketing right, or it's because something is wrong. Either way, it's a message not to be ignored. It's an opportunity - and a valuable one - being offered up on a plate. No-one looking to do business with you will be impressed by a brilliant social media strategy that promptly ignores them, and if they're active on social media, it won't just be you they start to tell.