Don’t Limit Your Social Networks, Broaden Your Social Landscape

It’s easy to broadly categorize the term ‘social media’ as “sites like Facebook and Twitter,” which enable users to network, communicate and share with one another. But more realistically, social media encompasses a much broader range of communications. In fact, we love how PR Newswire Release put it in its article today: “For businesses the social space can be divided into two categories: public social media sites and social enterprise tools that bring social capabilities into an organization’s business processes.” Adding to that, the article points out: “Social enterprise tools incorporate the characteristics of social media into business processes, allowing for stronger internal collaboration, deeper understanding of customers and other positive outcomes,” Seth Robinson, director, technology analysis, CompTIA, said.

So, here we are, with the awareness that businesses, if they don’t already, should have
1. a public social media presence and 2. the capacity to use social enterprise tools internally (to utilize communications and sharing within your company). But why should a company do so? According to a study of CompTIA’s Social Business: Trends and Opportunities, the reasons are as follows:

• Better communication with customers, cited by 61 percent of responding companies
• Cost savings (51 percent)
• Brand positioning (49 percent)
• Real-time customer satisfaction (48 percent)
• Potential lead generation (43 percent)

Using new social tools to communicate internally and to your preferred audience seems to be significant in improving your brand, on the whole. But what social tools should you use? According to a Widespread Use of Social Media The CompTIA survey of 400 business and IT executives, 82 percent of the companies that responded have a presence on Facebook; 68 percent have a Twitter presence and a LinkedIn profile page. The survey, however, noted that less than one in five organizations use social enterprise tools.

The likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and as of later Instagram  are without a doubt the most widely recognized social media applications, so it’s no real surprise that most companies have gotten on board with them. But the disparity lies in the fact that most organizations simply still don’t know how to most effectively use their accounts… both for external business purposes and, as this article suggests, potentially for internal and business-wide communications.

From the Press Release: “Confusion over terminology and hesitation to adopt a consumer-driven development inside the enterprise make the social landscape one that still requires definition and justification for many companies,” said Robinson. “Understanding the characteristics of social technologies is a critical starting point for understanding their business use.”

Want help better understanding the social landscape as it exists online? Connect with us via our Facebook page if you’re feeling social media savvy or simply email us at [email protected]  and find out how we can help you create a digital strategy for your organization’s communications!



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