Johannesburg, 15 Nov 2010
Social media will continue to grow and is bound to be embedded into business life, according to Andr'e Hugo, director of marketing at Deloitte.
Hugo assets that the use of social media will continue to rise because it can be used successfully when the strategy supports a stated business objective.
He adds that in business, social media allows organisations to find the most relevant information very quickly and it will become a question of how individual organisations respond to and interpret the information.
In that vein, ITWeb and Deloitte have partnered to carry out a Social Media Survey to find out if companies understand the dynamics of the social media hype and how it works.
As to whether organisations should use social media as a business tool, Hugo says 'yes and no', depending on what an organisation hopes to achieve. Among the advantages of using social media includes the delivery of key messages quickly throughout an organisation, he notes.
Hugo adds that social media also has the advantage of helping to build the external brand and increase the reach and frequency of communication with an organisation's customer base.
“With targeted campaigns, it is possible to gauge positive and negative sentiment almost instantaneously. At the most basic level, it is possible to listen to what's being said about the organisation,” says Hugo.
He is of the view that social media certainly can and should influence business decisions, explaining that an organisation's most valuable asset is its brand.
“Brands are built or destroyed online. Old Spice is a good example of a brand which has been transformed from having a rather dowdy, old-fashioned image to one that is modern and trendy.”
On the other hand, Sepp Blatter tried tweeting during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup but was quickly demonised, Hugo notes.
Another disadvantage of social media, Hugo points out, is when one considers the longevity of messages posted on social media sites.
“What goes on Facebook stays on Facebook! This can be damaging to a brand - both organisational and personal. Prospective employees would do well to bear this in mind. No one would want to hire someone who has been posting compromising photographs of themselves on their social media pages,” he points out.
The other disadvantage, Hugo adds, there is also a risk for organisations embarking on the social media journey that they might underestimate the effort and resources required to maintaining an up-to-date presence. “The process should be embedded from a risk, marketing and strategy perspective,” he adds.
In regards to data security worries that arise as a result of social media use, Hugo says organisations are only as safe as their IT policies and procedures.
“Because social media is another channel of communication, guidelines for usage should be outlined in the employment contract. Ethical behaviour should be part of the organisational culture,” he says.
On the same note, Hugo says, there is currently limited protection for information in legal terms in SA, although this will change with the promulgation of the Protection of Personal Information Act due in the first half of 2011.
As a security measure, Hugo urges organisations, which embrace social media, to do so in conjunction with both the risk management and IT departments to form a well-structured approach.
However, he stresses that organisations which ignore social media do so at their peril and run the risk of 'underground' or 'uncontrolled' communities forming which could be damaging to the brand.
To participate in the survey please follow this link.
Share