There's been a lot of talk about social networking media and Web 2.0 technologies, and the benefits they can bring to business. However, many South African companies have not yet worked out ways to gain tangible benefits from the phenomenon without over-investing in human resources, time and money.
Social networking media is also seen as an individual pastime (translation: employee time-waster) rather than something that can be used for the company's benefit.
But, used strategically, it can enable a company to communicate more effectively with its stakeholders, market its products and services, and virally expand its potential customer base.
Yes, I know you've heard that litany before from the social media evangelists. Unfortunately, as many companies found out in 2007, using social networking media does not immediately translate into tangible results. Except for the higher bandwidth bill and reduced productivity from some employees, that is.
Getting started
Many South African companies have not yet worked out ways to gain tangible benefits from the phenomenon without over-investing in human resources, time and money.
Damaria Senne, senior journalist, ITWeb
For many, the first step was to establish some Web presence through a Web log (blog) and enabling/disabling Facebook/MySpace/YouTube/My Digital Life access.
Some companies are also developing policies which cover whether employees should be allowed to write/blog, to what extent they can discuss their companies' activities/private lives, and the penalties for bringing the organisation into disrepute.
With that done, organisations should proactively engage in conversation with the existing bloggers and make them aware of the company and offering. This includes targeting specific bloggers so they talk about the company, its products and services. Unfortunately, that is also the harder-to-do, more expensive part of the whole exercise.
That is why it is more cost- and time-effective for the company bloggers to increasingly cover their subject area, ensuring they are well informed about their activities, and giving them the opportunity to test and review its offerings.
High-profile bloggers can be managed the same as the company manages its relationship with the media, ensuring they get across the firm's news and views.
Internationally, bloggers are also given the chance to review products and services, with some reviewers getting paid by the company for the job. Of course, the issue raises the debate of how honest a paid review can be, but that is the subject of another debate.
The bottom line for a company is that for a small fee, it can access a pool of bloggers, who talk about it to their readers. And the more bloggers talk about the company, its activities or products, the more the ultimate target - the consumer - will know, enabling them to quickly make a buying decision.
A second option is to offer "free goods" with the understanding that users write about their experiences. This strategy has been successful among technology/gadgets/parenting/baby product vendors.
Free publicity
Social networks can also be used to raise the company's profile. For example, on Facebook there is a feature called "Status" where users provide updates at any particular moment.
"Damaria is writing an article about social networking media for ITWeb Online" is a status notice that could go on my Facebook profile, inviting my online friends who are not regular ITWeb readers to visit the Web site.
In addition to the time/resource investment, another key concern for companies is that they cannot control the bad publicity generated by bloggers who are unhappy about the product or service.
Let's not forget that corporates have always had trouble controlling journalists from traditional media, so what's different about not being able to control bloggers?
If you engage social networking media, consumers will make informed statements about your company and its activities, and their friends (other bloggers) will link to the original story and continue the conversation. You can't buy publicity like that.
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