CorpComms Magazine

Even though 70 per cent of consumers want to engage with companies via social media, business is still bucking the trend with just three in ten commanding the necessary resources to meet this demand, according to a new study conducted by IT research company Yankee Group on behalf of Siemens Enterprise Communications.

Companies that overlook social media may be missing out on opportunities to engage consumers and win their allegiance. Over half of respondents say regular communication with a business via social networking sites improves their loyalty to the company, yet still a third of businesses either have no formal processes in place to utilise these forums, do not allow the use of social media at work or have no idea if their company maintains a presence on social networks.

Employees are also growing frustrated by their firms' sluggishness in adopting social media channels, with 67 per cent expressing a need for more tools to track and manage social communications for business purposes.

Many employees are having to go solo and employ these media on their organisation's behalf without company guidance. Whilst 36 per cent of companies are using social media to screen positive and negative mentions of the business, roughly a fifth of employees say they take charge of these tasks personally without official approval.

Firms that choose not to embrace these channel are often losing out on free market data and product feedback. Eight out of ten respondents want businesses to review social media sites to see what people are saying about them and almost two thirds want to share new product ideas with the company.

The study charts a chronology of innovations that have overhauled business communications, from voicemail in the early eighties via fax and email in the nineties through to social media today.

The findings suggest many older senior management figures are extrapolating the usefulness of social media as a business tool from their own usage of these channels and overlooking their overwhelming prevalence amongst the younger generation. Over half of respondents over the age of 50 claim that it is not at all important for a business to have a presence on a social site compared to just six per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds, whilst 43 per cent of this younger age group argue that a social media presence is very important indeed.

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